VirtualBox 6.0 vs. KVM vs. Bare Linux Benchmarks AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2990WX Linux virtualization benchmarks for a future article on Phoronix. VirtualBox 6.0: Processor: AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2990WX 32-Core (16 Cores), Motherboard: Oracle VirtualBox v1.2, Chipset: Intel 440FX 82441FX PMC, Memory: 16384MB, Disk: 64GB VBOX HDD, Graphics: SVGA3D; build: RELEASE; LLVM;, Audio: Intel 82801AA AC 97 Audio, Network: Intel 82540EM Gigabit OS: Ubuntu 18.10, Kernel: 4.18.0-12-generic (x86_64), Desktop: GNOME Shell 3.30.1, Display Server: X Server 1.20.1, Display Driver: modesetting 1.20.1, OpenGL: 2.1 Mesa 18.2.2, Compiler: GCC 8.2.0, File-System: ext4, Screen Resolution: 3773x2052, System Layer: Oracle VirtualBox 5.2.18_Ubuntur123745 KVM: Processor: 16 x AMD EPYC (with IBPB) (16 Cores), Motherboard: QEMU Standard PC (i440FX + PIIX 1996) (1.11.1-1ubuntu1 BIOS), Chipset: Intel 440FX 82441FX PMC, Memory: 16384MB, Disk: 94GB, Graphics: Red Hat QXL paravirtual graphic card, Audio: QEMU Generic, Network: Red Hat Virtio device OS: Ubuntu 18.10, Kernel: 4.18.0-12-generic (x86_64), Desktop: GNOME Shell 3.30.1, Display Server: X Server 1.20.1, Display Driver: modesetting 1.20.1, OpenGL: 3.3 Mesa 18.2.2 (LLVM 7.0 128 bits), Compiler: GCC 8.2.0, File-System: ext4, Screen Resolution: 1024x768, System Layer: KVM Bare Metal: Processor: AMD Ryzen Threadripper 2990WX 32-Core @ 3.00GHz (16 Cores), Motherboard: ASUS ROG ZENITH EXTREME (1601 BIOS), Chipset: AMD Family 17h, Memory: 32768MB, Disk: Samsung SSD 970 EVO 500GB, Graphics: MSI AMD Radeon RX 470/480/570/570X/580/580X 8GB (1366/2000MHz), Audio: Realtek ALC1220, Monitor: ASUS VP28U, Network: Intel I211 Gigabit Connection + Qualcomm Atheros QCA6174 802.11ac Wireless OS: Ubuntu 18.10, Kernel: 4.18.0-12-generic (x86_64), Desktop: GNOME Shell 3.30.1, Display Server: X Server 1.20.1, Display Driver: modesetting 1.20.1, OpenGL: 4.5 Mesa 18.2.2 (LLVM 7.0.0), Compiler: GCC 8.2.0, File-System: ext4, Screen Resolution: 3840x2160 SQLite 3.22 Timed SQLite Insertions Seconds < Lower Is Better VirtualBox 6.0 . 165.58 |====================================================== KVM ............ 47.04 |=============== Bare Metal ..... 36.26 |============ Flexible IO Tester 3.1 Type: Random Read - IO Engine: Linux AIO - Buffered: No - Direct: Yes - Block Size: 4KB - Disk Target: Default Test Directory IOPS > Higher Is Better VirtualBox 6.0 . 25933 |======= KVM ............ 144000 |====================================== Bare Metal ..... 205333 |====================================================== Flexible IO Tester 3.1 Type: Random Write - IO Engine: Linux AIO - Buffered: No - Direct: Yes - Block Size: 4KB - Disk Target: Default Test Directory IOPS > Higher Is Better VirtualBox 6.0 . 27667 |===== KVM ............ 127333 |======================= Bare Metal ..... 303250 |====================================================== Flexible IO Tester 3.1 Type: Sequential Read - IO Engine: Linux AIO - Buffered: No - Direct: Yes - Block Size: 4KB - Disk Target: Default Test Directory MB/s > Higher Is Better VirtualBox 6.0 . 108 |====== KVM ............ 685 |====================================== Bare Metal ..... 1017 |======================================================== FS-Mark 3.3 Test: 1000 Files, 1MB Size Files/s > Higher Is Better VirtualBox 6.0 . 112 |========================= KVM ............ 113 |========================== Bare Metal ..... 251 |========================================================= FS-Mark 3.3 Test: 5000 Files, 1MB Size, 4 Threads Files/s > Higher Is Better VirtualBox 6.0 . 113 |==================================== KVM ............ 157 |================================================= Bare Metal ..... 181 |========================================================= Compile Bench 0.6 Test: Compile MB/s > Higher Is Better VirtualBox 6.0 . 1152 |===================================== KVM ............ 1493 |================================================ Bare Metal ..... 1745 |======================================================== Compile Bench 0.6 Test: Initial Create MB/s > Higher Is Better VirtualBox 6.0 . 373 |========================================== KVM ............ 435 |================================================= Bare Metal ..... 506 |========================================================= Parboil 2.5 Test: OpenMP CUTCP Seconds < Lower Is Better VirtualBox 6.0 . 4.31 |======================================================== KVM ............ 3.54 |============================================== Bare Metal ..... 3.41 |============================================ NAMD 2.13b1 ATPase Simulation - 327,506 Atoms days/ns < Lower Is Better VirtualBox 6.0 . 2.15651 |===================================================== KVM ............ 1.51707 |===================================== Bare Metal ..... 1.45923 |==================================== DaCapo Benchmark 9.12-MR1 Java Test: H2 msec < Lower Is Better VirtualBox 6.0 . 5575 |======================================================== KVM ............ 5231 |===================================================== Bare Metal ..... 3808 |====================================== DaCapo Benchmark 9.12-MR1 Java Test: Jython msec < Lower Is Better VirtualBox 6.0 . 6721 |======================================================== KVM ............ 4805 |======================================== Bare Metal ..... 4541 |====================================== DaCapo Benchmark 9.12-MR1 Java Test: Tradesoap msec < Lower Is Better VirtualBox 6.0 . 8164 |======================================================== KVM ............ 5670 |======================================= Bare Metal ..... 3993 |=========================== DaCapo Benchmark 9.12-MR1 Java Test: Tradebeans msec < Lower Is Better VirtualBox 6.0 . 7688 |======================================================== KVM ............ 5346 |======================================= Bare Metal ..... 4075 |============================== Timed Linux Kernel Compilation 4.18 Time To Compile Seconds < Lower Is Better VirtualBox 6.0 . 92.29 |======================================================= KVM ............ 67.38 |======================================== Bare Metal ..... 61.78 |===================================== Primesieve 7.2 1e12 Prime Number Generation Seconds < Lower Is Better VirtualBox 6.0 . 20.29 |======================================================= KVM ............ 15.42 |========================================== Bare Metal ..... 14.23 |======================================= Rust Prime Benchmark Prime Number Test To 200,000,000 Seconds < Lower Is Better VirtualBox 6.0 . 28.31 |======================================================= KVM ............ 23.00 |============================================= Bare Metal ..... 22.67 |============================================ Node.js Octane Benchmark Score > Higher Is Better VirtualBox 6.0 . 30979 |============================================= KVM ............ 37442 |======================================================= Bare Metal ..... 37665 |======================================================= XZ Compression 5.2.4 Compressing ubuntu-16.04.3-server-i386.img, Compression Level 9 Seconds < Lower Is Better VirtualBox 6.0 . 142.00 |====================================================== KVM ............ 116.00 |============================================ Bare Metal ..... 82.19 |=============================== Zstd Compression 1.3.4 Compressing ubuntu-16.04.3-server-i386.img, Compression Level 19 Seconds < Lower Is Better VirtualBox 6.0 . 24.87 |======================================================= KVM ............ 19.86 |============================================ Bare Metal ..... 19.46 |=========================================== Rodinia 2.4 Test: OpenMP LavaMD Seconds < Lower Is Better VirtualBox 6.0 . 36.49 |======================================================= KVM ............ 26.04 |======================================= Bare Metal ..... 25.85 |======================================= TTSIOD 3D Renderer 2.3b Phong Rendering With Soft-Shadow Mapping FPS > Higher Is Better VirtualBox 6.0 . 243 |================================ KVM ............ 369 |================================================ Bare Metal ..... 435 |========================================================= x264 2018-09-25 H.264 Video Encoding Frames Per Second > Higher Is Better VirtualBox 6.0 . 68.69 |==================================== KVM ............ 86.16 |============================================= Bare Metal ..... 102.97 |====================================================== Redis 4.0.8 Test: SET Requests Per Second > Higher Is Better VirtualBox 6.0 . 1275589 |============================================ KVM ............ 1499019 |=================================================== Bare Metal ..... 1550138 |===================================================== Stress-NG 0.07.26 Test: Semaphores Bogo Ops/s > Higher Is Better VirtualBox 6.0 . 1754751 |====================================== KVM ............ 2091760 |============================================= Bare Metal ..... 2461429 |===================================================== Stress-NG 0.07.26 Test: Context Switching Bogo Ops/s > Higher Is Better VirtualBox 6.0 . 2747611 |============================= KVM ............ 4942603 |===================================================== Bare Metal ..... 4971298 |===================================================== Stress-NG 0.07.26 Test: System V Message Passing Bogo Ops/s > Higher Is Better VirtualBox 6.0 . 3247186 |============================ KVM ............ 5385500 |============================================== Bare Metal ..... 6182299 |===================================================== Blender 2.79a Blend File: BMW27 - Compute: CPU-Only Seconds < Lower Is Better VirtualBox 6.0 . 259 |========================================================= KVM ............ 185 |========================================= Bare Metal ..... 183 |======================================== Memcached mcperf 1.5.10 Method: Get Operations Per Second > Higher Is Better VirtualBox 6.0 . 32542 |============================ KVM ............ 47867 |========================================= Bare Metal ..... 63568 |======================================================= Memcached mcperf 1.5.10 Method: Set Operations Per Second > Higher Is Better VirtualBox 6.0 . 11892 |=============== KVM ............ 28684 |===================================== Bare Metal ..... 42394 |======================================================= Apache Benchmark 2.4.29 Static Web Page Serving Requests Per Second > Higher Is Better VirtualBox 6.0 . 11577 |============================ KVM ............ 22461 |======================================================= Bare Metal ..... 22366 |======================================================= OSBench Test: Create Files us Per Event < Lower Is Better VirtualBox 6.0 . 19.37 |======================================================= KVM ............ 14.73 |========================================== Bare Metal ..... 14.96 |========================================== OSBench Test: Create Threads us Per Event < Lower Is Better VirtualBox 6.0 . 82.45 |======================================================= KVM ............ 31.13 |===================== Bare Metal ..... 13.07 |========= OSBench Test: Launch Programs us Per Event < Lower Is Better VirtualBox 6.0 . 83.10 |======================================================= KVM ............ 60.37 |======================================== Bare Metal ..... 43.02 |============================ OSBench Test: Create Processes us Per Event < Lower Is Better VirtualBox 6.0 . 55.97 |======================================================= KVM ............ 41.85 |========================================= Bare Metal ..... 23.61 |======================= OSBench Test: Memory Allocations Ns Per Event < Lower Is Better VirtualBox 6.0 . 85.93 |======================================================= KVM ............ 77.75 |================================================== Bare Metal ..... 72.39 |==============================================