Intel optimizes Gen7 driver code under Linux, Geekbench 5 performance soars 3.3 times

Why can’t the Linux system compete with the Windows system? Few people use it, so not many people are willing to develop the Linux platform. Because there are few resources and support, the Linux platform experience is not good enough, and then no one uses it. This is an endless cycle.

The lack of a lot of development and support under Linux will lead to all kinds of weird errors. Intel recently submitted a code fix, which improved the performance of GeekBench 5 on 32nm Ivybridge and 22nm Haswell processors by 330%.

What kind of optimization is the 3.3 times performance improvement? In fact, it is not, but there is a problem with the previous driver code.

Reports from phoronix say that Jason Ekstrand, lead developer of the Intel ANV Vulkan driver, discovered an issue. In the previous driver code, the data caching function was disabled when the shader was extracted from the pipeline code. This was done without issue on the Broadwell architecture/Gen8.

But Intel has forgotten its previous processors. The situation is different in the Gen7 core display of the 32nm Ivybridge and 22nm Haswell processors. Disabling this function will cause abnormal performance, and the Gen7 core display is the earliest hardware with Intel driver support for Vulkan.

After correcting the code, the performance of Gen7 core display under Vulkan workload has finally been greatly improved. The Vulkan performance in GeekBench 5 on Haswell GT3 has increased by 330%.

Fixing this problem is helpful for people who are still using 32nm Ivybridge and 22nm Haswell processors, but this is not a very important thing. After all, the main beneficiaries are Vulkan workloads and Gen7 core graphics, and 32nm Ivybridge and 22nm Haswell processors are outdated.