Gaming on a 192-core ARM CPU has now become a reality since Ampere Computing has facilitated a way to utilize its high-core count chips for gaming on Linux.
Ampere Computing Utilizes Emulation Layers to Allow Steam Gaming Titles to Run on its 192 Core ARM CPUs
Ampere has published a “Gaming on Linux” guide, to run Steam on ARM64-based CPUs. To provide seamless user support, Ampere has been maintaining a GitHub repository, which is open-source and is also compatible with similar 64-bit processors in the market.
Ampere specifically targets its Altra and One ARM CPU lineup, providing support for Ampere’s “Altra Max” processor as well, which comes with up to 192 cores. Ampere CPUs will make use of Box86 & Box64, which is also another emulation layer that helps in improving the Linux binarity experience. In simple terms, it makes compatibility with Steam more effective.
It is important to note thought that you can’t directly run Steam on Linux, and the venture is only possible with Proton, a compatibility layer that provides a bridge between Steam and Linux. Apart from this, Ampere CPUs on their own, can’t provide graphics computing performance, hence utilization of a dedicated GPU will also be necessary. In the case of Ampere’s guide, they are utilizing NVIDIA’s RTX A6000 series workstation GPU, which comes with support for AArch64 proprietary drivers.
While one might believe in getting high gaming performance out of a 192 Core (Ampere Altra Max Arm) CPU, due to its gigantic core count, this isn’t the case here. This is mainly because the chips are not designed around higher frequencies and just like the Threadripper and high core lineups from the x86 vendors, there could be significant underutilization of the hardware available. There are no benchmarks at the moment to support this.
We should credit Ampere’s dedication to actually making this step possible since it will open new doorways in experimentation with ARM64 CPUs, however, gaming isn’t something one should do one these processors, since they are terrible at it. We do hope that someone tests out the actual effectiveness of the “Gaming on Linux” guide, to give us an idea of the capability of the Ampere CPUs in gaming.
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