The first true 1:1 test we have shows Steam OS getting better performance than Windows in 10 big games, tying in 2 more, and it’s got me salivating for a desktop version of Valve’s OS
A new report by Ars Technica shows SteamOS matching or outright beating Windows gaming performance in a suite of five recent games on the Lenovo Legion Go S, while testing by YouTuber Dave2D showed an additional four games where SteamOS either handily beats Windows, or trails by just one frame.
PC Gamer hardware writer Jacob Fox’s review of the Go S adds yet another three games where SteamOS comes out on top, bringing us to a record of 10 wins, zero losses, and two ties for Valve.
The Legion Go S is the first device with official drivers and support for both operating systems, allowing for an apples to apples comparison we just couldn’t swing before. We gave the Windows version a 72%, while the SteamOS variant nabbed an Editor’s Pick 91% score from Jacob.
The upshot, aside from “don’t buy the Windows version of the Go S,” is that increased hardware support for SteamOS, particularly if Valve releases a version for users to install on desktop, could finally supply a genuine desktop OS contender against Windows for gamers.
Ars Technica tested five games: Returnal, Borderlands 3, Cyberpunk 2077, Homeworld 3, and Doom: The Dark Ages. At both 1200p high and 800p low settings, SteamOS was only beaten by Windows in Borderlands 3, and by about one frame at both graphics settings. Returnal presented the biggest blowout for SteamOS: A nine-frame lead at 1200p, and 17 at 800p.
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This echoes Dave2D’s excellent video from last month, “Windows Was The Problem All Along.” Dave2D’s tests showed SteamOS beating Windows by notable margins in Cyberpunk, Helldivers 2, Doom Eternal, and The Witcher 3, with only Spider-Man 2 granting a one-frame lead to Windows. That brings us to a significant performance lead in seven games for SteamOS, with it only losing by a margin of error in two more.
Dave2D harped on a particular hobby horse of mine, how stepped-on and unwieldy Windows feels on handheld PCs, but as Ars Technica concluded and both parties’ testing shows, SteamOS might be a contender.
Jacob’s review of the SteamOS Legion Go S included performance tests for Cyberpunk 2077, Black Myth Wukong, Horizon Zero Dawn, and Hitman 3. SteamOS took the top spot in all four, giving three more points to Valve and confirming its lead in Cyberpunk for a third time. 10-0-2.
Between Microsoft now including AI bloat on top of Windows’ already-aggravating endemic bloat—why does the search bar pull up web links?? Search my damn PC!!—and this stunning turnout by SteamOS, becoming a Linux Guy is evolving from an idle threat I’ll make whenever Windows annoys me into a genuine plan for my next build, three to five years from now.
SteamOS’ biggest hurdles, to my eye, are its current lack of hardware support, and game compatibility. You can use the Steam Deck recovery image to smuggle SteamOS onto a PC, but this isn’t really a practical solution, and likely won’t carry the performance uplift we’ve seen here. Then, of course, there are still games that won’t run on SteamOS, many due to their anticheat solutions.
But those are both issues that Valve has already improved on over time: It’s finally brought SteamOS to a non-Deck device, and is constantly adding games to its compatible list. Microsoft has promised to minimize Windows bloat in its “Xbox Experience for Handhelds,” but has a much less impressive track record—I’ll believe it when I see it. I still remember Games For Windows Live. I can forgive much, but I will never forget.
