Intel's new Core Ultra 9 285K has shown surprising performance results, running significantly faster on Linux than on Windows. While the chip received a lukewarm reception initially due to its middling performance, it seems switching to Linux could unlock its full potential.
Linux Outperforms Windows
the Core Ultra 9 285K ran an average of 5% faster on Ubuntu 24.10 compared to Windows 11 (24H2). Furthermore, upgrading the Linux kernel to 6.13 resulted in an 7% performance increase over Windows. This suggests that the chip's performance is being held back in the Windows environment.
Performance Analysis
In specific workloads, the 285K showed significant performance differences between the two operating systems:
- Windows Struggles: Rendering, ray tracing, compression/decompression, encoding, Java, and some chess simulators performed poorly on Windows.
- Linux Gains: In one SVT-AV1 encoding test, the 285K was nearly twice as fast on Ubuntu as on Windows. Many other tests showed double-digit performance gains on Linux.
- Windows Wins: Texture compression (ASTC Encoder) and H.265 encoding (Kvazaar) were faster on Windows, as well as some Java tests.
- Mixed Results: Roughly a third of the benchmarks showed similar performance on both Windows and Linux.
Gaming and Power Management
We did not test any games, but the 285K's gaming performance is known to be weaker than previous generations. The test also noted that the 285K did not improve speed with Intel's P-State performance governor, which is the Linux equivalent of Windows’s high performance power plan, indicating that the default powersave governor worked fine.
Broader Implications
The 285K isn’t the only Intel part to do a better job in Linux than Windows. The company’s new Battlemage B580 GPU also enjoys better performance in Linux.
- Core Ultra 9 285K Review Here.
