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Linux vs. Windows results

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Artem S. Tashkinov

10 Jun, 2017 07:28 AM

Hi,

I'm curious why Linux and Windows results differ by quite a large margin: https://browser.geekbench.com/v4/cpu/compare/2979799?baseline=3067566

This is the same PC. Both tests have been run on a completely idle PC with next to zero background applications aside from system services. Windows performance profile was set to High Performance. I even changed Windows geekbench process priority to realtime - all to no avail.

Do you really use the same compiler for these two OS'es? If not, do you intend to? Otherwise your results between these two desktop OSes cannot be directly compared.

Regards,

1. 1 Posted by Anonymous on 23 Sep, 2017 12:49 AM

   

   I'm also interested.

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2. Support Staff 2 Posted by Colin on 27 Sep, 2017 07:17 PM

   

   Hi,

   Thanks for letting us know about this, and I apologize for the delayed response. The deviation in scores for those two configurations are slightly larger than normal, but not atypical for the difference between two runs on a given machine. Some specific workload scores, mainly the HTML5 DOM score, show an unexpected discrepancy which could be the result of a hardware issue or an intermittent background process, though with two results it is difficult to draw firm conclusions about its cause.

   Linux and Windows do not use the same compiler. Some details on the compilers used for each platform are available via our page on the individual Geekbench 4 CPU workloads. Currently, there are no plans to change how Geekbench is compiled on a particular platform. Despite the different compilers, Geekbench should generate similar scores for the same hardware on average, though scores may fluctuate slightly.

   Best,
   Colin
   Primate Labs Inc.

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3. 3 Posted by mleise on 09 Apr, 2018 04:14 PM

   

   I am seeing the same effect for a 2013 notebook. HTML5 DOM Multi-Core looks like it is running single-core on Linux. Also the AES, LZMA, raytracing and the memory bandwith test is usually "won" by Windows, while the others are "won" by Linux.
   https://browser.geekbench.com/v4/cpu/compare/7080784?baseline=7873495
   I believe most of it can be attributed to different compilers (at least in the single-core tests), while the HTML5 DOM discrepancy looks like a problem with threading support in the used library.

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4. Support Staff 4 Posted by Colin on 10 Apr, 2018 02:48 PM

   

   Hi mleise,

   Thanks for letting us know about this. I'm not certain what would be causing your multi-core HTML5 DOM score on Linux to be similar to the single-core value. I've passed this information along to my team and will let you know as soon as I can if we can provide more information or an update to address this issue.

   Similarly, regarding the differences between your Windows and Linux runs of Geekbench, we're continuously investigating any potential issues which could cause scores to differ between operating systems, and I'll take a closer look based on your information.

   All the best,
   Colin
   Primate Labs Inc.

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5. 5 Posted by b0b on 29 Apr, 2019 10:31 AM

   

   Look at this huge single-core difference for the Core i7-8850H between Linux (5817) and Windows (5233):

   https://browser.geekbench.com/v4/cpu/compare/12427650?baseline=12738264

   Confirmed by pages and pages of Linux score before the first Windows score for the top chart list for this CPU:

   https://browser.geekbench.com/v4/cpu/search?dir=desc&q=i7-8850H&sort=score

   Can we conclude Geekbench is not really suitable to compare scores for the same machine running different OSes ?

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6. Support Staff 6 Posted by John on 30 Apr, 2019 03:50 AM

   

   From the results you posted it looks like the CPU is able to hit higher frequencies under Linux than Windows (4.3GHz vs 4.2GHz). If one OS enables the processor to run at higher frequencies (and for potentially longer periods of time) I would expect that to be reflected in benchmark results.

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7. 7 Posted by b0b on 01 May, 2019 01:38 PM

   

   Interesting. How do you know only 4.2 GHz was reached for the single core benchmark on Windows ? Have you looked to more detailed data of the benchmark report that is not displayed in the web UI ? Is there a way for users to check that in some way ?

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8. 8 Posted by Artem S. Tashki... on 15 Jun, 2019 08:54 PM

   

   The discrepancy between Linux and Windows in the most recent GeekBench v4.3.4 has increased even further.

   It's high time you guys compiled it using the same compiler.

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