Lightweight distro for IT student: coding, light gaming, design tools (Figma/Canva), office, and editing - PopOS vs PikaOS vs CachyOS?

[Athx.]

Hey everyone, I'm a IT student switching to Linux for my coursework and personal projects. I need a distro that's lightweight but powerful enough for my workflow.
My specs:

• CPU: AMD Athlon Gold 3150G
• iGPU: Vega 3
• dGPU: Radeon 530
• RAM: 8GB (4GB 2400MHz + 4GB 3200MHz)
• Storage: SSD (OS) + HDD (data)

My use cases:

• Programming/coding (coursework & personal projects)
• Office work (writing, presentations, spreadsheets)
• Design tools (Figma, Canva for UI/UX and graphics)
• Light gaming
• Daily browsing/productivity
• Video/graphic editing

My current options:
I've been looking at PopOS, PikaOS, and CachyOS. They seem like good middle grounds—lightweight enough for my laptop but still feature-rich. However, I'm not sure which handles my specific workload best.
Questions:

1. Which of these three would you recommend for my use case?
2. Any known issues with Radeon 530 drivers on these distros?
3. Would 8GB RAM be sufficient for coding + design tools + light gaming simultaneously?
4. Are there any other distros you'd suggest that might be better suited?

I appreciate any guidance! Thanks in advance.

 

[Brickwizard]

lightweight but powerful

Pop is not lightweight and can be a pig to install on some kit due to lack of drivers, Medium/lightweight builds include Mint-LMDE [popular with Windows refugees] Parrot [home edition for general use or Security build for pen-testers] MX-Linux, Linux Lite, Debian stable [one of the oldest distribution and base for most other desktop builds]

 

[Athx.]

Pop is not lightweight and can be a pig to install on some kit due to lack of drivers, Medium/lightweight builds include Mint-LMDE [popular with Windows refugees] Parrot [home edition for general use or Security build for pen-testers] MX-Linux, Linux Lite, Debian stable [one of the oldest distribution and base for most other desktop builds]

Thanks for the detailed answer! Quick follow-up: You mentioned Mint-LMDE, MX-Linux, and others, but I also shortlisted PikaOS and CachyOS. Have you tried either of these? How do they compare to your recommendations for my use case (coding + design tools + light gaming)? Or should I just test-drive them myself?