linux VS mainline

Interesting! I've used Linux Mint for the last 5+ years (and am using the Xanmod kernel, which is on 6.6), but have always been Pop OS curious. This increases my curiosity, I may have to give it a go on my laptop.

https://xanmod.org/

For those on Linux mint you can install the xanmod kernel for improved performance, specifically tailored for gaming on Debian based distros.

Generally, Arch is the better platform for getting various kernel versions, but there's always stuff like Xanmod which is easy to do in any distro. Worst case, could always use linux-tkg script to build your own kernel - with that kind of hardware it shouldn't take long for the kernel to be built.

Still a bit of a noob. I haven't heard of that one. Do you mean this: https://xanmod.org/? Is there any stability or compatibility issues that come with it?

The ArchWiki has some tips that can help tuning your system to squeeze more performance: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/gaming

This launcher does help too: https://github.com/FeralInteractive/gamemode

On top of that, you can use a patched kernel like: https://xanmod.org/

You can check support status for games here: https://www.protondb.com/

If you run games via Proton with DXVK, you can use the environment variable DXVK_HUD=1 to show a HUD with an FPS meter. Some others prefer mangohud.

Setting your CPU frequency scaling governor and GPU to performance mode also helps.

Xanmod Kernel

There are different drivers available but the best way is to install linux kernel 6.3 which has built in support for rtl wifi. I also have similar adapter and had the problem. I recommend xanmod kernel because it is newer and has the needed driver and it is focussed on desktop performance.

For Debian : https://xanmod.org

Alternatively, try the xanmod kernel https://xanmod.org/

See also https://github.com/bkw777/mainline which offers a UI to install the mainline kernels from mainline kernels PPA.

You are referring to this, right? https://github.com/bkw777/mainline

use the Mainline Tool to install the latest kernel: https://github.com/bkw777/mainline

on Ubuntu or derivates of it like Linux Mint just use https://github.com/bkw777/mainline which pulls newer updates automatically

Lastly, of you want to play with kernels, install mainline.....https://github.com/bkw777/mainline

On Mint 21? I don't think so. The only possible way would be to install Mint 20.3 which comes with the older Cinnamon before the Mutter rebase. You could then install a newer kernel like 6.3 using Mainline, but you would be stuck with an Ubuntu 20.04 base which means much older apps in the repositories.

Out of the box Ubuntu and derivatives (and also Debian upstream of Ubuntu) are probably shipping with older kernels. Normally I'd just suggest installing the GUI kernel version management tool mainline (IIRC mainline should just be available in the Ubuntu software center) and just installing a more recent kernel to get support. Though you indicated you didn't want to touch the command line, it is also very possible to load drivers that are not shipped with the kernel if someone were willing to do so.