AntergOS is just an Arch installer... Why should someone avoid it if he's not into all the work needed to set it up?

it does not. wine only does user space stuff for windows, not driver level which is required for the esea client. youre shit out of luck trying to use the esea client, probably the esl client and anything which uses drivers to handle anti cheat (hackshield, other anti-cheat measures usually used by asian mmorpgs.)

no it does not, the only way to get esea working is by either running it in a vm (really bad) or just switching to windows

Please convince that you didn't make a tf.tv account just to advertise solus

If you set up gpu-passthrough a windows vm is ok though.

Pain to set up, especially with nvidia, way easier to just dual boot windows

Yeah, I'm just getting 0.02$ off that sweet 2.5k patreon dosh. But seriously, I got triggered when people recommended gentoo to a newcomer in one of the first posts so I had to reply and solus is a genuinely good choice. In fact, it just got updated to kernel 4.13 even before arch.

Linux user of 2 decades chiming in.

Linux will perform better in practically any workload provided you set it up correctly and the developer developed their software properly. In general utilizing a lighter weight desktop environment such as xfce, lxde, or i3 will be marginally better than something like KDE or Gnome.

If you have a Nvidia card install the property drivers, if you use an AMD card the newer MESA driver stack is currently what AMD recommends. The GPU-PRO driver is meant for CAD/Workstation use where a certified driver is required.

For a distribution to use Debian and Ubuntu are good choices for users who want a stable experience. Arch can be used later if you want something with a bit more control during the installation process and want the newest versions of everything (Not exactly the most stable). I prefer static versions of software that don't change during the time I have the operating system installed, as I only want new major versions when I upgrade versions every 4-5 years.

Since you are a newcomer you should probably avoid Gentoo unless you want a massive headache and want to hate your first time with Linux.

Keep in mind the following:
- Linux is NOT windows, don't expect it to work like windows.
- Dual booting is a good option, There is no need to fully wipe your Windows partition unless you really like Linux and despise windows (like me.)
- Linux uses OpenGL rather than DirectX.
- Windows software will not run on Linux.
- The need to download software from the internet should be avoided, instead, use your distributions repos where possible.
- Not all programs will run on WINE, Don't be surprised if things don't work properly in it.
- Not all your Steam games will work.

Some tips for a newcomer for installation:
If when starting the USB key you get a black screen you need to load the system with a specific set of kernel parameters.

- When GRUB appears after starting the USB key press e repeatedly. You should see a screen where you can edit your grub options. Go to the Linux line then add the following at the end.

nomodeset 915.modeset=0 modeset=0

- Press f10 to start the system.

Some documentation for installing Nvidia drivers on Ubuntu as this seems to be a place where users get stuck.

Removing the older versions of the driver:
1) Change drivers to the open source drivers then restart
2) dkms status
3) sudo apt-get remove --purge nvidiadriverpackagename
4) sudo apt-get purge nvidia*

Installing the new driver
1) sudo add-apt-repository ppa:graphics-drivers/ppa
2) sudo apt update
3) sudo apt list nvidia* (find the newest version following the nvidia-number format)
4) sudo apt install nvidia-381 (Change 381 to the version you found earlier)
6) In the additional drivers tab change to Nvidia
7) restart

- You will find that raw input is completely borked on Linux. I haven't found a workaround for this. Instead turn off mouse acceleration to do this do the following.

If on Ubuntu/Debian:

First, find the id of your mouse from ls /dev/input/byu-id

david@tesla ls /dev/input/by-id/ | grep mouse
usb-Kingsis_Peripherals_ZOWIE_Gaming_mouse-event-mouse
usb-Kingsis_Peripherals_ZOWIE_Gaming_mouse-mouse

Find your mouse in the list chose the one without the -event. Remove the leading -usb and the ending -mouse along with the underscores, replacing them with spaces:

xinput set-prop "Kingsis Peripherals ZOWIE Gaming mouse" "Device Accel Profile" -1

If this works to your liking then let's create a script to run when your user logs in.

You can put the script where you want. I prefer to make a scripts directory in my home directory for scripts that are executed by my user account.

#!/bin/bash
xinput set-prop "Kingsis Peripherals ZOWIE Gaming mouse" "Device Accel Profile" -1

Next let's give it proper execute permissions. REPLACE MY USERNAME WITH YOURS.
chmod +x ~/.scripts/no-mouse-accel.sh
sudo echo "/home/user-name/.scripts/no-mouse-accel.sh &" >> ~/.xprofile

If you are using Arch then do the following to disable mouse acceleration:

Edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-mouse-acceleration.conf as root. Do not replace the "My Mouse" identifier, the default works fine.

Section "InputClass"
Identifier "My Mouse"
Driver "libinput"
MatchIsPointer "yes"
Option "AccelProfile" "flat"
EndSection

Save the file and exit

- if you chose to go down the Arch Linux path use Pacaur instead of Yaourt. If one application fails to build the entire build process for everything else specified stops. It handles this a lot nicer as well as it asks if you want to see all the pkgbuild files at the start so after you view them you can go get a cup of coffee while your packages compile/install automatically, rather than viewing each as the package comes up in the que.

Example output

$ yaourt -S package-with-dependencies
View PKGBUILD of dependency1? n
:: Installing dependency1...
View PKGBUILD of dependency2? n
:: Installing dependency2...
View PKGBUILD of package-with-dependencies? n
:: Installing package-with-dependencies...

$ pacaur -S package-with-dependencies
View PKGBUILD of dependency1? n
View PKGBUILD of dependency2? n
View PKGBUILD of package-with-dependencies? n
:: Installing dependency1...
:: Installing dependency2...
:: Installing package-with-dependencies

Linux has a lot of choices you can make for what you to run on your system. I'd recommend creating a test playground VM to play with things before you put them on your system.

Some resources I recommend.
The Arch wiki: This documentation is essentially the gold standard for a distribution documentation. Most if it is useful even on other distributions.
The Linux Sysadmin basics course by TutoralLinux. This is great for learning the basics of Linux system administration and utilizing one of Linux's best features: The command line.

If you want help installing and configuring Linux feel free to add me.

recently switched over to Linux and can't seem to get 144hz working in TF2

I've set the correct refresh rate in my display options + NVIDIA driver settings, it works perfectly on the desktop and some games (namely Tropico 5) but in TF2 it's just choppy 60hz no matter what settings I use despite my FPS counter(s) showing up as constant 300+

any ideas? using Manjaro 17.0.5 w/ XFCE

EDIT: i turned off display compositing in my Window Manager tweaks and it immediately corrected the issue

Display compositing should automatically turn off. Are you in fullscreen mode?