content: For those who want to switch to Linux and do not want to give up any gaming power - GPU Passthrough Hey guys! Lot of people aren't switching to Linux even though they want to because of video games. Here's a guide to, for the most part, be able to do so without losing any gaming power. This uses a virtual machine as well as a method called GPU passthrough which enables you to use the full power of your GPU in that virtual machine - all running on top of Linux.  It does have some specific requirements, and I'll post them here before you dive into the guide.   Do note that the guide I'm posting is for Arch. You can find guides for most of the common distributions and I'm sure you can figure it out for others. This post is more for awareness rather than to guide you through the process. I got very excited when I found this process so I figured I'd share it here. Requirements  -IOMMU capable processor and motherboard (VT-D for Intel, AMD-Vi for AMD.) Check the vendor websites if you're not sure. The lists provided in the guide are not comprehensive at all. -Two separate GPUs - you'll basically be using one for Linux and one for Windows. Integrated graphics cards DO function for this so if you only have one dedicated card, you can still use the integrated card for Linux. -A monitor that can switch inputs, or two monitors. Since we have two GPUs, we need to be able to display both.  -Enough RAM to run both Windows and Linux. I wouldn't recommend any lower than 8 GB, though you could probably make due with less. I'll personally be doing 4 for each.  -A lot of extra time, and the ability to look up information for yourself. This isn't an easy thing to do and I wouldn't hand it to beginners- be prepared to be looking up anything you run into.   Here is the guide. The links to the guides on the Arch forums are broken, but this guide is more of a tl;dr version. I'll be performing this next week and will update this thread with any differences or other things I've found. Good luck everybody, and let me know if you need any help.   TL;DR You don't have to sacrifice anything to switch to Linux - just be prepared to run a form of Windows on top of it.    EDIT: Here are a few more specific guides that @scrubhero has posted. https://web.archive.org/web/20150802110704/https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=162768 https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Multiheaded-NVIDIA-Gaming-using-Ubuntu-14-04-KVM-585/  EDIT 2: A lot of people are talking about dual booting instead. Obviously this is fine, but I personally absolutely hate having to reboot my computer each time I want to access a certain program or game on my computer. I use Crouton on my Chromebook, and I want something similar for my desktop. If this isn't your cup of tea, then by all means, disregard this post. A lot of people really want something like this instead, and that is absolutely okay.