I used linux in the past, both privately and work-related, but the last time was over 10 years ago, so I’m a bit out of touch. I am in need of a new PC, but it’ll be a good year before I have the funds, so for now I am making due with an i5 7500 and a gtx 1660. I do have 32 GB so there’s that. I finally feel confident enough to make the permanent switch to linux from windows as all of the programs I use are either available on linux or have a good/better equivalent. The only thing I fear will hold me back is games. I know Steam has Proton now which will run most games, but how does it compare? The games I play most are Skyrim (heavily modded) , RDR2, Witcher 3, Transport fever, Civilization, Crusader kings 3 and Cities Skylines (uninstalled atm waiting for 2). I’m on the fence to either wait until I can afford a new PC and dual boot or make the switch now and deal with a few gaming problems. Thing is, what kind of problems may I expect? Anyone able and knowledgeable to give me some advice?
EDIT: Wow, those are a lot of replies; thank you everyone! You really helped me. I will make the switch sooner rather than later.
I have played modded skyrim on my Linux system, and it worked fine. It was somewhat of a headache to make Vortex work, but once I figured out the quirks, it worked fine (used steamtinkerlaunch as compatibility tool). Civilization too - 5 (with and without EUI) and 6 worked pretty much out of the box via proton. A friend of mine plays RDR2 and also has no issues, doing coop stuff and singleplayer or whatever.
I’d say in terms of your choice of games, you should be fine. Proton runs most games just like windows nowadays, and you get the added benefit of less system load. There might be some games that require a bit of tinkering to get working flawlessly, but chances are some user on protondb has a solution.
If you need a distro, a rolling release one might be your best bet, as having up-to-date packages does help with gaming.