PS5 Linux can run path-traced Cyberpunk 2077 at 35 FPS, but Quake II RTX is the surprising winner

Researcher Andy Nguyen, aka TheFlow, has made it possible to turn a launch-era PlayStation 5 running firmware up to version 6.02 into a Steam Machine-like device running Linux. This setup allows the console to run PC versions of games, as Andy demonstrated by successfully running Grand Theft Auto V: Enhanced Edition.

Following that, the team at Digital Foundry caught wind of the PS5 Linux breakthrough and decided to run a path-tracing test on the system. They tested three titles: Quake II RTX, Portal with RTX, and Cyberpunk 2077 RT Overdrive, each representing a different level of path-tracing load.

Quake II RTX was NVIDIA's first major path-tracing showcase, and even though the game itself is ancient by gaming standards, path tracing breathes new life into its visuals. Portal with RTX was the first game to use NVIDIA's RTX Remix, and Cyberpunk 2077's RT Overdrive mode is the ultimate path-tracing stress test.

Starting with Night City, Digital Foundry managed to get path-traced Cyberpunk running at a playable frame rate by cutting settings wherever possible, lowering the resolution, using upscaling, and applying path-tracing optimization mods. At 1080p output with XeSS Performance mode, RT Overdrive averaged 22.6 FPS at an internal resolution of 470p.

3

Dropping to 1920x800 with an internal resolution of 348p pushed the average to 26.9 FPS, which climbed further to 35.5 FPS, a 32% improvement, with the PT Optimized mod reducing ray bounces from 2 to 1 alongside raster settings similar to the Switch 2 version.

With AMD FSR 3.1 frame generation enabled, which PSSR does not support but becomes available through PS5 Linux, the benchmark counter reached around 70 FPS. However, Digital Foundry noted the generated frames looked more like a "wobble" than proper motion improvement, meaning the game wasn't truly hitting those frame rates.

Portal at 1080p output with TAAU from an internal 540p barely crossed 30 FPS, still suffering from poor denoising and low internal resolution. The best results came from Quake II RTX. At native 4K with path tracing, PS5 Linux managed only 11.4 FPS and 10.7 FPS across two built-in timedemos. Using TAAU to upscale from 1080p to 4K, the average climbed to 40 FPS, and with Dynamic Resolution Scaling, the game hit 60 FPS, though the lower DRS bound drops to 540p.

3

Of the three titles tested, only Quake II RTX seemed viable for a potential release on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. For more modern titles, the results were respectable but not something most people would play. Digital Foundry noted that the tests would have gone significantly better on the PS5 Pro, thanks to its improved RT hardware and PSSR technology.

Nevertheless, the results were interesting, and Digital Foundry plans to push the PS5 Linux breakthrough further, including testing PS3 emulation via RPCS3, which runs natively on Linux.