Pop!_OS With Linux 6.8 Is Benefiting Older System76 Threadripper Systems Too

As noted at the end of March, System76's Pop!_OS Linux distribution has upgraded to the Linux 6.8 kernel as a stable release update for this Ubuntu-derived distribution. That Linux 6.6 to 6.8 leap on Pop!_OS yielded some nice kernel performance improvements for the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 7980X available with their newest System76 Thelio Major workstations. But tests I've carried out of the Pop!_OS upgrade on a years older System76 Thelio is showing off some nice advantages too.

In addition to the new Linux 6.8 features, Linux 6.8 (and 6.7) deliver some nice performance optimizations particularly for the newest Intel/AMD platforms. But it's also worthwhile to note that some of the recent kernel optimizations are still beneficial for older hardware. In today's benchmarking roundabout is a look at the 2020 version of the System76 Thelio Major now four years old while featuring the still potent AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3990X 64-core processor.

This older System76 Thelio Major being tested has the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3990X as the top-end Zen 2 model, Gigabyte TRX40 AORUS PRO WIFI motherboard, 4 x 32GB DDR4-3000 memory, Samsung 970 EVO Plus 512GB NVMe SSD, and AMD Radeon RX 5700 (RDNA1) graphics.

This same system was tested with Pop!_OS back in its state a few weeks ago while riding the Linux 6.6 kernel and then again when applying the recent Pop!_OS stable updates to take it onto the Linux 6.8 kernel. Thanks to System76 for having supplied the Thelio Major review samples for making this ongoing testing possible.