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Is The Gentoo-Based Calculate Linux Faster Than Other Distributions?

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  • Is The Gentoo-Based Calculate Linux Faster Than Other Distributions?

    Phoronix: Is The Gentoo-Based Calculate Linux Faster Than Other Distributions?

    Yesterday I published the results of a 6-way Linux distribution performance comparison but not part of that original article were any Gentoo Linux results. However, with Calculate Linux 15 having been released yesterday and is a well known Gentoo derivative, I decided to run some extra benchmarks...

    Phoronix, Linux Hardware Reviews, Linux hardware benchmarks, Linux server benchmarks, Linux benchmarking, Desktop Linux, Linux performance, Open Source graphics, Linux How To, Ubuntu benchmarks, Ubuntu hardware, Phoronix Test Suite

  • #2
    I don't know why anybody would think it'd be faster simply for being gentoo based, doesn't gentoos speed come from everything being compilied with flags tailored to your computer? To make a binary based gentoo distribution wouldn't you need to just have the compiler generically optimize, thus gaining no benifet from being "gentoo"? What did surprise me though was just how badly Caclulate Linux lost in many of the tests.

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    • #3
      Originally posted by chris200x9 View Post
      I don't know why anybody would think it'd be faster simply for being gentoo based, doesn't gentoos speed come from everything being compilied with flags tailored to your computer? To make a binary based gentoo distribution wouldn't you need to just have the compiler generically optimize, thus gaining no benifet from being "gentoo"? What did surprise me though was just how badly Caclulate Linux lost in many of the tests.
      probably, is compiled with debug information and default gcc settings

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      • #4
        The tests where Calculate Linux has really bad performance compared to the other distributions are graphics benchmarks. It's easy to explain why it looses on those: Linux 3.18 and Mesa 10.3.7.
        Gentoo, although a rolling release distribution, has a rather conservative policy when it comes to stabilizing core packages like these (which, it seems, gets handed on to Calculate Linux). While on Gentoo meanwhile Kernel 4.0.5 is marked as stable, with Mesa one still gets 10.3.7 unless one unmasks a more recent version by hand.

        I'd be curious how a Gentoo system would perform on the same machine when upgraded to Kernel 4.2 and Mesa 11 - both packages are available in these versions, but marked as unstable.

        Regarding compiler options: As long as one stays close to the sane defaults, the effect is clearly measurable, but rather minor. A huge effect can be seen by using strong optimization, but the effect is typically negative, so enabling strong optimization is only reasonable on a per-package basis. Using a binary-only distribution therefore will probably not cause a significant decrease in performance.

        Edit: Another thing that would have a huge effect would be the option to enable hand-written assembly for certain command set extensions available on the target machine. While there are some cases where hand-written assembly for other command set extensions are implemented, most of them are written to utilize SSE. Nearly all binary distributions meanwhile require SSE anyhow, so the performance benefit for Gentoo again is only present in those few packages that explicitly support additional extensions like AVX.
        Last edited by soulsource; 01 October 2015, 10:29 AM.

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        • #5
          The performance differences are generally coming from package versions. If they upgraded the kernel, mesa, and LLVM to the latest releases it would get those performance gains that were made at those versions.

          Don't misunderstand Gentoo, it's not about ricing, that's not going to help in any way, in fact it'll probably break things. What's great about gentoo is the ability to tweak the dependancy chains with use flags so that you can build much lighter userspaces.

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          • #6
            I'd like to give Fedora a shot but it's hard to give up AUR and rolling release. I wonder how Antergos compares to Manjaro.

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            • #7
              Originally posted by duby229 View Post
              The performance differences are generally coming from package versions. If they upgraded the kernel, mesa, and LLVM to the latest releases it would get those performance gains that were made at those versions.

              Don't misunderstand Gentoo, it's not about ricing, that's not going to help in any way, in fact it'll probably break things. What's great about gentoo is the ability to tweak the dependancy chains with use flags so that you can build much lighter userspaces.
              Or you can build in functionality that the binary distros don't usually ship enabled/compiled in.

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              • #8
                +1, update kernel, mesa and -march/-mtune=native
                Developer of Ultracopier/CatchChallenger and CEO of Confiared

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                • #9
                  you just forgot about -funroll-loops

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by chris200x9 View Post
                    I don't know why anybody would think it'd be faster simply for being gentoo based, doesn't gentoos speed come from everything being compilied with flags tailored to your computer? To make a binary based gentoo distribution wouldn't you need to just have the compiler generically optimize, thus gaining no benifet from being "gentoo"? What did surprise me though was just how badly Caclulate Linux lost in many of the tests.
                    Yes.
                    Gentoo speed comes from optimized compilation for your machine (which is obviously not the case for Calculate) and of course from the USE flags that allow you to tune dependencies and build lighter packages. Also, it depends of course on the version of the used libraries (e.g. mesa) and the compiler version.

                    The main benefit of Gentoo for me is to have learned quite a lot about my system and to have a very individual system.
                    "It's all about choice."

                    Stop TCPA, stupid software patents and corrupt politicians!

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