Left 4 Dead 2 runs faster on Steam Linux

Valve, which is working on a Linux version of their popular Steam distribution service, has found that Left 4 Dead 2 runs slightly faster on the operating system than it does Windows.

"After this work, Left 4 Dead 2 is running at 315 [frames per second, or FPS] on Linux," the team wrote on its blog. "That the Linux version runs faster than the Windows version (270.6 [FPS]) seems a little counter-intuitive, given the greater amount of time we have spent on the Windows version. However, it does speak to the underlying efficiency of the kernel and OpenGL.

"Interestingly, in the process of working with hardware vendors we also sped up the OpenGL implementation on Windows. Left 4 Dead 2 is now running at 303.4 FPS with that configuration."

The company believes this breakthrough shows the benefits of close coordination between software and hardware developers, bringing new value to the Linux community.

Valve plans to launch other games on the platform, including Serious Sam 3: BFE. No release date has been set for Steam Linux.

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