AMD’s new 96-core Ryzen Threadripper Pro 7995WX (Amazon/B&H Photo Video) processor runs 20% faster on Ubuntu compared to Windows 11, according to recent benchmark tests by Phoronix. The tests demonstrate Linux’s advantage over Windows when utilizing high core count CPUs.
Phoronix tested the 7995WX chip on an HP Z6 G5 workstation featuring 128GB of DDR5 RAM and an Nvidia RTX A4000 GPU. They pitted Windows 11 Pro version 23H2 against Ubuntu 23.10 in various CPU-intensive benchmarks. Across all tests, Ubuntu averaged 19.5% higher performance than Windows 11.
While Windows 11 did outperform Ubuntu in a few specific benchmarks like Kvazaar video encoding, LuxCoreRender, and Geekbench, Ubuntu dominated the majority of tests. Most notably, Ubuntu was twice as fast as Windows 11 in benchmarks like ASTC texture compression, asmFish chess engine, AV1 video encoding, OSPRay ray tracing, and the DaCapo Java benchmark.
Linux’s scheduler is better optimized to take advantage of high core count processors like AMD’s Threadripper chips. The 96-core 7995WX contains 12 chiplets with 8 Zen 4 cores each. Efficiently managing thread scheduling across so many cores has historically favored Linux over Windows. Although Microsoft has improved Windows 11’s scheduler for high core counts, it still lags behind Linux.
For professionals using threaded workloads like 3D rendering, video encoding, computational fluid dynamics, and finance analytics, this 20% Ubuntu advantage translates to a major boost in productivity. Applications like Blender, LuxCoreRender, Handbrake, and Mathworks MATLAB see significant gains in workflow speed by switching to Linux on high-end AMD hardware.
While the average consumer using MS Office and web browsing likely won’t notice a difference, power users running Linux workstations can maximize performance. Tech enthusiasts may also consider dual-booting Windows and Ubuntu to enjoy the best of both worlds.
The Phoronix benchmark results reinforce Linux’s positioning for serious workstation applications requiring the utmost CPU muscle. AMD’s latest Threadripper pushes the boundaries of core count and exposes differences between the Windows and Linux kernels. As core counts continue rising in both client and enterprise hardware, we can expect the Linux performance advantage to persist on future AMD and Intel platforms.