Funny, I just saw an article saying [don't get too excited about Linux gaming boosts](https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2025/03/linux-kernel-6-14-out-late-due-to-pure-incompetence-dont-get-too-excited-about-linux-gaming-boosts/) because apparently Wine doe...
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Funny, I just saw an article saying don't get too excited about Linux gaming boosts because apparently Wine doesn't use ntsync yet, and Valve already worked around ntsync by implementing the faster fsync in SteamOS.
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Funny, I just saw an article saying don't get too excited about Linux gaming boosts because apparently Wine doesn't use ntsync yet, and Valve already worked around ntsync by implementing the faster fsync in SteamOS.
I believe that NTsync delivers better compatibility. I do not remember the details but Fsync can cause problems sometimes. So this is more like performance without compromise.
Now that it is in the kernel, I would expect Wine to move to it and for Proton to follow suit.
One less hack to maintain.
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Funny, I just saw an article saying don't get too excited about Linux gaming boosts because apparently Wine doesn't use ntsync yet, and Valve already worked around ntsync by implementing the faster fsync in SteamOS.
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Funny, I just saw an article saying don't get too excited about Linux gaming boosts because apparently Wine doesn't use ntsync yet, and Valve already worked around ntsync by implementing the faster fsync in SteamOS.
fsync isn't faster than ntsync, it's merely a workaround to match Linux to Windows synchronization primitives. From ntsync's official description:
It exists because implementation in user-space, using existing tools, cannot match Windows performance while offering accurate semantics.
So without this, you either have a huge perfomance hit in case of an accurate implementation or you have good performance, but might run into edge cases where software doesn't work well or at all because it's not accurate (see https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton/issues/2922 for examples)
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fsync isn't faster than ntsync, it's merely a workaround to match Linux to Windows synchronization primitives. From ntsync's official description:
It exists because implementation in user-space, using existing tools, cannot match Windows performance while offering accurate semantics.
So without this, you either have a huge perfomance hit in case of an accurate implementation or you have good performance, but might run into edge cases where software doesn't work well or at all because it's not accurate (see https://github.com/ValveSoftware/Proton/issues/2922 for examples)
not my words. It's the Valve dev who said it.
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not my words. It's the Valve dev who said it.
I don't think his statement is true though. If https://www.reddit.com/r/linux_gaming/comments/1ce7z19/gaming_on_linux_ep131_ntsync_vs_fsync_nobara_39/l1ho8od/ is not manipulated in any way, games with lots of these calls still get big improvements with ntsync over fsync (about 30% in this particular case, which is a massive boost). So while nobody can rule out that his statement may be true on average or in general, there are still cases where ntsync offers a tangible advantage – be it improved FPS or the fact that the game runs at all.
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not my words. It's the Valve dev who said it.
Why is he using the term "SteamOS kernel"?
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Why is he using the term "SteamOS kernel"?
Well, he's talking about the kernel they are using in SteamOS. The Deck OS is also being extended to other handhelds.
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Well, he's talking about the kernel they are using in SteamOS. The Deck OS is also being extended to other handhelds.
Still a weird way to say this.
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Still a weird way to say this.
Not sure there's a better way to say it. I guess "the SteamOS fork of the Linux kernel" would be more explicit, but I assume most people who would read this are aware that SteamOS is built on Linux.
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esync = alpha version
fsync = beta version
ntsync = final releaseNtsync got rid of performance degradation that can occur with some games under esync and fsync and that’s the why it's allowed to go in the mainline kernel, it has no downside.
Ntsync got rid of performance degradation that can occur with some games under esync and fsync
This explains SO MUCH! I was getting frustrated when games start out perfectly fine than 30 minutes in frames would drop significantly.
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