People say that GCC (GNU Compiler Collection) cannot generate effective code compared to other proprietary compilers. Is it a myth or reality? We will try to figure out how things really are with GCC. So, how can GCC compiler produce more effective code? We will describe some optional hints for x86 Linux platform "C", "C++" and "Fortran" compilation that help you get more performance from GCC. It should be useful for those customers and developers who need higher performance, but do not use proprietary compilers for various reasons.