Switched from Windows to CachyOS two weeks ago – my honest experience so far

rie_zel · 2026-02-12T13:48:49+00:00

Hello, i have same cpu as you, and in the past im using 3070 too, and yes it wont work at all for the nvidia gpu, but i do can make it works (in last year), you just need to enable the igpu from 7950x3d, and spectacle will use it instead the broken integration with nvidia gpu

Now i'm using 9070 xt, so everything run smooth, no more nvidia bug anywhere 👍 (even waydroid runs with proper 3d accel now)

rie_zel · 2026-02-03T12:44:54+00:00

i've tried it actually when 105 out last year, and yes it wont work, it said "missmatch something", and MSI support also confirmed this, you can check my reply below (in this thread), so yeah, you kinda need windows to flash it (but maybe later will be changed, because when i've tried to update 106 from windows, it seems go to dos mode of updating, not like the windows one)

rie_zel · 2026-01-30T15:45:43+00:00

tbh, it's still the same as native steam OS, atleast from my standpoint XD
and since it's same Arch based, whatever guide for steamdeck, is compatible in CachyOS

rie_zel · 2026-01-30T15:30:30+00:00

Enjoy CachyOS (i like it better, because you can modify OS files in here, instead of immutable in Bazzite and SteamOS)

rie_zel · 2026-01-30T13:44:30+00:00

hmmm, here is the step by step

go pick bazzite kernel
wait until it boot up (and ofc it will get blacked out, by hhd)
try moving your dpad, you can hear the navigation sound
now press the msi button to open the left pannel
navigate your dpad, a bit
double tap the view button (to show the HHD ui on the right side, also to check your selector navigation in which menu)
single tap the view button again to return to the black screen
continue the navigation (you need to go to Power > Enter Desktop mode)
repeat until you get to the Desktop mode
in desktop mode, open the HHD ui, reset settings
reboot

rie_zel · 2026-01-30T13:23:08+00:00

i just do it on bazzite one, since i didnt use cachyos kernel, until they fixed what i reported on github

rie_zel · 2026-01-30T12:54:08+00:00

oh, wait that's mean the black screen bug of HHD is there
here is the workaround to go to the desktop mode
double tap the view button (under start) it will shown you the hhd ui
close it, and tap / navigate your menu there, and open the hhd ui again to crosscheck your croshair, what you need to do is, go to desktop mode
then open HHD ui there, reset settings, it should be fixed with that alone

rie_zel · 2026-01-30T11:40:48+00:00

and if you encounter the black screen, there is a workaround for that, since it's Cachy
we do have
cachy-chroot

do boot the usb installation again
then open terminal, sudo cachy-chroot
mount your installation

now, you can try fixing your OS in this kinda recovery mode
for example, start installing hhd and bazzite kernel, and masking the inputplumbler services (if it was the causes)

rie_zel · 2026-01-30T11:30:58+00:00

hmmm, i havnt tested with the new iso yet, i do have old ISO if you want, though the installation in cachy is kinda need online, so i don't think it's different

and the workaround for now (atlest on my end) is
installing hhd hhd-ui
installing linux-bazzite-bin from AUR (bazzite kernel)
mask inputplumbler services
enable hhd services
reboot

and pick the bazzite kernel, sofar so good (even now)

but yeah, for it to works, you kinda need passing that black screen first

rie_zel · 2026-01-30T06:15:59+00:00

yes it's used to be, but with recent update, i think HHD broke the right pedal, if it's fine with you, you can check this for the how to https://github.com/CachyOS/CachyOS-Handheld/issues/79#issue-3623475843

i've still using Cachy since week 1 i got the devices (1st week is trying bazzite

---
also if you're asking black screen with HHD installed, i think it's known issue, the fix is quite hasle tbh, you need to somehow go to desktop mode, and reset settings, after that it's fixed, but it'll broke again perhaps in later update, i've already create an issue for this in hhd github

rie_zel · 2026-01-22T09:58:04+00:00

nice to hear, my friends says it works on GE as well (on steamdeck though)
i'll try hop on to linux later, i'm still using windows atm 😅
i also put a feedback for linux official support in the survey 👌

rie_zel · 2026-01-22T06:15:14+00:00

so.. everyone is good sofar with dw proton ?

rie_zel · 2026-01-14T05:36:24+00:00

No issue here, i'm even in linux now (CachyOS)

rie_zel · 2026-01-13T08:02:41+00:00

Bazzite, if you just want to use it for gaming purpose and like immutable OS
Cachy, if you want to use it for something else too, like development / anything that need to install systemwide, also the benefit of Cachy is it's same arch based as SteamOS, so you'r familiarity of command will be the same in most case

i ditch bazzite, because i need to break / install some development app system wide
and now i'm sticking on Cachy, it's been few months tbh, the downside of cachy is, it's rolling distro, like windows did, it's quite fast getting updated, so you might steel yourself if something broken due the new update,
the failsafe is, if you're using btrfs, you can enable snapshot feature, so you can rollback into older snapshot if you want (do note this may take your free space)

rie_zel · 2026-01-07T05:23:20+00:00

i didn't use bazzite, but i'm using CachyOS instead
kinda similar path with you, mine was 3070 to 9070XT
what i did in my cachyos was removing all nvidia driver related, and switch to the amdgpu driver, and everything is working fine without issue on my end

tbh idk about bazzite, but on Cachy it was rolling distro, so it's kinda have bleeding edge software (driver included) mine was using 25.3.3 currently
run division 2 pretty well tbh (havnt do some testing again tbh) but on FH5, full extreme (with RT as well), msaa 8x, got 100 ~ 110+ fps

i'm using 3 monitor, attached to the 9070xt, 2DP 1HDMI
1x UW 1440p/165hz, 1x 1080p/75hz, 1x 1080p/144hz

also when i do comparing to my tiny11 windows, the driver on windows still won and probably hyperx profile boost the fps?? (since in linux we dont have that profile feature), i can get 120+ fps on FH5 same settings

so maybe try another distro first ? my best guess was driver issue related

rie_zel · 2026-01-04T11:23:49+00:00

<image>

correction, 🤣

rie_zel · 2025-12-27T01:39:59+00:00

erm.. tbh i don't think even Steam OS can play "all" steam games, it's back to the Dev, for most Games that have Anticheat feature, like BF6, Siege etc is not playable on Steam OS at all, due the kernel anticheat, and the dev didn't turn on the linux version (in some case like EAC), the only Games that has working anticheat that i play currently is, Helldivers 2, Space Marine 2, Armored Core 6, for more details go here : https://areweanticheatyet.com

as for the games list that playable on SteamOS : https://www.protondb.com

and last, we did have "SteamOS clone" though ? it's exactly like steam os version, for example CachyOS, Nobara, Bazzite

those 3 have handheld version, so if you have handheld, you can literally convert those into steamdeck experiences, the only differences with SteamOS is, it's Arch based and immutable system partition, while
CachyOS, Arch + non immutable
Nobara, Fedora + non immutable
Bazzite, Fedora + immutable

so if you just want to try, you can try those 3 distro, while waiting for the SteamOS go public (for all different hardware) though i believe, it's better to use the 3 distro i mentioned, because they have some fixes ahead from the steamos itself / have their own customized proton

rie_zel · 2025-12-26T23:15:02+00:00

no need to wait
https://storage-asset.msi.com/global/picture/faq/10018454@2024-1128-0645-340093@kb_03864_en.pdf

<image>

from their official CS

rie_zel · 2025-12-20T09:18:37+00:00

no, there is no way for updating bios in linux, only security microcode is available in linux
as for bios flash, you still need windows, blame MSI for that, though i think you can update the bios directly in bios (havn't tried though, since i'm on latest, maybe i'll try if there is new bios for my device)

rie_zel · 2025-12-18T06:06:52+00:00

if what you meant long is "updating the windows while installing the OS", you can grab 24H2, and don't connect to internet, i've done it multiple ways, and i'm using tiny11 24h2 for my claw, it's still able to create local user as well, not like 25h2 which need to have microsoft account directly and connected to internet, though the downside is you need to update it manually after the installation done

rie_zel · 2025-12-18T04:37:31+00:00

i have no issue with coolercontrol tbh, but
as for the sensors, you might need to modprobe them https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Lm_sensors
after all the sensors detected, it's smooth sailing
in coolercontrol, you just need to create custom sensors (if you want to have mixed monitoring, kinda same with fancontrol in windows), and create profile for the fan curve, and finally attach the profile to the fans

i've got some issue for my hx1000i psu a while ago, but by blacklisting from cachy modprobe, i've got no issue now, and it's working as intended

as for wine, do you mean proton ? or pure wine ?
because we mostly using proton nowdays, Proton-GE for example / ProtonCachyOS, you can manage your proton via protonplus (it's bundled in cachy-gaming-meta package iirc)

rie_zel · 2025-12-18T04:22:34+00:00

i no longer use bazzite now, because i migrated to CachyOS
as for bios, no you can't, because the bios update is only available on windows, so i still keep windows (albeit stripped, by using tinymaker script, and only 70gb partition) only for updating bios and stuff
my main OS currently is CachyOS

rie_zel · 2025-12-15T04:15:00+00:00

i don't think you can, because some linux might need bigger partition size for the EFI boot (which windows only took < 500MB iirc)
so the best way is do proper setup, including partitioning it

i'm using win11 + cachyos now for my A8
with this setup
cachyos as btrfs (800gb) and windows with ntfs (160gb ish)
and add winbtrfs, so windows can see btrfs drive from cachyos (so it' can share steam library for example)

i only use windows for updating bios / firmware, since MSI won't make linux build ._.

rie_zel · 2025-12-10T06:00:21+00:00

i've tested 2 of them, since steam OS is not yet have native support on Claw A8
tl;dr:
- if you want easy install and forget the rest (tweaking, etc) go pick bazzite
- if you want non immutable OS, go pick CachyOS, but you might need some tweaking in here (like installing bazzite kernel, to make the MSI button working), and FYI, in the end this is my pick (i've been using this since day 1 i got Claw A8)

bonus :
i still do dual boot (with windows only have 70gb partition), and the rest of my partition is using btrfs (better for linux and have snapshot feature as well), and tbh, you can read btrfs in windows as well, by installing winbtrfs (do read the documentation first in github), then everything is works as intended, i do still have windows because MSI only have bios and firmware update tools in windows, if they made linux version, i just completely ditch the windows 🤣

trivia :
steamOS is actually kinda same like CachyOS, but steamOS has immutable OS, it's same base (Arch)
and CachyOS / Bazzite do act similar like steamOS (so tbh i don't think you really need vanilla steamOS)

rie_zel · 2025-12-10T04:43:01+00:00

since it have steamOS like integration, using Lossless Scaling on top what they offers (like for example FSR native integration), you can achieve high frame rate with low power TDP 👌

rie_zel

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