Intel Baseline Profile Yields Odd Power/Performance On Linux

[phoronix]

Phoronix: Intel Baseline Profile Yields Odd Power/Performance On Linux

Intel motherboard manufacturers have begun rolling out BIOS updates containing an "Intel Baseline Profile" option to apply stock power limits to modern Intel processors. This is being driven by instability claims for 13th Gen and 14th Gen Intel Core processors having stability issues for some Windows gamers that is being attributed to multi-core enhancement (MCE) and other power options commonly set on enthusiast desktop motherboards. As the first of several ongoing tests I'm working on at Phoronix, here are some preliminary findings for using the Intel Baseline Profile option on an ASUS motherboard with the Core i9 14900K under Ubuntu Linux.

https://www.phoronix.com/review/intel-baseline-profile-linux

[sleeksorrow]

I recently read some german news article about that topic that was mentioning something about mainboard default normally (among many other things) does a lot of undervolting to reach the same performance while using less energy. Under high load the affected CPUs then get unstable.

https://www.golem.de/news/probleme-mit-intel-cpus-warum-mainboards-sich-nicht-an-die-spielregeln-halten-2404-184724.html

I don't pretend that I fully understood that but I know your german is quite good. Perhaps you can verify that explanation yourself.

[loganj]

But you mention this update was made for gamers and yet you didn't benchmark any game

[raystriker]

Intel's last 5 years summarized in one sentence- "Oh, how the mighty have fallen"

[mlau]

I recently read some german news article about that topic that was mentioning something about mainboard default normally (among many other things) does a lot of undervolting to reach the same performance while using less energy. Under high load the affected CPUs then get unstable.

Yeah, the baseline profile now makes the mainboard adhere to the CPU's SVID values (i.e. the power the cpu actually wants/needs), while without it, the mainboards
basically used it as a guideline to implement their own power numbers. Michaels graphs show this quite well. Maybe the cpus do run quite well with less power delivered, but in some cases (I only know of Unreal Engine's Oodle compressor) it doesn't deliver the expected results.

[mlau]

Intel's last 5 years summarized in one sentence- "Oh, how the mighty have fallen"

You should also blame the mainboard makers: they all want to look good in benchmarks (best perf at lowest power consumption) so they cut corners wherever possible, and as long as windows boots to a desktop, they say "ship it"...

[varikonniemi]

Fallout from intel trying to compete with AMD on the power consumption side. Not by making better hardware, but by running their hardware right at the edge of stability.

[archkde]

Fallout from intel trying to compete with AMD on the power consumption side. Not by making better hardware, but by running their hardware right at the edge of stability.

Given that the baseline profile is the one actually from Intel, more like OEMs wanting to make their Intel offerings not look worse than the AMD variants.

[Pawlosek]

You should also blame the mainboard makers: they all want to look good in benchmarks (best perf at lowest power consumption) so they cut corners wherever possible, and as long as windows boots to a desktop, they say "ship it"...

Yeah, blame middleman for. I bet next time there's gonna be "requirements" instead of "recommendation", it didn't bother Intel as long as they were the fastest single core benchmark leader. Quo vadis Intel?

[keiour]

The baseline profile is mostly just feed more voltage into the CPU for additional performance. Surely it's performance will be lower and power consumption will be higher. And with the baseline profile 1.5-1.6V core voltage is a norm on some motherboards, especially the ones that uses 170/170 mOhm instead of 110/110 for the loadlines......

Would say the baseline profile is just Intel trying to put blame of their issue on the motherboard vendors, and there are probably some planned obsolescence too.