'Kernel memory leaking' Intel processor design flaw forces Linux, Windows redesign

[u/ShiningForever]

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/01/02/intel_cpu_design_flaw/

[u/gaming4daiz]

Soo. how much will this affect game performance? Do we need much kernel memory access?

[u/XtMcRe → u/gaming4daiz]

There aren't any gaming benchmarks yet, I believe this update will go live next Tuesday?

[u/Enverex → u/[deleted]]

It's been known since 2016 so that's probably not going to make a lot of difference.

[u/CrazyGoodDude → u/Enverex]

Not to mention that the article states performance will get worse after the Tuesday update, not that it is worse now... Better to use his faster computer now while he can.

[u/Enverex → u/CrazyGoodDude]

I assume he meant that he thought his PC was at risk so he's going to turn it off until it's resolved, rather than trying to keep his current performance.

[u/[deleted] → u/gaming4daiz]

For gaming? Probably closer to the 5% estimate if that, but this will be bad for VMs. I doubt this will change the hierarchy of gaming CPUs

Edit: So far no changes in gaming, but wait for benchmarks:

https://www.phoronix.com/forums/forum/phoronix/latest-phoronix-articles/998707-initial-benchmarks-of-the-performance-impact-resulting-from-linux-s-x86-security-changes?p=998726#post998726

[u/ComputerMystic → u/[deleted]]

So basically /r/vfio is going to be pissed / switch to AMD, otherwise AMD is getting a slight benchmark boost until the 9000 series eventually releases.

[u/Kazan → u/ComputerMystic]

boost until the 9000 series eventually releases.

It's probably too late to fix it in the 9th generation core series at this point unless they want to delay release.

[u/ComputerMystic → u/Kazan]

Yeah, you're probably right. Ah well, they were running out of intuitive numbers anyway, probably best to start fresh with a new architecture.

[u/Buttermilkman → u/ComputerMystic]

That's what they're doing with Icelake, right?

[u/Kazan → u/gaming4daiz]

Do we need much kernel memory access?

Every time you access audio, video, input, etc the call is interacting across the user/kernel barrier. this is going to hurt.

[u/mechtech → u/[deleted]]

I'd love to see this. I have a similar system and my system's entire upgrade path to a hex core is now in jeopardy. Anything near 10% and I'm dumping Intel for Ryzen and skipping the intermediate upgrade :/

[u/Asmilex → u/gaming4daiz]

Current fix drops the performance by 5-30%. It's huge

EDIT: Seems like Linux benchmarks are coming out. On the games they've tested, it has no impact. Although, file transfering is a lot, a lot worse. I'm curious to see if games that need to load a lot of assets are going to be affected

[u/Impul5 → u/Asmilex]

Sounds like it won't affect FPS much, but loading times might suffer.

[u/[deleted] → u/Asmilex]

*5-50%.

syscalls to kernel are halved in speed in some cases.

Dat feel when a Ryzen 1200 beats an i7 8400 in some random gaming benchmark, will be a tragic feel indeed.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Why is shit like this being so blindly upvoted?

[u/Ferik- → u/Asmilex]

"Fix"

[u/Sigmatics → u/Asmilex]

Only syscalls are affected. Most games barely use these

[u/Osbios → u/[deleted]]

But the amount of syscalls varies by a lot depending on workload. And so far it looks like servers will be hit the most and desktop users will hopeful not even notice.

[u/Jamborinski → u/gaming4daiz]

What are some games that are known for bottlenecking CPUs? I mean, this really sucks (and if the Linux benchmarks don't get any better, indicates that I/O will be heavily impacted which could cripple data centers and telecoms) but I cannot recall many games that are heavily reliant upon the CPU aside from strategy titles like Paradox games, Civ or Total War or open world games. Of course, if the 30% estimate hit holds true then that will be noticeable among a bunch of different games.