SteamOS offers improved gaming performance compared to Windows 11, according to benchmarks by Ars Technica. In tests of five games, four showed notable frame rate gains on SteamOS. Only Borderlands 3 performed similarly on both platforms, with Windows slightly ahead.
Switching operating systems resulted in frame rate drops between 8% and 36% on Windows for several games. For example, playing Returnal at high settings and 1920×1200 resolution yielded 33 FPS on SteamOS, compared to just 18 FPS using Lenovo’s default Windows drivers.
Installing updated Asus drivers on Windows improved performance, bringing Homeworld 3 at low graphics settings close to SteamOS levels. However, in most cases, Windows frame rates remained 8% to 36% lower than on SteamOS, even with updated drivers.
These results may seem surprising, as SteamOS runs Windows games through Valve’s Proton compatibility layer, which translates native Windows instructions. However, Valve’s ongoing optimizations of Proton and Linux’s Mesa graphics drivers appear to boost SteamOS gaming efficiency.
Additionally, SteamOS reduces operating system overhead compared to Windows, which is a more general-purpose OS. Microsoft has acknowledged this issue and announced the upcoming “Xbox Experience for Handheld,” designed to reduce background processes and improve frame rates in games.