How Ubuntu 16.10 With Linux 4.8/4.9 Compares To Early 3.x Kernels

Written by Michael Larabel in Linux Kernel on 23 October 2016 at 02:00 PM EDT. Add A Comment
LINUX KERNEL
When having out the Core i5 "Sandy Bridge" HP EliteBook this weekend besides comparing fresh OpenGL numbers to early Sandy Bridge results going back to 2012, I also compared Ubuntu 16.10 / Linux 4.8 and Linux 4.9 compared to older kernel benchmarks I did with the same system.

I am in the process of doing a fresh Linux 3.x/4.x kernel comparison from a Core i7 4790K Haswell system, but separately, this weekend with having pulled out the Sandy Bridge laptop I compared the fresh benchmarks to some of my older results on this hardware.
Intel Linux 3.3 To Linux 3.13 then Linux 4.8/4.8 Kernel Benchmarks

A couple years back I had done Linux 3.3 through Linux 3.3 kernel benchmarks on this Sandy Bridge notebook atop Ubuntu 13.10. With having the laptop out now and loading Ubuntu 16.10 to it, I compared te modern Linux performance figures to it plus also loaded on Linux 4.9 Git for a secondary run. Thus some fun weekend benchmarks of some old Linux results to modern-day Linux on the same Core i5 5250M notebook.
Intel Linux 3.3 To Linux 3.13 then Linux 4.8/4.8 Kernel Benchmarks

Intel Linux 3.3 To Linux 3.13 then Linux 4.8/4.8 Kernel Benchmarks

The EXT4 file-system performance on the SSD looks like it may have increased a bit since Linux 3.3 on Ubuntu 13.10.
Intel Linux 3.3 To Linux 3.13 then Linux 4.8/4.8 Kernel Benchmarks

In some tests like PostMark the results are more profound, but that may also be attributed to the newer GCC compiler on Ubuntu 16.10, so take these results as you wish.
Intel Linux 3.3 To Linux 3.13 then Linux 4.8/4.8 Kernel Benchmarks

Intel Linux 3.3 To Linux 3.13 then Linux 4.8/4.8 Kernel Benchmarks

Other tests show only minor to minimal performance change.
Intel Linux 3.3 To Linux 3.13 then Linux 4.8/4.8 Kernel Benchmarks

Intel Linux 3.3 To Linux 3.13 then Linux 4.8/4.8 Kernel Benchmarks

But looks like there may be some regressions on this Sandy Bridge laptop in going from the 13.10 to 16.10 base, namely GCC regressions likely for this particular slowdown.
Intel Linux 3.3 To Linux 3.13 then Linux 4.8/4.8 Kernel Benchmarks

Intel Linux 3.3 To Linux 3.13 then Linux 4.8/4.8 Kernel Benchmarks

Well, those were just some extra numbers to toss out this weekend while running this old Sandy Bridge laptop. Stay tuned for my fresh Linux 3.x/4.x kernel benchmarks from the same Haswell system and all from the same base OS (Ubuntu 16.10) with those tests still ongoing. Those formal results should be featured on Phoronix in the next few days.
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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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