Boards›Gameplay

LoL Performance on different platforms, with interesting results (linux won!?)

XXX Caster Couch··5 votes·13,103 views

I've done some frame rate benchmarking and performance review with league of legends on a few different OSes. Here are the results. First: my hardware Clevo W230SS based laptop Nvidia GTX 860m Intel i7 4810MQ @2.80 Ghz 8gb ddr3 1600 RAM 7200rpm HDD killer wireless 1202

All of the following are clean installs with a few performance tweaks, and system updates to the newest version. as well as the latest drivers available for network card, GPU etc. Framerates are at max settings with uncapped fps and ping is based on a wireless connection at a standardized location in my home. the results are an average from 3 different games played on each platform to completion

Windows 7: FPS: peak 89 avg 79 Ping: 112 steady with spikes to 180 every 20ish minutes Notes: fps drops to 58 in teamfights but no lower

PC-BSD: FPS: peak 79 avg 65 Ping: rock solid 95 with periods of lower ping, never higher. Notes: BSD has great network performance, but the technical skill and effort to get the drivers and game working aren't worth the effort in my opinion.

Linux mint 17 Ubuntu based systems have several nvidia driver configurations, of which I have tested the most popular Bumblebee optirun FPS: 55 avg peak within 5 Bumblebee Primus FPS: 63 avg peak 71 Nvidia-prime FPS: avg 93 peak 104 (!!) Ping: Solid 104 spikes to 115 Notes: Drivers on linux for optimus users are finnicky and the bumblebee solutions aren't optimized well out of the box. however, play feels smoother and more responsive with the nvidia-prime setup than even windows.

Arch Linux Barebones (System can pretty much only run blender, gimp, league and native steam, highly optimized for gaming and graphical work) FPS avg 102 peak 143 (!!) ping avg 99 jumps to 104 notes: By far the best results and best gameplay experience, takes some linux know-how to get working though.

These results were interesting to me because the windows client does a better job in linux than it does in windows with the right configuration. even ubuntu (linux mint) users can benefit from the performance boost. I don't know if these results extend to AMD cards, and they certainly don't to integrated graphics, but if you have high end optimus based hardware and want to eak out a little more responsiveness and performance, linux seems to be the way to go. Riot, maybe there's an opportunity here? maybe sell a mid range box with stripped down linux and an automatic installer to LoL enthusiasts like valve proposes to do with steam? Benchmarks on different hardware and other information on this topic are appreciated, and discussion is encouraged.

28 Comments

Tavish3 votes

As a user currently posting from a unix like OS, (Ubuntu linux), I thoroughly support this.

XXX Caster Couch2 votes

Any interest in a guide on dual booting into a league only linux installation? if so let me know and I'll be sure to post one up

Enkidusmurf2 votes

I'd be interested. I've been playing on a Mac for a while, and . . . it's not great.

XXX Caster Couch2 votes

Macs are a bit more complicated. Post your hardware info and mac model and I'll see what I can dig up for you

Enkidusmurf1 votes

Okay. I've got a Macbook Pro, 2011. (I bought it right before they started gluing the bottom on . . . ) 2.4GHz Intel Core i5 processor, and my memory is 4GB 1333MHz DDR3. Under graphics I'm told it has Intel HD Graphics 3000 348 MB, and my software is OS X 10.9.5.

I haven't done anything in terms of upgrades since I bought it, but if there's anything else you need to know, I can try to find it. Thanks!

XXX Caster Couch1 votes

OK a couple questions. are you running the native mac client or the playonmac verison, or another wine/cedega type wrapper? Have you tried dual booting into win7 to run lol? also, intell integrated 3000 isn't going to have stellar performance on any platform, though it is completely playable on windows and linux in my experience.

Enkidusmurf2 votes

I'm running the native Mac Client. I haven't tried dual-booting yet, but that's mainly because I don't own a copy of Windows 7.

Is the intel integrated 3000 replaceable? What should I be looking for instead?

XXX Caster Couch1 votes

No it isn't unfortunately. it's part of the laptop CPU, so the only way to upgrade would be to change to a newer intel CPU, which just isn't worth the money. try installing https://www.playonmac.com/en/ and installing league of legends. you'll have to check the 'experimental' tick box in the install library for it to show up. uncheck the "run lol" tick box on the installer at the end, then go to league > configure > wine > install windows components > internet explorer 8. uncheck the metric collection opt in, say no to the restart, and then restart from the config menu in the wine tab. then run league from the playonlinux window.

Tavish2 votes

I'd really like to see your guide! I have a PC as well, but I'd like to duel boot with ubuntu, but I fear loss of frame rate in League.

Duffkitty2 votes

I have an older nVidia graphics card but it runs just as well under Linux Mint 17 as it did on Windows, however my older graphics card makes me turn off shadows to push 1080P resolutions....

Occasionally I have to open the launcher a few times to get it to run and can't buy RP but those are small prices to pay to use my OS of choice.

XXX Caster Couch2 votes

Install IE 8 under the same prefix and you can buy RP in the most recent client

Duffkitty1 votes

I'll try this tonight! It's the only screen that doesn't completely load but occasionally loads the left tab with the Payment options without loading the main page with the input fields.

I missed the Jurassic Cho'Gath sale but maybe I can still grab Amethyst Ashe.

XXX Caster Couch2 votes

if all else fails you can buy a prepaid code off of g2a (with insurance of course) and redeem it in the wine client. just make sure not to include dashes or spaces when you enter it

Duffkitty1 votes

I use Play on Linux for League of Legends and added IE8 to the prefix. I didn't have luck but I'll remember this option in emergencies. I may just buy some RP when I'm at a family members house where Windows machines exist and purchase it there.

Penguin Eclipse2 votes

Nicely done. Good to see some discussion on this topic. I must admit I have never run league on linux. Not that I couldn't only that I have never really had any desire to run windows software on Linux. Though seeing that you are experiencing an increase in performance I may have to give it a test run. I actually find the ping results the most interesting of your findings. It's very rare one sees a difference in ping from using a different OS. If you had used wired the results would likely have been identical. But using wireless is much more interesting.

There were some rumors floating about last year that Riot had a team working on a new game client. Maybe they will bring official Linux support while they are it. One can always hope. Though I doubt you will see official PC-BSD support anytime soon. ;)

XXX Caster Couch1 votes

The linux and bsd network drivers for my wlan card tend to have more stable performance, which is my main reason for using it, as my router is on the top shelf of a closet, making wired connection inconvenient. That's why the framerate jump was such a surprise.

Matthias91192 votes

These results were interesting to me because the windows client does a better job in linux than it does in windows with the right configuration...

Did you take screenshots to make sure the rendering was 100% the same? With that much of a framerate jump I'm guessing some quality-enhancing features are being disabled.

XXX Caster Couch1 votes

Unfortunately, no. It started as a test of ping stability for personal use, and the results were so striking it turned into a full graphics exploration. The settings were identical on each test, though. I think it has to do with a combination of less graphical baseline load and disabling optimus through software so that the nvidia card is %100 of the work with no on-demand adjustments. if you look above the optimus enabled driver configurations (bumblebee) are not much of an improvement.

Matthias91192 votes

If it was, like, 5% faster, I might buy the argument that somehow it's rendering more efficiently.

A 50-100% performance gain either means that something's artificially holding back your Windows configuration (bad driver, wrong setting somewhere, etc.) or the Linux driver is missing some features and not rendering things exactly the same way.

Or else the rendering is actually CPU-limited in some way in Windows and the super-stripped-down Linux kernel can put more CPU resources towards it. This wouldn't totally shock me, since the Windows drivers are likely not optimized for 100+FPS operation.

XXX Caster Couch1 votes

first off it's a %30 gain on arch and roughly %20 on linux mint. Like I said, I'm not sure of exactly what causes the performance difference, or if it extends to non-optimus cards (or any other hardware outside my own for that matter) but I did control for bottlenecks in all systems tested though. My arch setup uses a modified realtime kernel and has several other differences that could effect x server/render performance, as I do 3d work on it as well. you'll notice that the standard configuration for optimus cards in linux mint actually underperformed win7. it took installing bleeding edge drivers and disabling the integrated graphics entirely, as well as max clocking the card and disabling power management etc to bring about the boost on mint. I'm not aware that you can disable the hybrid operation in windows on optimus cards.

Only Play Darius2 votes

Awesome. I love linux.

The Queen Viper2 votes

[{quoted}](name=XXX Caster Couch,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=G5r8vMka,comment-id=,timestamp=2015-03-26T13:42:54.691+0000) Riot, maybe there's an opportunity here? maybe sell a mid range box with stripped down linux and an automatic installer to LoL enthusiasts like valve proposes to do with steam?

... ooooor they could just hire proper coders and optimize the game better + use a better engine which is not some buggy homebrew shit. Or hell, pay royalties for DoTA / SMITE / HON or whatever and use their engine as a base ffs. Anything is better than this current one, which is not even stable and has performance issues all over the place even with high end (TITAN etc) setups.

XXX Caster Couch1 votes

True. This was just speculation, and I think you're touching on another issue entirely. I'm just working with what riot gives us

HalakUnique1 votes

First comment! I have to try installing LOL on Linux, i have been having problems lately with my windows being too slow! Glad to know that I can install on Linux!!! Ty Caster Couch!Varus

XXX Caster Couch1 votes

Make sure you have nvidia or ATI discrete graphics. intel integrated wont be great on any system

Crackling Eyes1 votes

Windows (low):180- 200FPS Linux(very low): 20-25FPS Linux(low): 20-25 FPS Linux(medium): 20-25 FPS Linux(high): 20-25FPS Linux(very high): 20-25FPS Freebsd: driver crash

Ping rock solid 50 regardles of platform I dont understand how people get so high fps on wine. I remember playing it on very hight rock solid when it was seasson 2. Stupid riot updates destroyed the game.

Cpu: intel celeron dualcore 2.8Ghz Gpu: 9800 GTX RAM: ddr2 3GB

DONT BAN LEE 1 votes

can you put the linux download link somewhere plz mint 17

Number Òne1 votes

I would like to confirm that.. this is 100% bullshit.. I get 112fps on windows 10 and I get 12-20fps on ubuntu 16.04 lts

More from Gameplay

3 Refunds per season, upvote if you want 3 refunds per season.
Gameplay764 comments
7,167
votes
3 Refunds per season, upvote if you want 3 refunds per season.
Gameplay156 comments
3,510
votes
UPVOTE FOR URF
Gameplay606 comments
2,440
votes
Yes plz.
Gameplay456 comments
1,721
votes
3 Refunds per season, up vote if you want 3 refunds per season.
Gameplay114 comments
1,716
votes
When is ANYONE at riot going to address the awful new player experience?
Gameplay634 comments
1,383
votes

More by XXX Caster Couch

4 man join up quick yall
[ARCHIVED] Fantasy LCS0 comments
1
votes
8 man join quick if interested
[ARCHIVED] Fantasy LCS0 comments
1
votes