Processors Linux Reviews & Articles

There have been 421 Linux hardware reviews and benchmark articles on Phoronix for processors. Separately, check out our news section for related product news.

AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX / ASUS ROG Strix G15 AMD Advantage On Linux
AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX / ASUS ROG Strix G15 AMD Advantage On Linux

With an AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX Zen 3 processor and Radeon RX 6800M graphics, the ASUS ROG Strix G15 laptop may be promising for those wanting high performance and graphics backed by AMD's much enjoyed open-source Linux GPU driver stack. Plus this ASUS ROG Strix G15 (G513QY) is one of the first two "AMD Advantage" laptops. But when it comes to using it on Linux, it's not without some struggles before being able to enjoy the compelling performance.

22 July 2021 - 38 Comments
Intel Core i7 1185G7 Linux Performance
Intel Core i7 1185G7 Linux Performance

For nearly one year already we've been delivering many Intel Tiger Lake Linux benchmarks using the Core i7 1165G7 while for those curious about the i7-1185G7 that is becoming more common with newer notebooks, here are some benchmarks of the Core i7 1185G7 Tiger Lake against various other notebooks/processors on hand for comparison.

15 July 2021 - 4 Comments
AMD EPYC 7343 / EPYC 7443 Linux Performance
AMD EPYC 7343 / EPYC 7443 Linux Performance

Since the AMD EPYC 7003 "Milan" series launch back in March we have carried out many benchmarks with their flagship processors like the EPYC 7763 and 7713 processors and some of the frequency optimized SKUs, but what about the performance lower down the product stack? Up for benchmarking today is a look at the AMD EPYC 7343 and 7743 processors in 1P and 2P configurations against other AMD EPYC Milan processors as well as Intel's Xeon Platinum 8380 Ice Lake processors.

16 June 2021 - 4 Comments
Intel Xeon Platinum 8380 Ice Lake Linux Performance vs. AMD EPYC Milan, Cascade Lake
Intel Xeon Platinum 8380 Ice Lake Linux Performance vs. AMD EPYC Milan, Cascade Lake

Last month Intel launched their 3rd Gen Xeon Scalable "Ice Lake" processors for these 10nm server processors and SKUs up to 40 cores while boasting around a 20% IPC improvement overall and big reported improvements for AI workloads and more. Recently we received an Intel Ice Lake reference server with the dual Xeon Platinum 8380 processors so we can carry out our own performance tests. In this initial article is our first look at the Xeon Platinum 8380 Linux support in general and a number of performance benchmarks.

12 May 2021 - 14 Comments
AMD EPYC 72F3 Linux Performance For 8-Core Zen 3 Server CPU
AMD EPYC 72F3 Linux Performance For 8-Core Zen 3 Server CPU

Over the past month we have been quite impressed by the performance of the EPYC 7003 series Milan processors when looking at the top-tier parts, but how does Zen 3 do for lower-tier server CPUs? Recently we were supplied with two EPYC 72F3 processors from AMD for these 8-core high performance SKUs. In our initial look at the EPYC 72F3 Linux performance is seeing how they compare to the similar previous-generation EPYC 7F32 processor.

26 April 2021 - 13 Comments
Linux's P-State Performance Governor Shows Unexpectedly Big Boosts For The Intel Core i9-11900K
Linux's P-State Performance Governor Shows Unexpectedly Big Boosts For The Intel Core i9-11900K

The P-State and CPUFreq "performance" governors on Linux with desktop Intel/AMD processors can be of help for gaming and other select workloads by tending to keep the CPU clock frequencies higher than the default ondemand (CPUFreq) or powersave (P-State) governors used by nearly all Linux distributions. But with Intel's new Core i9 11900K "Rocket Lake" is a dramatic difference in power and performance between the Intel P-State performance and powersave governors than what we have seen over the years with prior generations of Intel Core processors.

22 April 2021 - 28 Comments
AMD EPYC 7003 Series Performance In The Cloud With Microsoft Azure HBv3 HPC VMs
AMD EPYC 7003 Series Performance In The Cloud With Microsoft Azure HBv3 HPC VMs

One of the exciting elements of last month's AMD EPYC 7003 "Milan" series launch was having same-day availability in public clouds. Microsoft as one of AMD's cloud partners worked closely to deliver launch-day availability in their public cloud using EPYC 7003 series processors with the new "HBv3" instances focused on high performance computing (HPC) virtual machines. Here are some benchmarks of the Azure HPv3 instances compared to prior generation Microsoft Azure HPC instances available on-demand in their cloud.

19 April 2021 - 4 Comments
Intel Launches 3rd Gen Xeon Scalable "Ice Lake" CPUs With Up To 40 Cores
Intel Launches 3rd Gen Xeon Scalable "Ice Lake" CPUs With Up To 40 Cores

Intel today is introducing the 3rd Gen "Ice Lake" Xeon Scalable processors that top out with the Xeon Platinum 8380 offering 40 cores with a 2.3GHz base frequency and 3.0GHz all-core turbo while having a 270 Watt TDP and launching for ~$8099 USD. Here are more details on the Intel Ice Lake Xeon Scalable line-up.

6 April 2021 - 48 Comments
Intel Core i5 11600K + Core i9 11900K Linux Performance Across ~400 Benchmarks
Intel Core i5 11600K + Core i9 11900K Linux Performance Across ~400 Benchmarks

Today's the day that we can finally talk about the performance of Intel's "Rocket Lake" processors under Linux. The past several weeks we have been extensively testing the Core i5 11600K and Core i9 11900K processors under Linux. Here is a look at the very exciting Gen12 Xe Graphics performance out of these new desktop CPUs, the Linux gaming performance, and then over 300 other benchmarks looking at the CPU/system performance of the i5-11600K / i9-11900K processors against the prior generation Comet Lake parts and the AMD Ryzen 5000 series competition.

30 March 2021 - 44 Comments
AMD EPYC 7003 "Milan" Linux Benchmarks - Superb Performance
AMD EPYC 7003 "Milan" Linux Benchmarks - Superb Performance

It's been one and a half years already since the EPYC 7002 "Rome" processors launched. It's hard to think it's been that long due not only to the pandemic but the incredible performance of these Zen 2 server processors. The EPYC 7002 series continues to largely outperform Intel's Xeon Scalable processors and while Ice Lake is coming soon, for now AMD is expanding their lead with today's EPYC 7003 "Milan" processor launch. We have begun our testing of AMD EPYC Milan processors in recent weeks under Linux and have preliminary performance figures to share today as well as more information on these next-gen server/HPC processors.

15 March 2021 - 42 Comments
Linux 5.11 Is Now Looking Great For AMD Zen 2 / Zen 3 Performance
Linux 5.11 Is Now Looking Great For AMD Zen 2 / Zen 3 Performance

Not only is the AMD "CPU frequency invariance regression" from that new support with the in-development Linux 5.11 kernel on course to address the performance shortcomings I outlined last month, but with the patched kernel for a number of workloads the performance is now ahead of where it was at with Linux 5.10.

21 January 2021 - 16 Comments
Ampere Altra vs. Amazon Graviton2 Linux Performance Benchmarks

Last month we provided benchmarks of Ampere Altra against Intel Xeon and AMD EPYC with the Q80-33 CPUs in a 2P / 160 core configuration. From that article, reader questions were raised about how this high performance ARM server chip compares to Amazon's Graviton2 processors, so in this article today are such benchmarks. The Graviton2 via an AWS m6g.metal instance with 64 cores was compared to the Ampere Altra Q80-33 in its 2P 160 core configuration, 1P 80 core configuration, and then a 64 core configuration to match the Graviton2 by disabling the excess cores.

8 January 2021 - 27 Comments
Ampere Altra Performance Shows It Can Compete With - Or Even Outperform - AMD EPYC & Intel Xeon
Ampere Altra Performance Shows It Can Compete With - Or Even Outperform - AMD EPYC & Intel Xeon

While the talk in recent weeks has been about the performance of Apple's M1 ARM chip and then rumors there might be a 32 core chip in the pipe, there is already something much stronger: Ampere Altra has begun shipping and its flagship 80-core SoC with up to two sockets per server can easily take on the AMD EPYC 7742 "Rome" and Intel Xeon Platinum 8280 "Cascade Lake" performance across a variety of workloads. Here is our initial look at the Ampere Altra performance on Linux in our independent performance benchmarks.

15 December 2020 - 169 Comments
The Spectre Mitigation Performance Impact On AMD Ryzen 5000 "Zen 3" Processors
The Spectre Mitigation Performance Impact On AMD Ryzen 5000 "Zen 3" Processors

For those wondering what the current cost is to the default Spectre mitigation protections on the new AMD Ryzen 5000 series "Zen 3" processors, here are a set of performance tests looking at that overhead with the still relevant mitigations applied by default and then if forcing them off. The Zen 3 mitigation overhead was compared then to similar AMD Zen 2 and Zen+ processors.

2 December 2020 - 8 Comments
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X Linux Performance
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X Linux Performance

Over the past week we have looked at the AMD Ryzen 9 5900X/5950X Linux performance as well as that of the lower-end -- but still very powerful -- Ryzen 5 5600X. Today we are striking in the middle in looking at the last Zen 3 CPU model for the moment: the Ryzen 7 5800X. The AMD Ryzen 7 5800X is a $449 USD processor that is packing eight cores / sixteen threads, a 3.8GHz base clock. 4.7GHz boost clock, 32MB L3 cache, and has a 105 Watt TDP.

12 November 2020 - 81 Comments
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Linux Performance
AMD Ryzen 5 5600X Linux Performance

Following yesterday's launch-day AMD Ryzen 9 5900X/5950X benchmarks that showed the utter domination of Zen 3 carrying over just fine in the Linux realm, today we are looking at the performance of the Ryzen 5 5600X on Ubuntu against other Intel/AMD processors. The Ryzen 5 5600X is AMD's new $299 USD part that offers six cores / twelve threads and incredible uplift still over Zen 2 / Zen+ processors while outperforming Intel's Comet Lake competition.

6 November 2020 - 77 Comments
AMD Ryzen 9 5900X + Ryzen 9 5950X Dominate On Linux
AMD Ryzen 9 5900X + Ryzen 9 5950X Dominate On Linux

The AMD Ryzen 9 5900X and Ryzen 9 5950X are hands-down incredible winners. While processor company marketing claims are sometimes dubious and not necessarily relevant to Linux users and their open-source workloads/software, after testing the Ryzen 9 5900X and 5950X the past several weeks the performance has been incredibly compelling with significant single and multi-threaded performance uplift over Zen 2 and easily thrashing Intel's current desktop offerings with over 200 benchmarks conducted for launch-day.

5 November 2020 - 145 Comments
Further Exploring The Intel Tiger Lake Core i7-1165G7 Performance On Ubuntu Linux
Further Exploring The Intel Tiger Lake Core i7-1165G7 Performance On Ubuntu Linux

Last week I published initial benchmarks of the Intel Core i7 1165G7 "Tiger Lake" performance on Linux with the Dell XPS 13 9310 Developer Edition laptop. Of most surprise from those preliminary Linux figures were finding that for some single-threaded workloads the performance was actually worse than the previous generation Ice Lake. Since then I've been running more tests around the clock with some interesting discoveries to note today. It is possible to enhance the single-threaded performance so it's performing better than Ice Lake as would be expected, but comes with lowering the multi-threaded performance compared to the results shared last week.

19 October 2020 - 28 Comments
Intel Xeon vs. AMD EPYC Performance On The Linux 5.8 Kernel
Intel Xeon vs. AMD EPYC Performance On The Linux 5.8 Kernel

Given that Ubuntu 20.10 will be shipping with Linux 5.8 out-of-the-box along with other autumn 2020 Linux distributions where Linux 5.9 is landing too late, here is a fresh comparison of several different AMD EPYC 7002 "Rome" and Intel Xeon "Cascade Lake" processors on this current stable kernel release for seeing how the performance is standing up as we approach this next round of Linux distribution releases.

2 October 2020 - 5 Comments
Intel 11th Gen Core "Tiger Lake" Launches
Intel 11th Gen Core "Tiger Lake" Launches

Intel Tiger Lake will soon begin appearing in laptops with an upgraded CPU architecture, the all new Iris Xe (Gen12) graphics, new AI capabilities, Thunderbolt 4, PCI Express 4.0, WiFi 6, and other new functionality. The Gen12 graphics have me most excited but there should be healthy improvements as well on the CPU side and not to mention improved connectivity.

2 September 2020 - 21 Comments
Intel Celeron G5900 + Pentium Gold G6400 Benchmarks - Low-Price Comet Lake CPUs
Intel Celeron G5900 + Pentium Gold G6400 Benchmarks - Low-Price Comet Lake CPUs

While we have looked a lot at how the Core i9 10900K performs at the top-end of Intel's Comet Lake line-up as well as with the likes of the i5-10600K and i3-10100, here is our first look at the very bottom of the stack with the new Celeron and Pentium processors. Benchmarked today are the Celeron G5900 as a ~$40 processor and the Pentium Gold G6400 that retails for around $60 and compared against other low-end Intel and AMD processors as well as older Intel Core i3 CPUs.

30 July 2020 - 13 Comments
AMD Ryzen "Renoir" CPU Frequency Scaling Governor Performance
AMD Ryzen "Renoir" CPU Frequency Scaling Governor Performance

With 129 tests carried out while also looking at the CPU power consumption and temperatures during benchmarking, here is a look at how the CPU frequency scaling governor plays a role in the performance of the latest-generation AMD Ryzen 4000 "Renoir" laptops for Linux.

22 July 2020 - 12 Comments
The Linux Performance For AMD Rome vs. Intel Cascade Lake One Year After Launch
The Linux Performance For AMD Rome vs. Intel Cascade Lake One Year After Launch

With the Intel 2nd Gen Xeon Scalable (Cascade Lake) processors having turned a year old in April and next month marking one year since the launch of the AMD EPYC 7002 (Rome) series, here are fresh benchmarks of the dual Xeon Platinum 8280 versus the AMD EPYC 7742 when testing the Linux software stack from early 2019 and then again using a bleeding-edge Linux software stack as of this month. This shows how the Linux software performance has evolved over the past year for both Intel and AMD on the server front as well as how the current top-end SKUs are competing right now.

16 July 2020 - 6 Comments

421 processors articles published on Phoronix.