Without hardware encryption, BitLocker switches to software-based encryption so there is a dip in your drive's performance. In modern versions of Windows such as Windows 8.1 and Windows 10, BitLocker supports hardware-accelerated encryption if certain requirements are met (the drive has to support it, Secure Boot must be on and many other requirements). BitLocker can utilize your PC's Trusted Platform Module (TPM) to store its encryption key secrets. It was implemented exclusively for Windows and has no official support in alternative operating systems. BitLocker was first introduced in Windows Vista and still exists in Windows 10.
