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Unless you are building a server, it does not matter. Your GPU handles a lot of desktop heavy workloads such as gaming. If you are building servers or a machine
by quantummkv 9y ago
Unless you are building a server, it does not matter. Your GPU handles a lot of desktop heavy workloads such as gaming. If you are building servers or a machine for CPU intensive tasks such as compiling chromium every hour, then you might want to look at AMD. The major performance hits are caused by meltdown patches that do not affect AMD. And the amount of cores they give certainly help in these workloads.
Fixing these bugs at CPU level will require changes in architectures. Such sweeping changes won't come for years. Intel has not made such a overhaul in years and AMD just made one.
- bartread 9y agoQuite. If Intel, AMD, and ARM just slam in fixes now and release as soon as they can, assuming that's even possible, there's a significant chance they'll introduce other security problems. To gain a high degree of confidence that hasn't happened will most likely require extensive design iteration, verification, and testing so, yeah, years unfortunately.
- sytelus 9y agoLooks like Intel is already out with a patch for Meltdown: https://www.theverge.com/2018/1/4/16850776/intel-meltdown-spectre-security-patch-immune-response https://www.theverge.com/2018/1/4/16850776/intel-meltdown-sp...
- tambre 9y agoA microcode update, which simply enables some previously disabled features, that allow you to workaround the problem (ie. by clearing the branch prediction buffer). The hardware is still most definitely vulnerable to both Meltdown and Spectre, and will require software workarounds to hide the problems, which in turn will cause lower performance.
- javitury 9y ago> Unless you are building a server, it does not matter The average HN user is not the typical desktop/laptop user. I bet we use virtual machines, compilers, technologies like nvme, databases (postgres/mysql)... more often than the typical desktop/laptop user.
- quantummkv 9y agoYes, we do. But I doubt anyone is using them for production workloads. Development workloads don't continuously push cpu to 100% or even 70% for large periods of time. Development workloads don't make 1000 req/sec on postgres. No one has 10 vm's running at a time on a desktop. These perf issues will only affect the server and cloud providers or some edge cases on the desktop. Everyone else can just apply the patches and go to work.
- discreteevent 9y agoYou are probably right although C++ compilation can use a fair bit of processor, especially with parallel compilation (e.g. Qt jom). Not sure how frequent system calls are though.
- kasabali 9y agoC/C++ compilations typically read and write a zillion different tiny files and even if they happen totally in memory buffer they'll still do a hell a lot of system calls.
- stevefan1999 9y agoI think parallel compilation is going to be hit the most. On my VS2017 with the latest MSVC and C++17, and a moderate C++ project (very few units, only about 100 files and so many constexpr and TMP) with multi core compilation enabled, plus a E5-2660, I have a record of 10% penalty(originally a minute) in build time after clean-and-rebuild. Haven’t tested with IncrediBuild tho, but my paralleled webpack production build seems to offer the same outcome. 30 secs to 36 secs. Both of which is not that really mattered I’d say. I’m using Windows 10 with KB4056892.
- johnchristopher 9y ago> The average HN user is not the typical desktop/laptop user. Maybe so, maybe not. Personnaly I have the hunch that most HN users use the same setup as the typical desktop/laptop users.
- TeMPOraL 9y ago> Your GPU handles a lot of desktop heavy workloads such as gaming. Depends on a game, though. While true in most cases, one of my favourites - Kerbal Space Program - is heavily CPU-bound due to being mostly a real-time physics simulation.
- jsmith99 9y agoThere are certainly exceptions. But most games aren't like Dwarf Fortress.