Tip, if you go with dual booting, use the windows boot manager and not a linux bootloader. If you use a linux bootloader be prepared to have to fix it with a rescue disk every now and again since Windows will fuck it up with updates sometimes.

Been through the same situation. Find a distro that you like, any decently user friendly distro will handle setting up the dual boot for you.

No need to reinstall games etc, just make sure you partition has enough storage for linux and pick that part during the install.

After that start slowly transitioning your games to linux. In steam toggle the compatibility setting, this will try to run proton over your games. Then only boot into windows when its necessary for VR/online games.

Sorry I'm here not to answer, but actually ask a question as I've recently-ish moved to Linux basically permanently and I plan on focusing a bit more on simracing in the future: what's the issue with Linux? Is it peripherals like steering wheel lacking drivers?

simple windows 10 is not the best idea in some cases. its gonna cry and whine everyday about update, and sooner some of the launchers are going to ask for a newer version. if you are serious about 10 tho, i would recommend 10 ltsc, which is gonna give you plenty more years of security updates, and has a lot less bloat.

You can dual boot both Windows and Linux, and the reboot to Windows when you want to play games, and reboot to Linux for other stuff.

A bit of work, and extra space needed, but you can easily do that.

Would it be possible or safe to keep gaming on win 10 until it's totally not supported, but not using it for any shopping etc where sensitive info is being transferred ?

That's how many of us upgraded to Linux.

You CAN but it's a matter of time before you'll have to upgrade to 11 or go 100% Linux because drivers and game clients eventually stop supporting EoL operating systems.

but not using it for any shopping etc where sensitive info is being transferred ?

Shopping is done through the browser so it won't matter what OS you're using. If you're concerned about security, Linux probably isn't doing you any favors.

That's what I'm going to do. My main game is Elite Dangerous and between VR, HOSAS, a future IR Track, and all the helper programs Linux just doesn't keep up. As we approach October the gaming rig is going to be isolated. Looks like I'll be learning how to make subnets to wall it off completely.

It's a bit advanced, but I have a GPU in my server that doubles as a home theater / couch gaming thing. I PCI passthrough the GPU to a windows VM where I get near baremetal performamce.
It runs ontop of proxmox and has a bunch of containers and VMs for my other stuff.
Currently, the linux part is headless, as in I don't need a screen for the linux stuff on there, but it'd be a matter of hooking up the onboards graphics to another monitor input.
I like the idea because unlike dualboot, it all runs at the same time.
My other desktop's mobo has issues with vfio and iommu groups so I can't really do this on that other machine, but for my next build, good iommu groups will be a deciding factor.
I'd love to have a similar setup for my desktop and just switch monitor inputs or KB/mouse USB switch between both.

You would need to reinstall your games on Linux, to answer your question. Steam and Heroic Games Launcher make this process quite painless, but yeah, still gotta do it. NTFS supports ignoring upper/lowercase, whereas Linux (and other Unix-y systems) do not, at least by default. This can cause all kinds of weird issues down the line.

Now that said, one thing you could do is make a new steam library on Windows to a drive or partition formatted as ExFAT, then use Steam on Windows to transfer your games to that new library. If you did that, I think you could simply add that steam library to your instance of steam running on Linux Mint. Combined with setting steam to use Proton for any Windows game (it's just one checkbox to do so), I think maybe you'd be in business.

I see a couple of other comments reccomending exfat; I've had problems with exfat with both the Steam flatpak and the Steam system package. Exfat does not support linux symlinks which are needed for some if not most Steam games to work properly. You will have to re-install your games onto an ext4 or linux-friendly filesystem, for Steam at least.

Emulation and GOG is a different story though. I have both on an exfat drive and I can access and play them with both windows and linux.

In terms of security, you will be at a slight risk using an unsupported os in the future. But hey, some people I know are still on Windows 7, so it isn't a huge risk. As long as you practice basic computer hygene and have an antivirus running (windows defender (easy), malwarebytes (secure), or clamAV (open source) are decent picks) you'll be fine.

Yes. Dual boot, or even simpler, try running your games in Windows VM in Linux. Performance hit should be minimal.

Absolutely yes. You'd be better buying a dedicated PC for Linux tho.

t. Got a Orange pi 5 MAX with Linux installed. It's tricky to set up, but worths a lot in the end (low power usage while providing a decent performance -- can be used as a "mini server" to host your own personal file server or anything else you'd like while providing a smooth experience for anything your job may require from it.)

I run all my games through the Steam Proton compatibility layer and don’t miss Windows for anything. I don’t play multiplayer games outside of Marvel Rivals though so your mileage may vary. Single player games perform flawlessly.

Try dual booting for that extra piece of mins but if you’re anything like me and only do text editing, gaming, and web browsing on your machine, you might not need to stick to Windows at all.