I put ubuntu on one of my computers around the turn of the century, and liked it so much that I deleted all of my windows installations within a month. Then I gritted my teeth every time I had to use windows at work.
A few years later, I tried Gentoo because everyone said, "Gentoo is just for elites! It's way too much for you to handle."
Needless to say, that wasn't true. Gentoo is easy, as long as you can follow instructions, and my gentoo server runs at least 10% faster* than any binary distribution, including clearlinux. I strongly recommend it for anyone who wants a fast, custom system.
Having said that, I've run Archlinux a lot over the last two decades as well. It's fun to play with, but if you want real speed, you'll have to recompile several packages every time you update. If you're going to do that, it's easier to use Gentoo anyway.
Note that the Gentoo developers do not encourage anyone to use it based on speed. That's because they give you all the tools you need to shoot yourself in the foot -- with regard to speed or any other property. But, as I say, if you can follow instructions, that won't be an issue.
* My server does a lot of things, but the most cpu-intensive function is trancoding video, which has run 24/7 for over a year now. (I have a lot of discs to encode.) 10% speed increase makes a big difference in a long project.
