I'm preparing for a new computer build and I have some questions. I'm feeling really scorned by Windows 11 and its incompatibility with my current hardware as well as the overall sense of that my privacy is being invaded. I'm not super familiar with linux, but I have messed around with various distros.
The build I'm planning to put together will likely use an AMD processor, but I'm uncertain about the GPU (definitely AMD or Nvidia). With my current build, RX 480 and i5-6500 I have found that in recent years I get massive artifacts in relatively old games such as Planetside 2 and Path of Exile (I also play Magic Arena quite a bit, but haven't experienced any issues there). I even get screen tearing when watching youtube or amazon prime. It's possible that my card is just dying, but considering that I don't consistently see these issues across multiple applications I feel like it might be a driver issue.
I'd really like feedback and to know more about Linux gaming (especially with the games mentioned) as well as experience with AMD, Nvidia, and Intel hardware.
In my experience, gaming worked great on Linux Mint. Overall, you may encounter issues with online gaming but only because the servers will see you're using Linux and decide you must be cheating. Not really an issue with Linux, more an issue with the devs not doing a proper job.
ProtonDB is a good resource to understand what games run well on Linux and what issues you may encounter.
Oh wow, that cheating bit is interesting and something I would not have thought of. The games I play are prominently online, do you know if this is an issue with them?
Some games will just automatically block Linux machines in their anticheat engines. This site is one that tracks online playability of games on Linux machines, or more specifically if a game will automatically block you simply because you're playing on Linux.
For me, nvidia with proprietary drivers works great, just make sure to have correct dependency packages installed for vulcan etc. (should just work in most distros if their recommended way of installing nvidia drivers is used)