Intel design flaw: slowdown coming

[zombie67]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/01...u_design_flaw/

PostgreSQL SELECT 1 with the KPTI workaround for Intel CPU vulnerability https://t.co/N9gSvML2Fo

Best case: 17% slowdown
Worst case: 23%

— The Register (@TheRegister) January 2, 2018

This is a huge deal, especially for services like AWS.

Time to re-run the benchmark comparisons with AMD, once the flawed intel "cheating" has been fixed.

[Bryan]

Time to make sure that "updates" are turned off

[scole of TSBT]

Will there be a way to install an OS without getting the performance robbing updates or be a way to remove it?

[Al]

Will there be a way to install an OS without getting the performance robbing updates or be a way to remove it?

Gibson Research has a small program that will tell you if either or both patches have been applied and can also disable them.

InSpectre

[John P. Myers]

DEFINITELY make sure automatic updates are OFF (they should be anyway). Windows, Linux, iOS, everything. This will be a real killer, especially when using VMs. That "worst case 23%" is a load of crap, actually. Phoronix has demonstrated up to 53% slowdown after the patch, but as low as 1%. Just depends on specific processor and workload, as always. Of course this also means you can never update the OS in the future either. Sell it all and switch to AMD (which doesn't have the bug), or keep it and look for cheap Intel CPUs on eBay to upgrade with As of right now, Intel's stock is down 6.7% just today. This is bad.

The bug is hardware based and cannot truly be fixed without buying a next gen CPU (Coffee Lake, at best, which won't be available for months). These OS patches are just workarounds, hence the performance hits.

[DrPop]

Yeah, I just saw this a few mins ago on the Parallax robotics forum. Dang...that is a serious hit to performance.

[Bryan]

Just wait till the data centers etc feel they have to upgrade their HW. Then the machines which are great for our needs should show up at really good prices. Just install Win7 w/o the internet connected and enjoy

[zombie67]

Basically Intel has been using a cheat, to improve performance (insecurely).

With that cheat blocked, I would really like to see the comparisons to threadripper re-run.

Also, the huge server farms (AWS, Google, etc), are suddenly going to be down on capacity, and will have to buy more immediately. This could lead to component shortages and price increases for a while.

Edit: This is probably going to cost Intel $BILLIONS$ in law suits. Of course, it will just be the lawyers who get rich.

[Bryan]

Well Threadripper isn't the greatest thing since sliced bread Z. They had to do a special version of AVX2 optimized apps for Threadrippers on Rake Search because they execute some AVX commands very slowly.

[zombie67]

Well Threadripper isn't the greatest thing since sliced bread Z. They had to do a special version of AVX2 optimized apps for Threadrippers on Rake Search because they execute some AVX commands very slowly.

Sure. And even worse for AVX-512. But now the intel price premium is that much harder to justify, when there is even less of a performance advantage.


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