Windows Server 2016 VA vs. Ubuntu 18.04 LTS Mitigations Intel Xeon E3-1280 v5 testing with Windows Server 2016 toggling kernel VA Shadow for Meltdown mitigation. No Mitigations: Processor: Intel Xeon E3-1280 v5 @ 3.70GHz (4 Cores / 8 Threads), Motherboard: MSI Z170A SLI PLUS (MS-7998), Memory: 2 x 8192 MB 2133MHz Micron 9ASF1G72AZ-2G3A1, Disk: 238GB TOSHIBA-RD400, Graphics: Microsoft Basic Display, Network: ASIX AX88772B USB2.0 to Fast + Microsoft ISATAP OS: Microsoft Windows Server 2016 Essentials Build 14393, Kernel: 10.0 (x86_64), Display Driver: 10.0.14393.0, File-System: NTFS, Screen Resolution: 1024x768 Kernel VA Shadow: Processor: Intel Xeon E3-1280 v5 @ 3.70GHz (4 Cores / 8 Threads), Motherboard: MSI Z170A SLI PLUS (MS-7998), Memory: 2 x 8192 MB 2133MHz Micron 9ASF1G72AZ-2G3A1, Disk: 238GB TOSHIBA-RD400, Graphics: Microsoft Basic Display, Network: ASIX AX88772B USB2.0 to Fast + Microsoft ISATAP OS: Microsoft Windows Server 2016 Essentials Build 14393, Kernel: 10.0 (x86_64), Display Driver: 10.0.14393.0, File-System: NTFS, Screen Resolution: 1024x768 Ubuntu 18.04 - Stock: Processor: Intel Xeon E3-1280 v5 @ 4.00GHz (4 Cores / 8 Threads), Motherboard: MSI Z170A SLI PLUS (MS-7998) v1.0 (2.90 BIOS), Chipset: Intel Skylake, Memory: 16384MB, Disk: 256GB TOSHIBA-RD400, Graphics: Sapphire AMD Radeon 4096MB, Audio: Realtek ALC1150, Monitor: Acer B286HK, Network: Intel Connection OS: Ubuntu 18.04, Kernel: 4.15.0-13-generic (x86_64), Desktop: GNOME Shell 3.28.0, Display Driver: modesetting 1.19.6, OpenGL: 4.5 Mesa 18.0.0-rc5 (LLVM 6.0.0), Compiler: GCC 7.3.0, File-System: ext4, Screen Resolution: 3840x2160 Ubuntu 18.04 - nopti: Processor: Intel Xeon E3-1280 v5 @ 4.00GHz (4 Cores / 8 Threads), Motherboard: MSI Z170A SLI PLUS (MS-7998) v1.0 (2.90 BIOS), Chipset: Intel Skylake, Memory: 16384MB, Disk: 256GB TOSHIBA-RD400, Graphics: Sapphire AMD Radeon 4096MB, Audio: Realtek ALC1150, Monitor: Acer B286HK, Network: Intel Connection OS: Ubuntu 18.04, Kernel: 4.15.0-13-generic (x86_64), Desktop: GNOME Shell 3.28.0, Display Driver: modesetting 1.19.6, OpenGL: 4.5 Mesa 18.0.0-rc5 (LLVM 6.0.0), Compiler: GCC 7.3.0, File-System: ext4, Screen Resolution: 3840x2160 Ubuntu 18.04 - nopti + spectre_v2=off: Processor: Intel Xeon E3-1280 v5 @ 4.00GHz (4 Cores / 8 Threads), Motherboard: MSI Z170A SLI PLUS (MS-7998) v1.0 (2.90 BIOS), Chipset: Intel Skylake, Memory: 16384MB, Disk: 256GB TOSHIBA-RD400, Graphics: Sapphire AMD Radeon 4096MB, Audio: Realtek ALC1150, Monitor: Acer B286HK, Network: Intel Connection OS: Ubuntu 18.04, Kernel: 4.15.0-13-generic (x86_64), Desktop: GNOME Shell 3.28.0, Display Driver: modesetting 1.19.6, OpenGL: 4.5 Mesa 18.0.0-rc5 (LLVM 6.0.0), Compiler: GCC 7.3.0, File-System: ext4, Screen Resolution: 3840x2160 Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16: Processor: Intel Xeon E3-1280 v5 @ 4.00GHz (4 Cores / 8 Threads), Motherboard: MSI Z170A SLI PLUS (MS-7998) v1.0 (2.90 BIOS), Chipset: Intel Skylake, Memory: 16384MB, Disk: 256GB TOSHIBA-RD400, Graphics: Sapphire AMD Radeon 4096MB, Audio: Realtek ALC1150, Monitor: Acer B286HK, Network: Intel Connection OS: Ubuntu 18.04, Kernel: 4.16.0-999-generic (x86_64) 20180328, Desktop: GNOME Shell 3.28.0, Display Driver: modesetting 1.19.6, OpenGL: 4.5 Mesa 18.0.0-rc5 (LLVM 6.0.0), Compiler: GCC 7.3.0, File-System: ext4, Screen Resolution: 3840x2160 Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 - nopti: Processor: Intel Xeon E3-1280 v5 @ 4.00GHz (4 Cores / 8 Threads), Motherboard: MSI Z170A SLI PLUS (MS-7998) v1.0 (2.90 BIOS), Chipset: Intel Skylake, Memory: 16384MB, Disk: 256GB TOSHIBA-RD400, Graphics: llvmpipe 16000MB, Audio: Realtek ALC1150, Network: Intel Connection OS: Ubuntu 18.04, Kernel: 4.16.0-999-generic (x86_64) 20180328, Desktop: GNOME Shell 3.28.0, Display Driver: modesetting 1.19.6, OpenGL: 3.3 Mesa 18.0.0-rc5 (LLVM 6.0 256 bits), Compiler: GCC 7.3.0, File-System: ext4, Screen Resolution: 1024x768 Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 - nopti + spectre_v2=off: Processor: Intel Xeon E3-1280 v5 @ 4.00GHz (4 Cores / 8 Threads), Motherboard: MSI Z170A SLI PLUS (MS-7998) v1.0 (2.90 BIOS), Chipset: Intel Skylake, Memory: 16384MB, Disk: 256GB TOSHIBA-RD400, Graphics: Sapphire AMD Radeon 4096MB, Audio: Realtek ALC1150, Monitor: Acer B286HK, Network: Intel Connection OS: Ubuntu 18.04, Kernel: 4.16.0-999-generic (x86_64) 20180328, Desktop: GNOME Shell 3.28.0, Display Driver: modesetting 1.19.6, OpenGL: 4.5 Mesa 18.0.0-rc5 (LLVM 6.0.0), Compiler: GCC 7.3.0, File-System: ext4, Screen Resolution: 3840x2160 SQLite 3.22 Timed SQLite Insertions Seconds < Lower Is Better No Mitigations ..................................... 108.31 |================= Kernel VA Shadow ................................... 114.04 |================== Ubuntu 18.04 - Stock ............................... 71.83 |=========== Ubuntu 18.04 - nopti ............................... 66.57 |=========== Ubuntu 18.04 - nopti + spectre_v2=off .............. 76.25 |============ Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 .......................... 74.53 |============ Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 - nopti .................. 64.23 |========== Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 - nopti + spectre_v2=off . 63.85 |========== Diskspd 2.0.17 Threads Per Target: 1 - Write Requests (Percent): 50 - File Size: 1M - Block Size: 4KB MB/s > Higher Is Better No Mitigations ... 3.73 |====================================================== Kernel VA Shadow . 3.58 |==================================================== Diskspd 2.0.17 Threads Per Target: 1 - Write Requests (Percent): 50 - File Size: 1M - Block Size: 4KB IOPS > Higher Is Better No Mitigations ... 954.71 |==================================================== Kernel VA Shadow . 916.62 |================================================== Diskspd 2.0.17 Threads Per Target: 6 - Write Requests (Percent): 50 - File Size: 1M - Block Size: 4KB MB/s > Higher Is Better No Mitigations ... 3.90 |====================================================== Kernel VA Shadow . 3.75 |==================================================== Diskspd 2.0.17 Threads Per Target: 6 - Write Requests (Percent): 50 - File Size: 1M - Block Size: 4KB IOPS > Higher Is Better No Mitigations ... 997.52 |==================================================== Kernel VA Shadow . 960.34 |================================================== Diskspd 2.0.17 Threads Per Target: 1 - Write Requests (Percent): 0 - Read Only - File Size: 1M - Block Size: 4KB MB/s > Higher Is Better No Mitigations ... 349.89 |==================================================== Kernel VA Shadow . 334.21 |================================================== Diskspd 2.0.17 Threads Per Target: 1 - Write Requests (Percent): 0 - Read Only - File Size: 1M - Block Size: 4KB IOPS > Higher Is Better No Mitigations ... 89570.14 |================================================== Kernel VA Shadow . 85559.17 |================================================ IOzone 3.465 Record Size: 4Kb - File Size: 8GB - Disk Test: Write Performance MB/s > Higher Is Better No Mitigations ..................................... 559.59 |========= Kernel VA Shadow ................................... 549.44 |========= Ubuntu 18.04 - Stock ............................... 1018.52 |================= Ubuntu 18.04 - nopti ............................... 796.15 |============= Ubuntu 18.04 - nopti + spectre_v2=off .............. 889.23 |=============== Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 .......................... 866.19 |============== Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 - nopti .................. 823.60 |============== Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 - nopti + spectre_v2=off . 905.01 |=============== Java SciMark 2.0 Computational Test: Composite Mflops > Higher Is Better No Mitigations ..................................... 2469.16 |================= Kernel VA Shadow ................................... 2247.28 |=============== Ubuntu 18.04 - Stock ............................... 2433.57 |================= Ubuntu 18.04 - nopti ............................... 2470.79 |================= Ubuntu 18.04 - nopti + spectre_v2=off .............. 2428.62 |================= Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 .......................... 2462.89 |================= Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 - nopti .................. 2477.61 |================= Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 - nopti + spectre_v2=off . 2473.76 |================= Java SciMark 2.0 Computational Test: Monte Carlo Mflops > Higher Is Better No Mitigations ..................................... 981.59 |================== Kernel VA Shadow ................................... 895.75 |================ Ubuntu 18.04 - Stock ............................... 973.04 |================== Ubuntu 18.04 - nopti ............................... 983.51 |================== Ubuntu 18.04 - nopti + spectre_v2=off .............. 969.73 |================== Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 .......................... 980.15 |================== Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 - nopti .................. 983.51 |================== Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 - nopti + spectre_v2=off . 983.17 |================== Java SciMark 2.0 Computational Test: Fast Fourier Transform Mflops > Higher Is Better No Mitigations ..................................... 1589.15 |================= Kernel VA Shadow ................................... 1475.70 |================ Ubuntu 18.04 - Stock ............................... 1512.16 |================ Ubuntu 18.04 - nopti ............................... 1536.05 |================ Ubuntu 18.04 - nopti + spectre_v2=off .............. 1542.49 |================= Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 .......................... 1510.99 |================ Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 - nopti .................. 1531.46 |================ Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 - nopti + spectre_v2=off . 1512.96 |================ Java SciMark 2.0 Computational Test: Sparse Matrix Multiply Mflops > Higher Is Better No Mitigations ..................................... 2286.30 |================= Kernel VA Shadow ................................... 2098.07 |================ Ubuntu 18.04 - Stock ............................... 2269.93 |================= Ubuntu 18.04 - nopti ............................... 2293.98 |================= Ubuntu 18.04 - nopti + spectre_v2=off .............. 2136.40 |================ Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 .......................... 2290.97 |================= Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 - nopti .................. 2292.72 |================= Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 - nopti + spectre_v2=off . 2292.47 |================= Java SciMark 2.0 Computational Test: Dense LU Matrix Factorization Mflops > Higher Is Better No Mitigations ..................................... 5942.70 |================ Kernel VA Shadow ................................... 5351.16 |=============== Ubuntu 18.04 - Stock ............................... 5974.44 |================= Ubuntu 18.04 - nopti ............................... 6086.79 |================= Ubuntu 18.04 - nopti + spectre_v2=off .............. 6050.75 |================= Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 .......................... 6094.48 |================= Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 - nopti .................. 6130.97 |================= Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 - nopti + spectre_v2=off . 6125.33 |================= Java SciMark 2.0 Computational Test: Jacobi Successive Over-Relaxation Mflops > Higher Is Better No Mitigations ..................................... 1546.06 |================= Kernel VA Shadow ................................... 1415.71 |================ Ubuntu 18.04 - Stock ............................... 1438.30 |================ Ubuntu 18.04 - nopti ............................... 1453.62 |================ Ubuntu 18.04 - nopti + spectre_v2=off .............. 1443.71 |================ Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 .......................... 1437.85 |================ Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 - nopti .................. 1449.41 |================ Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 - nopti + spectre_v2=off . 1454.86 |================ CacheBench Test: Read MB/s > Higher Is Better No Mitigations ..................................... 7577.06 |================= Kernel VA Shadow ................................... 7095.36 |================ Ubuntu 18.04 - Stock ............................... 3331.04 |======= Ubuntu 18.04 - nopti ............................... 3347.09 |======== Ubuntu 18.04 - nopti + spectre_v2=off .............. 3361.62 |======== Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 .......................... 3349.48 |======== Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 - nopti .................. 3349.24 |======== Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 - nopti + spectre_v2=off . 3370.85 |======== CacheBench Test: Write MB/s > Higher Is Better No Mitigations ..................................... 28034.53 |================ Kernel VA Shadow ................................... 26327.81 |=============== Ubuntu 18.04 - Stock ............................... 27691.79 |================ Ubuntu 18.04 - nopti ............................... 27992.60 |================ Ubuntu 18.04 - nopti + spectre_v2=off .............. 27073.39 |=============== Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 .......................... 28015.94 |================ Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 - nopti .................. 27374.16 |================ Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 - nopti + spectre_v2=off . 27660.01 |================ CacheBench Test: Read / Modify / Write MB/s > Higher Is Better No Mitigations ..................................... 45636.52 |================ Kernel VA Shadow ................................... 42855.85 |=============== Ubuntu 18.04 - Stock ............................... 28912.57 |========== Ubuntu 18.04 - nopti ............................... 29269.20 |========== Ubuntu 18.04 - nopti + spectre_v2=off .............. 28987.52 |========== Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 .......................... 29447.19 |========== Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 - nopti .................. 28703.97 |========== Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 - nopti + spectre_v2=off . 29291.52 |========== ebizzy 0.3 Records/s > Higher Is Better No Mitigations ..................................... 5359 | Kernel VA Shadow ................................... 4768 | Ubuntu 18.04 - Stock ............................... 271051 |================== Ubuntu 18.04 - nopti ............................... 260938 |================= Ubuntu 18.04 - nopti + spectre_v2=off .............. 256322 |================= Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 .......................... 261753 |================= Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 - nopti .................. 257575 |================= Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 - nopti + spectre_v2=off . 276381 |================== Timed LLVM Compilation 4.0.1 Time To Compile Seconds < Lower Is Better No Mitigations ..................................... 929.71 |================== Kernel VA Shadow ................................... 934.84 |================== Ubuntu 18.04 - Stock ............................... 741.02 |============== Ubuntu 18.04 - nopti ............................... 735.34 |============== Ubuntu 18.04 - nopti + spectre_v2=off .............. 734.00 |============== Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 .......................... 739.77 |============== Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 - nopti .................. 736.10 |============== Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 - nopti + spectre_v2=off . 735.33 |============== GIMP 2.9.8 Test: resize Seconds < Lower Is Better No Mitigations ... 12.49 |===================================================== Kernel VA Shadow . 12.39 |===================================================== GIMP 2.9.8 Test: auto-levels Seconds < Lower Is Better No Mitigations ... 14.57 |==================================================== Kernel VA Shadow . 14.82 |===================================================== GIMP 2.9.8 Test: unsharp-mask Seconds < Lower Is Better No Mitigations ... 20.65 |=================================================== Kernel VA Shadow . 21.30 |===================================================== Redis 3.2.1 Test: LPUSH Requests Per Second > Higher Is Better No Mitigations ... 905651.27 |================================================= Kernel VA Shadow . 880130.04 |================================================ WinSAT Test: Disk MB/s > Higher Is Better No Mitigations ... 114.27 |==================================================== Kernel VA Shadow . 111.83 |=================================================== PyBench 2018-02-16 Total For Average Test Times Milliseconds < Lower Is Better No Mitigations ..................................... 1395 |=================== Kernel VA Shadow ................................... 1480 |==================== Ubuntu 18.04 - Stock ............................... 1289 |================= Ubuntu 18.04 - nopti ............................... 1290 |================= Ubuntu 18.04 - nopti + spectre_v2=off .............. 1286 |================= Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 .......................... 1287 |================= Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 - nopti .................. 1287 |================= Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 - nopti + spectre_v2=off . 1284 |================= PHPBench 0.8.1 PHP Benchmark Suite Score > Higher Is Better No Mitigations ..................................... 335634 |========= Kernel VA Shadow ................................... 317611 |========= Ubuntu 18.04 - Stock ............................... 645778 |================== Ubuntu 18.04 - nopti ............................... 647880 |================== Ubuntu 18.04 - nopti + spectre_v2=off .............. 645293 |================== Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 .......................... 640013 |================== Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 - nopti .................. 652306 |================== Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 - nopti + spectre_v2=off . 645987 |================== OSBench Test: Create Files us Per Event < Lower Is Better No Mitigations ..................................... 248.63 |================= Kernel VA Shadow ................................... 266.72 |================== Ubuntu 18.04 - Stock ............................... 13.55 |= Ubuntu 18.04 - nopti ............................... 12.80 |= Ubuntu 18.04 - nopti + spectre_v2=off .............. 11.25 |= Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 .......................... 13.30 |= Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 - nopti .................. 12.40 |= Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 - nopti + spectre_v2=off . 11.03 |= OSBench Test: Launch Programs us Per Event < Lower Is Better No Mitigations ..................................... 494.21 |================= Kernel VA Shadow ................................... 523.81 |================== Ubuntu 18.04 - Stock ............................... 40.29 |= Ubuntu 18.04 - nopti ............................... 37.05 |= Ubuntu 18.04 - nopti + spectre_v2=off .............. 36.61 |= Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 .......................... 39.83 |= Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 - nopti .................. 37.24 |= Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 - nopti + spectre_v2=off . 36.76 |= OSBench Test: Memory Allocations Ns Per Event < Lower Is Better No Mitigations ..................................... 75.67 |================= Kernel VA Shadow ................................... 83.45 |=================== Ubuntu 18.04 - Stock ............................... 76.30 |================= Ubuntu 18.04 - nopti ............................... 72.58 |================= Ubuntu 18.04 - nopti + spectre_v2=off .............. 72.55 |================= Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 .......................... 75.09 |================= Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 - nopti .................. 72.46 |================ Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 - nopti + spectre_v2=off . 72.38 |================ GIMP 2.8.22 Test: resize Seconds < Lower Is Better Ubuntu 18.04 - nopti + spectre_v2=off .............. 2.74 |================== Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 .......................... 3.06 |==================== Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 - nopti .................. 2.85 |=================== Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 - nopti + spectre_v2=off . 2.75 |================== GIMP 2.8.22 Test: auto-levels Seconds < Lower Is Better Ubuntu 18.04 - nopti + spectre_v2=off .............. 5.33 |================== Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 .......................... 5.78 |==================== Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 - nopti .................. 5.40 |=================== Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 - nopti + spectre_v2=off . 5.37 |=================== GIMP 2.8.22 Test: unsharp-mask Seconds < Lower Is Better Ubuntu 18.04 - nopti + spectre_v2=off .............. 9.93 |================= Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 .......................... 10.83 |=================== Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 - nopti .................. 10.03 |================== Ubuntu 18.04 + Linux 4.16 - nopti + spectre_v2=off . 9.93 |=================