CachyOS

Family

arch

Based on

Arch

Release model

Rolling, with x86-64-v3 and v4 builds

Current

rolling

Init system

systemd

Default desktop

Plasma

NVIDIA

The installer offers the driver; legacy cards need the 580 AUR packages.

Systemd-free

No

32-bit support

No

As of

2026-10-09

Arch Linux, after someone tuned the carburetor.

CachyOS is Arch Linux with the tuning already done, which is a polite way of saying someone else touched the carburetor so you do not have to. It began in Germany in July 2021 under Peter Jung and Vladislav Nepogodin. The name comes from the CacULE scheduler. Packages are rebuilt for x86-64-v3, v4 and Zen 4 processors, and the kernel uses the BORE scheduler. Plasma is the default, with about 18 desktops on offer. The latest ISO is 260809, from 2026-08-09. The graphical package manager, Shelly, was rewritten from C# to Zig. The wiki advises against installing it in a virtual machine, which is the most honest sentence in distro marketing. It needs 3 GB of RAM and 30 GB of disk.

See the whole top 10

• StabilityStability: 3 out of 53/5
• Easy installEasy install: 4 out of 54/5
• Daily comfortDaily comfort: 4 out of 54/5
• Docs and helpDocs and help: 3 out of 53/5
• Fresh softwareFresh software: 5 out of 55/5
• GamingGaming: 5 out of 55/5
• DevelopmentDevelopment: 4 out of 54/5
• Old hardwareOld hardware: 2 out of 52/5
• ControlControl: 5 out of 55/5
• LightnessLightness: 4 out of 54/5
• NVIDIA, recent cardsNVIDIA, recent cards: 5 out of 55/5
• NVIDIA, older cardsNVIDIA, older cards: 2 out of 52/5

• The optimised repositories want a reasonably modern CPU.
• Rolling release, so stability is your job some weeks.
• NVIDIA 590 dropped Pascal, Maxwell and Volta cards. Those need the legacy 580 branch (AUR nvidia-580xx-dkms), which gets security fixes only until October 2028.

• Official site
• Download page