Ubuntu vs. Debian vs. openSUSE On The POWER9 Raptor Talos II

For the most part, the results don't come out as too surprising when considering their packaged version differences.

More benchmarks in full can be found via this OpenBenchmarking.org result upload.

When looking at the geometric mean of all the benchmarks carried out in this article that ran across the five tested operating systems, Ubuntu 18.10 by far was the fastest. Debian 9.7 carried a bit of an advantage with its mature components while Debian Buster, Ubuntu 19.04, and openSUSE Tumbleweed all performed about the same speed. Besides being the fastest overall, Ubuntu 18.10 on the POWER9 Talos II has been trouble-free, nearly the entire package archive is available, and all-around it's been a pleasant experience.

We'll certainly revisit this when Ubuntu 19.04 and Debian 10.0 are closer to release and hopefully seeing more Linux distributions supporting the Talos II / POWER9. Those wanting to check out Raptor's open-source hardware workstations/servers can visit RaptorCS.com.