Linux 6.6 LTS To Linux 7.1 Bechmarks: Performance Up 13% On AMD Threadripper Over Three Years - Phoronix

Articles & Reviews

News Archive

Forums

Premium Ad-Free<br>Contact

Popular Categories

Close

Articles & Reviews

News Archive

Forums

Premium

Contact

Categories

Computers Display Drivers Graphics Cards Linux Gaming Memory Motherboards Processors Software Storage Operating Systems Peripherals

Linux 6.6 LTS To Linux 7.1 Bechmarks: Performance Up 13% On AMD Threadripper Over Three Years

Written by Michael Larabel in Software on 18 May 2026 at 10:30 AM EDT. Page 1 of 8 . 1 Comment.

The Linux 7.1 kernel performance has been looking quite good on the various Intel/AMD systems I have tested over the past three weeks. Linux 7.1 does bring some solid improvements over Linux 7.0 prior in different workloads and haven't encountered any worrisome regressions compared to the current Linux 7.0 stable kernel. For those wondering the longer-term picture, here are benchmarks of Linux 7.1 Git compared to recent Linux LTS kernel series going back to 2023 for providing a picture at how the upstream Linux kernel has netted 13% faster performance (geo mean) on the same hardware in less than three years.

Today's Linux kernel testing is looking at the performance of Linux 6.6 LTS, Linux 6.12 LTS, Linux 6.18 LTS, and Linux 7.1 Git on the same system. For this testing the newest workstation in the lab was used, the new System76 Thelio Major powered by AMD Ryzen Threadripper 9980X. The System76 Thelio Major was equipped with the 64-core / 128-thread Zen 5 HEDT processor, 128GB of RAM, NVMe SSD storage, and AMD Radeon AI PRO R9700 graphics. Thanks to System76 for providing the review unit for these ongoing Linux performance benchmarks.

Going back as far as Linux 6.6 LTS was limited for maintaining compatibility with this Zen 5 workstation. Even with Linux 6.6 LTS, the Radeon AI PRO R9700 graphics were unsupported so there are only the OpenGL/Vulkan benchmarks beginning with Linux 6.12 LTS.

The same hardware configuration during all of the testing as well as the same user-space software with simply swapping out the kernel version being used. For easy reproducibility and transparency into the kernel configuration, the Ubuntu Mainline Kernel PPA was used. The Linux 7.1 Git kernel used for testing was the Git state as of 14 May.

Let's see how the AMD Ryzen Threadripper workstation performance has evolved since Linux 6.6 LTS from late 2023 through Linux 7.1 that will be debuting as stable by mid-June. And besides the performance enhancements of the new kernel, Linux 7.1 also has many other new features.

1 Comment - Next Page

Tweet

Page 1 - IntroductionPage 2 - Storage + Network I/OPage 3 - HPC + Other AppsPage 4 - In Memory Databases, CryptographyPage 5 - PostgreSQL, Nginx, Context Switching, Llama.cppPage 6 - OpenJDK JavaPage 7 - Radeon RDNA4 GraphicsPage 8 - Linux Kernel Geo Mean

Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Next Page

Linux 7.1 Features: New NTFS Driver, New Intel + AMD Hardware, Performance Optimizations & Modernization<br>GCC 16 Compiler Delivering Some Decent Performance Gains Over GCC 15<br>Linux 7.1 Is Performing Well Overall In Early Benchmarks<br>Firefox 149 vs. Chrome 147 Web Browser Performance On Linux<br>KDE Plasma 6.6 Delivers An Impressive Edge For Radeon Graphics Over GNOME 50 On Ubuntu 26.04<br>Blender 5.1 Delivers Some Nice Gains For CPU Rendering Performance On Linux

Firefox 151 Now Available With Document Picture-in-Picture API

Linux AF_ALG Crypto Code Removing Zero-Copy Support Out Of Security Concerns

Torvalds: AI Tools Great When Not Causing Unnecessary Pain & Pointless Make-Believe Work

AMD's Lemonade SDK For AI Promotes macOS To GA Status, ROCm 7.13 Integrated

gkh_clanker_t1000 & gkh_clanker_2000 Continue Uncovering Linux Kernel Bugs

Linux 7.1-rc4 Released With Many Fixes, New Documentation For Security/AI Topics

Ubuntu Concept ISOs Published For CIX P1 AI CPU

Open-Source "low_latency_layer" Brings Reflex & Anti-Lag 2 To AMD & Intel GPUs On Linux

Claude Code Did The Heavy Lifting To Get Adobe Lightroom CC Running On Linux

GNOME 51 Could End Up Replacing System Tools With "Resources" App

Phoronix Premium allows ad-free access to the site, multi-page articles on a single page, and other features while supporting this site's continued operations.

Linux 6.6 LTS To Linux 7.1 Bechmarks: Performance Up 13% On AMD Threadripper Over Three Years

ROCm 7.0.0 vs. ROCm 7.2.3 Performance On The AMD Radeon AI PRO R9700

GCC 16 Produces Faster Binaries Than GCC 15, Competitive Race With LLVM Clang 22

Running Four Intel Graphics Cards Under Linux On Ubuntu 26.04

Redesigned Thelio Major Elevates System76's All-AMD, Open-Source Linux Workstation

The mission at Phoronix since 2004 has centered around enriching the Linux hardware experience. In addition to supporting our site through advertisements, you can help by subscribing to Phoronix Premium. You can also contribute to Phoronix through tips/donations via PayPal or...