@adr In some aspects Linux has had an advantage in low level fundamentals just because it's a more performant OS for the things it was designed for. It was always the graphics stack that held it back because everything was designed for Windows.
For example, when playing with friends online (2012?), I was always the first to load a map because of a better file system and kernel I/O. I just had to disable particle effects and still had worse FPS.
If graphics is solved, sky is the limit.