Linux 4.9 Is Showing Some Performance Improvements On A Core i7 6800K

Written by Michael Larabel in Linux Kernel on 19 October 2016 at 01:34 PM EDT. 14 Comments
LINUX KERNEL
Now that Linux 4.9-rc1 is out, it's onward to testing this new Linux kernel on the dozens of test systems at Phoronix. With some early testing on a Core i7 6800K Broadwell-E box, there are some promising improvements.

Linux 4.9 is a big kernel and introduces many new features. I did some tests on my Core i7-6800K system so far (aside from the daily systems part of LinuxBenchmarking.com) and there were several instances of performance changes to note with this high-end system.
Linux 4.9-rc1 Era Early Testing Broadwell-E

As that system has a GTX TITAN X, for this early Linux 4.8.2 vs. 4.9 Git benchmarking only CPU/disk/system benchmarks were utilized via the Phoronix Test Suite.
Linux 4.9-rc1 Era Early Testing Broadwell-E

Linux 4.9-rc1 Era Early Testing Broadwell-E

Linux 4.9-rc1 Era Early Testing Broadwell-E

Linux 4.9-rc1 Era Early Testing Broadwell-E

Linux 4.9-rc1 Era Early Testing Broadwell-E

Improvements in some of the disk tests, but the FS-Mark quad-threaded test seemed to show a loss.
Linux 4.9-rc1 Era Early Testing Broadwell-E

Linux 4.9-rc1 Era Early Testing Broadwell-E

In a few CPU focused tests there also appeared to be some regressions...
Linux 4.9-rc1 Era Early Testing Broadwell-E

Linux 4.9-rc1 Era Early Testing Broadwell-E

But positive movement still in others.
Linux 4.9-rc1 Era Early Testing Broadwell-E

Linux 4.9-rc1 Era Early Testing Broadwell-E

Linux 4.9 doesn't have the Intel Turbo Boost Max 3.0 patches for benefiting this CPU, but those should make it for Linux 4.10.
Linux 4.9-rc1 Era Early Testing Broadwell-E

Linux 4.9-rc1 Era Early Testing Broadwell-E

The PostgreSQL numbers were most surprising from this round of Linux 4.9 benchmarking.
Linux 4.9-rc1 Era Early Testing Broadwell-E

While there were some regressions, overall the Linux 4.9 performance looks to be moving in the right direction on this i7-6800K system. Stay tuned for more Linux 4.9 kernel benchmarks shortly on Phoronix. More of the i7-6800K Linux 4.8 vs. 4.9 benchmarks via this OpenBenchmarking.org result file.
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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.

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