One of the first things I did was install the system and some games to test it out and get an idea on performance.

However at the beginning of this project I actually had to send the motherboard away for RMA believing there was an issue with the iGPU connection on it (which we'll send off in the next one). 

But for now I had another motherboard of the same socket I could use so got installing.

My original plan was to install Ubuntu to have as the OS, while most of the games I want to run are native to WIndows the ability to play Windows games on Linux has greatly improved.

So I put together the rough system,

Installed Ubuntu Budgie

And then gave it a try. I installed steam with a few games to try out but...

Unfortunately it did run too slow. I suspect that while Proton is very good with some games and newer hardware that instead the iGPU isn't the best optimised for gaming under Linux.

So next I installed Windows 10, I had a spare license key and the install went smoothly. 

And the games did seem to run much smoother. I do suspect that the better drivers helped but as well proton I believe converts the Direct X calls to OpenGL which isn't as optimal as just running on Direct X.