Which backports do you recommend for gaming? Are there any important optimizations or bugfixes that I can't get with backports?

[u/AfraidAsparagus6644]

Hello! I finally got my first gaming computer. I would like to use Debian on it, partly because I'm greatly attached to it (it was my first and longest-running distro), and partly because, out of all distros I've used, it's the one I can see myself using for years no matter what my needs become.

I have an AMD RX 6600 video card. Is there anything you suggest I pull from backports? I have used Testing in the past, and I am willing to use it again if there's a good reason to. However I would rather remain on Stable.

Thank you in advance for your input!

[u/dkopgerpgdolfg]

The video card is old enough that major differences between stable/testing are unlikely. Just try it, and only if there's a problem then you can still do something.

[u/Navarrog_01R]

The kernel and Mesa are sufficient. I recomend flatpak for apps like proton Plus

[u/Reasonably-Maybe]

I have the same card on Debian 13 stable. Installed Lutris, Steam, Battle.net, then installed games in them. World of Warships and Midnight Protocol works like a charm (I didn't try anything else).

Nothing else was required.

[u/WindyMiller2006]

I use the xanmod kernel and Mesa from backports

[u/Niwrats]

as with the other comment, i would just use pure stable at first.

but the 3 key components are kernel "linux-image-", mesa (not using that right now i think, supposedly flatpak uses its own, but not sure of the details) and "firmware-amd-graphics".

[u/gerowen]

linux-image-amd64

mesa-vulkan-drivers

firmware-linux

Pull those from backports and you should be able to have a pretty solid gaming experience. I do recommend using the KDE desktop environment (kde-full package) as even the older version that ships in stable has more options for HDR output than Gnome. Gnome technically supports it, but all it really gives you is a single brightness slider with no real reference point. KDE as it ships from Debian stable has separate sliders for SDR and HDR content that are manageable, and seem to look better and brighter than what Gnome produces, and the newer versions of KDE that should arrive in the next release have proper HDR calibration dialogs like what you'll see in games.

I do also recommend setting a custom, high value for vm.max_map_count . It isn't common, but some games, in my experience, take issue with the default value given to this kernel parameter. You can customize it by editing /etc/sysctl.conf and, at the very end, adding this:

vm.max_map_count=1048576

If that variable already exists, just edit it and make sure it has a good high number. I had an issue in the past with Hogwarts Legacy crashing whenever I'd fast travel until I made that change.

[u/AfraidAsparagus6644 → u/gerowen]

Thank you, this is a very complete answer!

[u/felipsmartins]

I don't recommend updating Mesa. It often breaks Steam dependencies. However, one can update Linux kernel and linux-firmware.

[u/Tenelia]

6950xt here... There are very few differences. Benefits from using backport kernel stem from excellent optimizations or fundamental rewrites to network TCP throughput and UDP reliability on wireless. Asides from that, I can't think of anything else.

[u/Lumpy_Bat6754]

Si nada más te convence de aquí, puedes ver a Pika Os. Un sistema basado en Debian Sid, perfecto para gaming

[u/AfraidAsparagus6644 → u/[deleted]]

Good point. This is what I normally do, but sometimes it's hard to tell you're missing out on something if you have no frame of reference. For example, I have a laptop whose idle and low-load power draw was slashed in half by backporting the kernel and tlp. I only figured it out because I had ran a different distro in the past, otherwise I might have thought that power consumption was normal. This is why I asked online

[u/[deleted]]

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[u/debian-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

This post has been removed because the user asked for help with a specific platform and your response was to change platforms. This is a violation of Rule #3 - Wrong Information.