Ubuntu 12.04 Oracle AMD Virtualization Intel Core i7-3960X Sandy Bridge Extreme and AMD Bulldozer FX-8150 benchmarking of various Ubuntu 12.04 LTS virtualization options with the Precise Linux 3.2 kernel. Testing of bare metal, Xen, KVM, and Oracle VM VirtualBox virtualization methods from this Intel Sandy Bridge Extreme Edition and AMD Bulldozer systems that was running in the same configuration for the duration of testing. This Linux virtualization benchmarking is for a future article on Phoronix.com. Intel Core i7 3960X: Bare Metal: Processor: Intel Core i7-3960X @ 3.20GHz (12 Cores), Motherboard: Intel DX79SI, Chipset: Intel Sandy DMI2, Memory: 16384MB, Disk: 240GB OCZ VERTEX3, Graphics: AMD Radeon HD 6570 512MB, Audio: Realtek ALC892, Monitor: DELL P2210H, Network: Intel 82579LM Gigabit Connection OS: Ubuntu 12.04, Kernel: 3.2.0-20-generic (x86_64), Desktop: Unity 5.6.0, Display Server: X Server 1.11.3, Display Driver: radeon 6.14.99, OpenGL: 2.1 Mesa 8.0.2 Gallium 0.4, Compiler: GCC 4.6, File-System: ext4, Screen Resolution: 1920x1080 Intel Core i7 3960X: KVM: Processor: QEMU Virtual 1.0 @ 3.20GHz (12 Cores), Motherboard: Bochs, Chipset: Red Hat Virtio, Memory: 12288MB, Disk: 16GB, Graphics: LLVMpipe, Audio: Generic 1af4 ID 20, Network: Red Hat Virtio device OS: Ubuntu 12.04, Kernel: 3.2.0-20-generic (x86_64), Desktop: Unity 2D 5.6.0, Display Server: X Server 1.11.3, Display Driver: cirrus 1.3.2, OpenGL: 2.1 Mesa 8.0.2 Gallium 0.4, Compiler: GCC 4.6, File-System: ext4, Screen Resolution: 1024x768, System Layer: QEMU 1.0 Intel Core i7 3960X: Xen: Processor: Intel Core i7-3960X @ 3.20GHz (12 Cores), Motherboard: Xen HVM domU v4.1.2, Chipset: Intel 440FX- 82441FX PMC, Memory: 12288MB, Disk: 26GB, Graphics: LLVMpipe, Audio: Ensoniq ES1370 OS: Ubuntu 12.04, Kernel: 3.2.0-20-generic (x86_64), Desktop: Unity 2D 5.6.0, Display Server: X Server 1.11.3, Display Driver: cirrus 1.3.2, OpenGL: 2.1 Mesa 8.0.2 Gallium 0.4, Compiler: GCC 4.6, File-System: ext4, Screen Resolution: 1024x768, System Layer: Xen HVM domU 4.1.2 Intel Core i7 3960X: VirtualBox: Processor: Intel Core i7-3960X @ 3.19GHz (12 Cores), Motherboard: innotek VirtualBox v1.2, Chipset: Intel 440FX- 82441FX PMC, Memory: 12288MB, Disk: 41GB VBOX HDD, Graphics: LLVMpipe, Audio: Intel 82801AA AC 97 Audio, Network: Intel 82540EM Gigabit OS: Ubuntu 12.04, Kernel: 3.2.0-20-generic (x86_64), Desktop: Unity 2D 5.6.0, Display Server: X Server 1.11.3, Display Driver: vesa 2.3.0, OpenGL: 2.1 Mesa 8.0.2 Gallium 0.4, Compiler: GCC 4.6, File-System: ext4, Screen Resolution: 1024x768, System Layer: VirtualBox 4.1.10_Ubuntur76795 AMD FX-8150: Bare Metal: Processor: AMD FX-8150 Eight-Core @ 3.60GHz (8 Cores), Motherboard: ASUS Crosshair V Formula, Chipset: AMD nee ATI RD890, Memory: 16384MB, Disk: 240GB OCZ VERTEX3, Graphics: AMD Radeon HD 6570 512MB, Audio: Realtek ALC889, Monitor: DELL P2210H, Network: Intel 82583V Gigabit Connection OS: Ubuntu 12.04, Kernel: 3.2.0-20-generic (x86_64), Desktop: Unity 5.6.0, Display Server: X Server 1.11.3, Display Driver: radeon 6.14.99, OpenGL: 2.1 Mesa 8.0.2 Gallium 0.4, Compiler: GCC 4.6, File-System: ext4, Screen Resolution: 1920x1080 Compile Bench 0.6 Test: Compile MB/s > Higher Is Better Intel Core i7 3960X: Bare Metal . 429.00 |=========================== Intel Core i7 3960X: KVM ........ 312.79 |==================== Intel Core i7 3960X: Xen ........ 378.65 |======================== Intel Core i7 3960X: VirtualBox . 348.64 |====================== AMD FX-8150: Bare Metal ......... 589.92 |===================================== Compile Bench 0.6 Test: Initial Create MB/s > Higher Is Better Intel Core i7 3960X: Bare Metal . 220.11 |==================================== Intel Core i7 3960X: KVM ........ 159.19 |========================== Intel Core i7 3960X: Xen ........ 144.09 |======================= Intel Core i7 3960X: VirtualBox . 140.54 |======================= AMD FX-8150: Bare Metal ......... 228.54 |===================================== Dbench 4.0 Client Count: 1 MB/s > Higher Is Better Intel Core i7 3960X: Bare Metal . 300.55 |===================================== Intel Core i7 3960X: KVM ........ 268.33 |================================= Intel Core i7 3960X: Xen ........ 255.00 |=============================== Intel Core i7 3960X: VirtualBox . 113.94 |============== AMD FX-8150: Bare Metal ......... 175.65 |====================== Threaded I/O Tester 0.3.3 Test: Random Write - Size Per Thread: 64MB - Thread Count: 8 MB/s > Higher Is Better Intel Core i7 3960X: Bare Metal . 174.62 |========================== Intel Core i7 3960X: KVM ........ 9.57 |= Intel Core i7 3960X: Xen ........ 135.89 |==================== Intel Core i7 3960X: VirtualBox . 35.86 |===== AMD FX-8150: Bare Metal ......... 253.23 |===================================== VP8 libvpx Encoding 0.9.7-p1 vpxenc Frames Per Second > Higher Is Better Intel Core i7 3960X: Bare Metal . 23.54 |====================================== Intel Core i7 3960X: KVM ........ 19.67 |================================ Intel Core i7 3960X: Xen ........ 23.18 |===================================== Intel Core i7 3960X: VirtualBox . 7.94 |============= AMD FX-8150: Bare Metal ......... 19.86 |================================ x264 2011-12-06 H.264 Video Encoding Frames Per Second > Higher Is Better Intel Core i7 3960X: Bare Metal . 170.44 |===================================== Intel Core i7 3960X: KVM ........ 139.51 |============================== Intel Core i7 3960X: Xen ........ 156.54 |================================== Intel Core i7 3960X: VirtualBox . 27.03 |====== AMD FX-8150: Bare Metal ......... 132.08 |============================= GraphicsMagick 1.3.12 Operation: Blur Iterations Per Minute > Higher Is Better Intel Core i7 3960X: Bare Metal . 118 |======================================== Intel Core i7 3960X: KVM ........ 113 |====================================== Intel Core i7 3960X: Xen ........ 98 |================================= Intel Core i7 3960X: VirtualBox . 90 |=============================== AMD FX-8150: Bare Metal ......... 114 |======================================= GraphicsMagick 1.3.12 Operation: HWB Color Space Iterations Per Minute > Higher Is Better Intel Core i7 3960X: Bare Metal . 162 |======================================== Intel Core i7 3960X: KVM ........ 157 |======================================= Intel Core i7 3960X: Xen ........ 146 |==================================== Intel Core i7 3960X: VirtualBox . 134 |================================= AMD FX-8150: Bare Metal ......... 162 |======================================== GraphicsMagick 1.3.12 Operation: Local Adaptive Thresholding Iterations Per Minute > Higher Is Better Intel Core i7 3960X: Bare Metal . 85 |========================================= Intel Core i7 3960X: KVM ........ 83 |======================================== Intel Core i7 3960X: Xen ........ 77 |===================================== Intel Core i7 3960X: VirtualBox . 62 |============================== AMD FX-8150: Bare Metal ......... 67 |================================ GraphicsMagick 1.3.12 Operation: Resizing Iterations Per Minute > Higher Is Better Intel Core i7 3960X: Bare Metal . 146 |======================================== Intel Core i7 3960X: KVM ........ 138 |====================================== Intel Core i7 3960X: Xen ........ 130 |==================================== Intel Core i7 3960X: VirtualBox . 97 |=========================== AMD FX-8150: Bare Metal ......... 131 |==================================== GraphicsMagick 1.3.12 Operation: Sharpen Iterations Per Minute > Higher Is Better Intel Core i7 3960X: Bare Metal . 87 |========================================= Intel Core i7 3960X: KVM ........ 85 |======================================== Intel Core i7 3960X: Xen ........ 81 |====================================== Intel Core i7 3960X: VirtualBox . 66 |=============================== AMD FX-8150: Bare Metal ......... 64 |============================== Himeno Benchmark 3.0 Poisson Pressure Solver MFLOPS > Higher Is Better Intel Core i7 3960X: Bare Metal . 1357.24 |==================================== Intel Core i7 3960X: KVM ........ 1322.15 |=================================== Intel Core i7 3960X: Xen ........ 1351.65 |==================================== Intel Core i7 3960X: VirtualBox . 1258.82 |================================= AMD FX-8150: Bare Metal ......... 631.86 |================= 7-Zip Compression 9.20.1 Compress Speed Test MIPS > Higher Is Better Intel Core i7 3960X: Bare Metal . 25015 |====================================== Intel Core i7 3960X: KVM ........ 21319 |================================ Intel Core i7 3960X: Xen ........ 23762 |==================================== Intel Core i7 3960X: VirtualBox . 5200 |======== AMD FX-8150: Bare Metal ......... 17504 |=========================== SciMark 2.0 Computational Test: Composite Mflops > Higher Is Better Intel Core i7 3960X: Bare Metal . 1062.22 |==================================== Intel Core i7 3960X: KVM ........ 957.19 |================================ Intel Core i7 3960X: Xen ........ 1050.68 |==================================== Intel Core i7 3960X: VirtualBox . 907.17 |=============================== AMD FX-8150: Bare Metal ......... 809.54 |=========================== SciMark 2.0 Computational Test: Dense LU Matrix Factorization Mflops > Higher Is Better Intel Core i7 3960X: Bare Metal . 1941.16 |==================================== Intel Core i7 3960X: KVM ........ 1737.26 |================================ Intel Core i7 3960X: Xen ........ 1928.90 |==================================== Intel Core i7 3960X: VirtualBox . 1644.01 |============================== AMD FX-8150: Bare Metal ......... 1754.40 |================================= SciMark 2.0 Computational Test: Fast Fourier Transform Mflops > Higher Is Better Intel Core i7 3960X: Bare Metal . 307.91 |===================================== Intel Core i7 3960X: KVM ........ 180.14 |====================== Intel Core i7 3960X: Xen ........ 308.62 |===================================== Intel Core i7 3960X: VirtualBox . 171.66 |===================== AMD FX-8150: Bare Metal ......... 79.16 |========= SciMark 2.0 Computational Test: Sparse Matrix Multiply Mflops > Higher Is Better Intel Core i7 3960X: Bare Metal . 1653.30 |==================================== Intel Core i7 3960X: KVM ........ 1473.43 |================================ Intel Core i7 3960X: Xen ........ 1617.43 |=================================== Intel Core i7 3960X: VirtualBox . 1384.57 |============================== AMD FX-8150: Bare Metal ......... 1066.68 |======================= John The Ripper 1.7.9 Test: Blowfish Real C/S > Higher Is Better Intel Core i7 3960X: Bare Metal . 6562 |======================================= Intel Core i7 3960X: KVM ........ 6270 |===================================== Intel Core i7 3960X: Xen ........ 5657 |================================== Intel Core i7 3960X: VirtualBox . 2179 |============= AMD FX-8150: Bare Metal ......... 6386 |====================================== Timed HMMer Search 2.3.2 Pfam Database Search Seconds < Lower Is Better Intel Core i7 3960X: Bare Metal . 12.14 |=============== Intel Core i7 3960X: KVM ........ 10.67 |============== Intel Core i7 3960X: Xen ........ 9.74 |============ Intel Core i7 3960X: VirtualBox . 29.94 |====================================== AMD FX-8150: Bare Metal ......... 16.72 |===================== Timed MAFFT Alignment 6.864 Multiple Sequence Alignment Seconds < Lower Is Better Intel Core i7 3960X: Bare Metal . 4.89 |=== Intel Core i7 3960X: KVM ........ 7.45 |===== Intel Core i7 3960X: Xen ........ 7.64 |===== Intel Core i7 3960X: VirtualBox . 60.65 |====================================== AMD FX-8150: Bare Metal ......... 6.97 |==== Timed ImageMagick Compilation 6.6.3-4 Time To Compile Seconds < Lower Is Better Intel Core i7 3960X: Bare Metal . 42.07 |=========================== Intel Core i7 3960X: KVM ........ 41.31 |=========================== Intel Core i7 3960X: Xen ........ 50.36 |================================= Intel Core i7 3960X: VirtualBox . 58.26 |====================================== AMD FX-8150: Bare Metal ......... 56.03 |===================================== Timed Linux Kernel Compilation 3.1 Time To Compile Seconds < Lower Is Better Intel Core i7 3960X: Bare Metal . 65.71 |===================== Intel Core i7 3960X: KVM ........ 76.52 |======================== Intel Core i7 3960X: Xen ........ 116.75 |===================================== Intel Core i7 3960X: VirtualBox . 116.36 |===================================== AMD FX-8150: Bare Metal ......... 91.20 |============================= C-Ray 1.1 Total Time Seconds < Lower Is Better Intel Core i7 3960X: Bare Metal . 37.37 |========================= Intel Core i7 3960X: KVM ........ 39.42 |=========================== Intel Core i7 3960X: Xen ........ 39.49 |=========================== Intel Core i7 3960X: VirtualBox . 56.52 |====================================== AMD FX-8150: Bare Metal ......... 46.03 |=============================== LZMA Compression 256MB File Compression Seconds < Lower Is Better Intel Core i7 3960X: Bare Metal . 155.28 |=========================== Intel Core i7 3960X: KVM ........ 197.93 |=================================== Intel Core i7 3960X: Xen ........ 144.33 |========================= Intel Core i7 3960X: VirtualBox . 209.48 |===================================== AMD FX-8150: Bare Metal ......... 152.33 |=========================== Parallel BZIP2 Compression 1.0.5 256MB File Compression Seconds < Lower Is Better Intel Core i7 3960X: Bare Metal . 6.06 |================= Intel Core i7 3960X: KVM ........ 6.42 |================== Intel Core i7 3960X: Xen ........ 6.38 |================== Intel Core i7 3960X: VirtualBox . 13.53 |====================================== AMD FX-8150: Bare Metal ......... 8.33 |======================= Crafty 23.4 Elapsed Time Seconds < Lower Is Better Intel Core i7 3960X: Bare Metal . 90.96 |================================ Intel Core i7 3960X: KVM ........ 93.82 |================================= Intel Core i7 3960X: Xen ........ 92.55 |================================= Intel Core i7 3960X: VirtualBox . 99.29 |=================================== AMD FX-8150: Bare Metal ......... 105.34 |===================================== Open FMM Nero2D 2.0.2 Total Time Seconds < Lower Is Better Intel Core i7 3960X: Bare Metal . 708.09 |========================= Intel Core i7 3960X: KVM ........ 715.72 |========================= Intel Core i7 3960X: Xen ........ 713.81 |========================= Intel Core i7 3960X: VirtualBox . 749.63 |========================== AMD FX-8150: Bare Metal ......... 1038.73 |==================================== Smallpt 1.0 Global Illumination Renderer; 100 Samples Seconds < Lower Is Better Intel Core i7 3960X: Bare Metal . 21 |========================== Intel Core i7 3960X: KVM ........ 21 |========================== Intel Core i7 3960X: Xen ........ 21 |========================== Intel Core i7 3960X: VirtualBox . 29 |==================================== AMD FX-8150: Bare Metal ......... 33 |========================================= OpenSSL 1.0.0e RSA 4096-bit Performance Signs Per Second > Higher Is Better Intel Core i7 3960X: Bare Metal . 74.98 |====================================== Intel Core i7 3960X: KVM ........ 74.85 |====================================== Intel Core i7 3960X: Xen ........ 74.98 |====================================== Intel Core i7 3960X: VirtualBox . 71.98 |==================================== AMD FX-8150: Bare Metal ......... 70.35 |==================================== NAS Parallel Benchmarks 3.3 Test / Class: BT.A Total Mop/s > Higher Is Better Intel Core i7 3960X: Bare Metal . 16396.46 |=================================== Intel Core i7 3960X: KVM ........ 14094.95 |============================== Intel Core i7 3960X: Xen ........ 14979.75 |================================ Intel Core i7 3960X: VirtualBox . 3600.71 |======== AMD FX-8150: Bare Metal ......... 11870.22 |========================= NAS Parallel Benchmarks 3.3 Test / Class: CG.B Total Mop/s > Higher Is Better Intel Core i7 3960X: Bare Metal . 3307.14 |==================================== Intel Core i7 3960X: KVM ........ 2941.37 |================================ Intel Core i7 3960X: Xen ........ 2841.48 |=============================== Intel Core i7 3960X: VirtualBox . 675.11 |======= AMD FX-8150: Bare Metal ......... 2481.11 |=========================== NAS Parallel Benchmarks 3.3 Test / Class: EP.B Total Mop/s > Higher Is Better Intel Core i7 3960X: Bare Metal . 305.52 |===================================== Intel Core i7 3960X: KVM ........ 297.07 |==================================== Intel Core i7 3960X: Xen ........ 297.51 |==================================== Intel Core i7 3960X: VirtualBox . 207.84 |========================= AMD FX-8150: Bare Metal ......... 177.48 |===================== NAS Parallel Benchmarks 3.3 Test / Class: FT.B Total Mop/s > Higher Is Better Intel Core i7 3960X: Bare Metal . 9102.76 |==================================== Intel Core i7 3960X: KVM ........ 8589.00 |================================== Intel Core i7 3960X: Xen ........ 8693.00 |================================== Intel Core i7 3960X: VirtualBox . 4871.72 |=================== AMD FX-8150: Bare Metal ......... 6392.14 |========================= NAS Parallel Benchmarks 3.3 Test / Class: IS.C Total Mop/s > Higher Is Better Intel Core i7 3960X: Bare Metal . 154.57 |===================================== Intel Core i7 3960X: KVM ........ 84.97 |==================== Intel Core i7 3960X: Xen ........ 153.99 |===================================== Intel Core i7 3960X: VirtualBox . 80.94 |=================== AMD FX-8150: Bare Metal ......... 107.53 |========================== NAS Parallel Benchmarks 3.3 Test / Class: LU.A Total Mop/s > Higher Is Better Intel Core i7 3960X: Bare Metal . 15393.08 |=================================== Intel Core i7 3960X: KVM ........ 12133.88 |============================ Intel Core i7 3960X: Xen ........ 11580.19 |========================== Intel Core i7 3960X: VirtualBox . 2537.95 |====== AMD FX-8150: Bare Metal ......... 11597.69 |========================== NAS Parallel Benchmarks 3.3 Test / Class: MG.B Total Mop/s > Higher Is Better Intel Core i7 3960X: Bare Metal . 10158.85 |=================================== Intel Core i7 3960X: KVM ........ 8422.94 |============================= Intel Core i7 3960X: Xen ........ 7698.61 |=========================== Intel Core i7 3960X: VirtualBox . 1430.53 |===== AMD FX-8150: Bare Metal ......... 4616.18 |================ NAS Parallel Benchmarks 3.3 Test / Class: SP.A Total Mop/s > Higher Is Better Intel Core i7 3960X: Bare Metal . 9340.36 |==================================== Intel Core i7 3960X: KVM ........ 7007.17 |=========================== Intel Core i7 3960X: Xen ........ 6944.81 |=========================== Intel Core i7 3960X: VirtualBox . 1100.63 |==== AMD FX-8150: Bare Metal ......... 5441.58 |===================== NAS Parallel Benchmarks 3.3 Test / Class: UA.A Total Mop/s > Higher Is Better Intel Core i7 3960X: Bare Metal . 73.12 |====================================== Intel Core i7 3960X: KVM ........ 56.96 |============================== Intel Core i7 3960X: Xen ........ 46.09 |======================== Intel Core i7 3960X: VirtualBox . 2.79 |= AMD FX-8150: Bare Metal ......... 39.08 |==================== NGINX Benchmark 1.0.11 Static Web Page Serving Requests Per Second > Higher Is Better Intel Core i7 3960X: Bare Metal . 17638.33 |=================================== Intel Core i7 3960X: KVM ........ 16675.53 |================================= Intel Core i7 3960X: Xen ........ 17788.74 |=================================== Intel Core i7 3960X: VirtualBox . 3505.38 |======= AMD FX-8150: Bare Metal ......... 17706.18 |===================================