Intel Haswell Might Have Regressed Hard On Linux
For your viewing pleasure this weekend are some extra benchmarks of various Intel Sandy Bridge, Ivy Bridge, and Haswell HD Graphics when using an Ubuntu 14.04 Linux development snapshot with the Linux 3.13 kernel and Mesa 10.0.1. The processors tested included the Core i3 2120, Core i5 2500K, Core i5 3470, Core i7 3770K, Core i3 4130, and Core i7 4770K. These tests appear to represent a huge drawback in performance for Intel Haswell on Linux compared to earlier results.
In preparation for an upcoming processor launch, I have been spending the past few days re-testing a majority of the Sandy Bridge, Ivy Bridge, and Haswell processors on hand when using the same system components and using the very latest components via an Ubuntu 14.04 daily image. In this article are many Linux OpenGL graphics tests for the three latest generations of Intel HD Graphics. Coming out possibly later today will be all of the CPU benchmarks on Linux for these different processors.
Hopefully these updated results are useful to you if you're evaluating purchasing a new Intel CPU or have one of the tested CPUs and are curious about performance upgrades coming to Ubuntu 14.04 or the Linux 3.13 kernel / Mesa 10. All of these processors have been previously reviewed under Linux and extensively tested so check out the many processor reviews, GPU reviews, and graphics driver tests if you need more information. Stay tuned for more Intel/AMD Linux processor benchmarks in the days ahead. These results are particularly interesting given the open-source Linux stack is constantly evolving and the Intel Open-Source Technology Center developers continue to be hard at work on improving the Linux OpenGL performance and catching up in performance and feature parity to the Windows driver.
Ubuntu 14.04 was tested with the Linux 3.13 kernel, Unity 7.1.2, X.Org Server 1.14.5, xf86-video-intel 2.99.907, GCC 4.8.2, and Mesa 10.0.1. All of the benchmarking was facilitated via the open-source Phoronix Test Suite software. If you wish to see how your own system's OpenGL performance compares to the assortment of these Intel CPUs with Sandy/Ivy Bridge and Haswell HD Graphics, simply install the Phoronix Test Suite and then just run phoronix-test-suite benchmark 1401126-PTS-GRAPHICS67 to carry out all of the tests in a fully automated and standardized manner.