Is The Open-Source NVIDIA Driver Fast Enough For Steam On Linux Gaming?

With the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive testing at 1920 x 1080, the GTX 680/760/770/780 Ti all delivered above a 60 FPS average. However, these graphics cards weren't close to running at their maximum speeds as they were still severely under-clocked. The NVIDIA vs. Nouveau updated results coming in the next installment of this testing will put the current performance into greater perspective, but at least the driver could deliver above 60 FPS at 1080p for this Source Engine Linux game. The GTX 460 and GTX 550 Ti could play CS:GO with ease when using the NVIDIA binary blob but struggle severely with Nouveau due to the lack of re-clocking support. The GTX 650 fully re-clocked, but it was coming up short of 60 FPS.

The CPU usage was the lowest with the Fermi graphics cards since the system was severely constrained by the low GPU clock frequencies.

The GPU temperatures also don't yield too much insightful information besides the Fermi GPUs being very cool due to not re-clocking to their highest performance state with rated frequencies/voltages. The hottest GPU tested was the GTX 770.