Intel's Broadwell i7-5775C Runs Much Happier On Fedora 22 Than Ubuntu Linux

Written by Michael Larabel in Fedora on 14 July 2015 at 12:13 PM EDT. 22 Comments
FEDORA
While there's been some stability issues / kernel panics with the high-end Core i7 5775C "Broadwell" processor on Linux, I've found out that Fedora 22 yields a much better experience than Ubuntu 15.04/15.10.

With using the MSI Z97-G45 GAMING motherboard that doesn't require any BIOS/UEFI tweaks to run better on Ubuntu, it still was locking up some times as noted in the article yesterday, but it was better than the other Intel Z97 motherboards tested with this socketed Broadwell processor. On Ubuntu these problems persisted with various versions of the Linux kernel tried from Linux 3.19 through Linux 4.2 Git. Interestingly, these kernel panics have vanished when switching to Fedora 22.


After finally getting some of the initial Core i7 5775C Linux tests done yesterday, I decided to switch over to Fedora 22 on this MSI Z97 + Intel Core i7 5775C setup. Fedora 22 with its stable release updates is relying on the Linux 4.0.7 kernel, Mesa 10.6.1, and GCC 5.1.1. In stressing this system since last night, I've yet to run into any stability problems or kernel panics!
fedora-22-broadwell-h

You can check out some of these initial Fedora Broadwell i7-5775C numbers via this OpenBenchmarking.org result file. Fedora 22's kernel still uses the Intel P-State scaling driver and other common CPU-related config options with the kernel's tested on Ubuntu -- both the distribution kernels and the mainline/vanilla kernel releases, but it turns out to being a vastly better experience on Fedora.

I'm still trying to figure out what Fedora is doing differently than Ubuntu to make for no crashes, but I'm certainly a lot happier now being able to pound this system hard with benchmarks to exploit the great performance potential of this quad-core Broadwell CPU with Iris Pro 6200 graphics. Stay tuned for a lot of Broadwell Fedora tests coming up...

If this is due to another Kconfig difference for the Linux kernel, it does beg to be discussed whether the Linux kernel is becoming too complex, too much legacy code, and too many items being tacked on, that distribution kernels are varying too much these days... This comes right after finding out newly-enabled Kconfig options for Ubuntu's "mainline" Linux 4.2 kernel are responsible for failing to boot many systems, separate from this Broadwell Linux testing.
Related News
About The Author
Michael Larabel

Michael Larabel is the principal author of Phoronix.com and founded the site in 2004 with a focus on enriching the Linux hardware experience. Michael has written more than 20,000 articles covering the state of Linux hardware support, Linux performance, graphics drivers, and other topics. Michael is also the lead developer of the Phoronix Test Suite, Phoromatic, and OpenBenchmarking.org automated benchmarking software. He can be followed via Twitter, LinkedIn, or contacted via MichaelLarabel.com.

Popular News This Week