Linux 5.11 Is Now Looking Great For AMD Zen 2 / Zen 3 Performance

For various server workloads, the AMD EPYC Zen 2 performance is now either the same or faster than Linux 5.10 if using the Schedutil governor default.

With the tests on the EPYC 7702 server, the Linux 5.11 patched performance not only closes the regression but about 7% faster than Linux 5.10 stable.

While the patch hasn't yet been mainlined, it will presumably make it there within the next few days (it's a fix, after all). At that point, Linux 5.11 is looking great for AMD Zen 2 / Zen 3. Not only is the performance regression resolved, but the performance with Linux 5.11 with the newer AMD hardware is looking better than where it was at Linux 5.10 and prior -- if you are using the default "Schedutil" governor.

In addition to the improved performance, Linux 5.11 also has many other features benefiting AMD Linux customers from better Radeon graphics support to the AMD SFH driver for laptops finally being mainliend, Zen PowerCap support, s2idle improvements, Zen 3 EPYC support in the AMD Energy driver, SB-TSI sensor driver support, a new SoC PMC driver, SEV-ES host support for KVM, and more.

The patch for now can be found on the kernel mailing list. Linux 5.11 stable will be out in February so there still is sufficient time for this patch to land.

Stay tuned for more Linux 5.11 benchmarks in the days ahead. Those that enjoy the investigative benchmarking that led to the original discovery last month over the regression and now the follow-up benchmarking, consider joining Phoronix Premium, a PayPal tip is accepted, or at the very least to not use any ad-blocker when viewing the content. Now back to benchmarking.