"As Linux moves closer to the mainstream, more and more users
will attempt to make performance comparisons with Microsoft's
Windows. These kinds of comparisons are important and the Linux
community need to be prepared for the inevitable questions: Which
platform is better?"
"How well does Linux stack up when testing performance with
Quake III Arena? The answer, unsurprisingly, depends on your choice
of video card. We can say the following:
If you own a Matrox G400Max and are running Linux you can
expect to see between 88% and 95% of the performance you'd get
running Windows.
If you own an NVIDIA GeForce 256 DDR 64Mb and are running Linux
you can expect to see between 87% and 99% of the performance you'd
get running Windows.
If you own a 3dfx Voodoo3-3000 and are running Linux you can
expect to see between 71% and 79% of the performance you'd get
running Windows."
"But there are two important points about Linux performance
relative to Windows performance that probably should be emphasized.
First, the G400Max in Linux offers performance very close to the
performance of the TurboGL in Windows. That means that the OpenGL
driver that Matrox uses specifically for games in Windows is only
slightly ahead of the more full-featured driver that Linux has to
offer for games and applications. So an open source solution on an
alternative operating system is competitive with a closed solution
on a mainstream operating sytsem. A second important point is that
both open and closed solutions can work on Linux and give excellent
performance relative to Windows. The NVIDIA and Utah-GLX Matrox
drivers are evidence of this."
