Ryzen 9 9950X runs 16% faster on an Intel-optimized Linux distro
Quoting: Ryzen 9 9950X runs 16% faster on an Intel-optimized Linux distro —
Linux often the leads Windows in benchmark comparisons, at least for certain tasks. However, performance between different Linux distros can also vary drastically. Phoronix benchmarked AMD's latest Ryzen 9 9950X in five different Linux distros, including one featuring Intel optimizations, and discovered the Zen 5 chip runs up to 16% faster with the Intel-optimized distro.
The distro in question is called Clear Linux, and it's purportedly one of the most highly optimized Linux distros for x86 processors. Clear Linux's focus is to prioritize app performance by using a plethora of optimizations across the entire operating system, including optimizations made from the kernel, middleware layers, and runtime.
Another advantage Clear Linux has over its contemporaries is dedicated optimization work done by Intel software engineers, helping to boost Clear Linux's performance on x86 processors. In this case, it seems Intel's engineers are helping out all x86 processors, including those from arch-rival AMD.
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Intel-optimized Clear Linux distro boosts AMD Ryzen 9 9950X performance by up to 16% over already decent Ubuntu gains
The latest Zen 5 desktop processors appear to be suffering from poor software optimization mostly on Windows, and, unfortunately, this can only be fixed with a major OS release, so most likely the solution could arrive with Windows 11 24H2 scheduled for October. Linux distros, on the other hand, do not seem to be affected by any optimization bugs. The majority of benchmarks performed on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS showed that AMD’s claims of 16% improvements over the Ryzen 7000X series are indeed accurate. But it looks like Ubuntu is not even the best optimized distro out there. Phoronix tested the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X on six different distros and the Intel-optimized Clear Linux proved to boost performance by up to an additional 16% over Ubuntu.
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AMD's latest Ryzen 9 9950X goes like the clappers on Linux
The Linux distributions tested on the AMD Ryzen 9 9950X included Arch Linux, CachyOS, Clear Linux, Fedora Workstation 40, Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, and a recent daily snapshot of Ubuntu 24.10 in its current development form.
Intel's Clear Linux is the most intriguing for the new AMD Zen 5 hardware. Despite a lack of recent news, Clear Linux remains the most optimised x86_64 Linux distribution out of the box.
It uses compiler function multi-versioning, performance-oriented defaults, aggressive compiler CFLAGS/CXXFLAGS defaults, optional AVX-512 usage for more libraries, and numerous other patches and optimisations aimed at delivering the highest x86_64 Linux performance.
Although not Intel's primary focus, it typically works well on AMD hardware too.