Your Intel CPU may be getting slower after next week...

danno8

"'Kernel memory leaking' Intel processor design flaw forces Linux, Windows redesign
Other OSes will need an update, performance hits loom"

https://www.theverge.com/2018/1/3/16844630/intel-processor-security-flaw-bug-kernel-windows-linux

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/01/02/intel_cpu_design_flaw/

I am personally not very excited about the prospect of my CPU running even 5% slower than it does now for ESO, which is especially CPU starved.

Tandor

It sounds like a particularly good time to make sure you don't have Windows Updates set to install automatically.

ereboz

Well I play on an Intel potato laptop so.... Sigh

casparian

Tandor wrote: »

It sounds like a particularly good time to make sure you don't have Windows Updates set to install automatically.

No, that is a bad idea. This security bug is a big deal. Now is not a good time to say "it won't happen to me".

What's more, this is a very recently discovered bug and very little has been confirmed about it yet, including the scary "5-30% performance loss" number. Some initial testing has reported performance loss of about 1% in gaming, and the big performance losses seem to mainly effect people using VMs.

What's more, the performance loss is a loss to one particular CPU function, syscalls. ESO is a somewhat CPU-heavy game, but not due to syscalls (AFAIK). So even if your PC loses some performance power, it shouldn't noticeably effect ESO (unless you're asking it to do something syscall-heavy at the same time).

JesQu

Just disable the windows update from task manager = no updates at all

Ydrisselle

JesQu wrote: »

Just disable the windows update from task manager = no updates at all

That's a very bad idea, unless you want to make sure your computer get a couple of viruses which uses this problem. I'm quite sure there will be many of them in 2 weeks.

Tandor

casparian wrote: »

Tandor wrote: »

It sounds like a particularly good time to make sure you don't have Windows Updates set to install automatically.

No, that is a bad idea. This security bug is a big deal. Now is not a good time to say "it won't happen to me".

What's more, this is a very recently discovered bug and very little has been confirmed about it yet, including the scary "5-30% performance loss" number. Some initial testing has reported performance loss of about 1% in gaming, and the big performance losses seem to mainly effect people using VMs.

What's more, the performance loss is a loss to one particular CPU function, syscalls. ESO is a somewhat CPU-heavy game, but not due to syscalls (AFAIK). So even if your PC loses some performance power, it shouldn't noticeably effect ESO (unless you're asking it to do something syscall-heavy at the same time).

I'm not suggesting people forego this and all updates, just that they choose when to install them and allow others to test the updates first. It's never a good idea just to jump in on Patch Tuesday.

As for whether the update has only minimal effect on ESO or not, that is not the only consideration. We all use our machines for other things too.

It's good advice to give all updates a few days for the dust to settle before installing them. Microsoft will then have had an opportunity to pull or hot-fix any troublesome ones. The only exception to that should be the Zero Day updates, and following one or two technical websites is the best way of learning which ones you need to be quick to install.

clocksstoppe

casparian wrote: »

Tandor wrote: »

It sounds like a particularly good time to make sure you don't have Windows Updates set to install automatically.

No, that is a bad idea. This security bug is a big deal. Now is not a good time to say "it won't happen to me".

What's more, this is a very recently discovered bug and very little has been confirmed about it yet, including the scary "5-30% performance loss" number. Some initial testing has reported performance loss of about 1% in gaming, and the big performance losses seem to mainly effect people using VMs.

What's more, the performance loss is a loss to one particular CPU function, syscalls. ESO is a somewhat CPU-heavy game, but not due to syscalls (AFAIK). So even if your PC loses some performance power, it shouldn't noticeably effect ESO (unless you're asking it to do something syscall-heavy at the same time).

The hilarious thing is people with 7th/8th gen Intel CPUs on Windows 8.1 and earlier can't even apply this update because Microsoft blocks you from getting any updates whatsoever. Their reason: "hurr durr use Windows 10 or go *** yourself". Guess I also get a performance boost now.

Aisle9

And another reason to switch to Ryzen... oh well

danno8

Aisle9 wrote: »

And another reason to switch to Ryzen... oh well

What's really sad is I am now reading that the push is going to go to all machine, even those with AMD CPU's. So even if you are using an AMD CPU you will get the software fix-and the slowdown that comes with it.

https://www.techpowerup.com/240187/amd-struggles-to-be-excluded-from-unwarranted-intel-vt-flaw-kernel-patches?cp=2

The plus side to all this is it looks like gaming will be some of the least affected applications.

ArchMikem

Console Master Race?

Aisle9

well... damn

EvilCroc

Dat feel when you have AMD.

nnargun

ArchMikem wrote: »

Console Master Race?

5% of my i7 8700k @ 5GHz is like your whole console

TequilaFire

nnargun wrote: »

ArchMikem wrote: »

Console Master Race?

5% of my i7 8700k @ 5GHz is like your whole console

You need to read up on modern console specs.

rez0055

Good thing i switched over to Ryzen then...

Merlin13KAGL

Unless the running thread is using 100% of your current CPU core, it's unlikely you're going to be able to notice any difference one way or another.

And if your system is requiring that much CPU time, it's probably time to upgrade anyway. CPU's are rarely the bottleneck in any decent system.

TL;DR; No need to panic yet.

Darlon

rez0055 wrote: »

Good thing i switched over to Ryzen then...

Yeah, you're getting the update anyways, so tough luck

nnargun

Merlin13KAGL wrote: »

Unless the running thread is using 100% of your current CPU core, it's unlikely you're going to be able to notice any difference one way or another.

And if your system is requiring that much CPU time, it's probably time to upgrade anyway. CPU's are rarely the bottleneck in any decent system.

TL;DR; No need to panic yet.

This is absolutely not true for ESO. It's extremely heavy on one thread and at max details I think no current CPU can do it without getting to its limits here and there. As I said I have a i7 8700k @ 5GHz and I know how to use HWinfo.

xeNNNNN

If I am perfectly honest for gaming it will probably be around a 5% loss min, 10% loss max and if you're overclocking it'll probably make up for the loss anyway so IDK.

For those of us who cant be bothered too OC we'll probably feel it a bit more.

The funny thing is that developers will now likely have to patch their games accordingly to lessen the problems their players will have in their game as a result because for some preformance issues will become a massive problem.

I am actually wondering how badly frame rates will be affected in PvP. I am also wondering just how bad the server processors will be affected as a result too. I mean PvP already has problems with calculation processing which results in frame and ability lag so yeah....doesnt sound fun right now.

SirAndy

ArchMikem

nnargun wrote: »

ArchMikem wrote: »

Console Master Race?

5% of my i7 8700k @ 5GHz is like your whole console

The CPU isn't even what really matters in the console, the GPU is, and they've likened the GPU in the One X to a GTX 1060.

ManDraKE

Tandor wrote: »

It sounds like a particularly good time to make sure you don't have Windows Updates set to install automatically.

very bad idea, at least for this case in particular.

casparian wrote: »

What's more, the performance loss is a loss to one particular CPU function, syscalls. ESO is a somewhat CPU-heavy game, but not due to syscalls (AFAIK). So even if your PC loses some performance power, it shouldn't noticeably effect ESO (unless you're asking it to do something syscall-heavy at the same time).

i'm not sure but i think that DirectX 11 generates a ton *** of syscalls. That is in part the cpu overhead that was solved with APIs like DirectX12 and Vulkan.

kypranb14_ESO

ArchMikem wrote: »

Console Master Race?

Even after a 30% hit to CPU power, my PC would still blow my Xbox One out of the water by leagues. lol

Arkadius

Now we know why Intel CEO sold a lot of his shares two months ago, at the same time Windows/Linux developers started working on kernel patches

MLGProPlayer

Tandor wrote: »

It sounds like a particularly good time to make sure you don't have Windows Updates set to install automatically.

You can't turn off automatic updates in Windows 10 unless you have the Pro edition.

You can also disable automatic updates over wi-fi but who games over wi-fi?

MLGProPlayer

rez0055 wrote: »

Good thing i switched over to Ryzen then...

AMD has been *** for so long, but I'm actually tempted to make the switch for my next upgrade now. I just hope this debacle can help them become more competitive. We need some competition in the CPU industry.

zyk

Early tests on Linux games suggest the impact to most games won't be significant.

Linux gaming performance in initial testing doesn't appear to be affected. Then again, we personally didn't expect it to be much considering it's more isolated than some of the other syscall / context switching heavy workloads benchmarked. But for those concerned whether running the patched Linux kernel could lead to a drop in frame-rates, it doesn't appear to be when firing up some of the common Linux games on Steam.

<snip>

The frame-rates were pretty much stable in the different Vulkan/OpenGL games tested. Likewise, in the earlier article applications like FFmpeg also weren't significantly impacted unlike some of the synthetic I/O benchmarks, etc.

https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=x86-PTI-Initial-Gaming-Tests

It's only certain types of applications that will be significantly impacted. A more practical fear could be the impact to ESO servers.

TheValar85

Thanx the god i am havinng AMD now XD

SisterGoat

Ryzen looks sexy. It's such a shame ESO runs mediocre even if you have the highest specs.

zaria

casparian wrote: »

Tandor wrote: »

It sounds like a particularly good time to make sure you don't have Windows Updates set to install automatically.

No, that is a bad idea. This security bug is a big deal. Now is not a good time to say "it won't happen to me".

What's more, this is a very recently discovered bug and very little has been confirmed about it yet, including the scary "5-30% performance loss" number. Some initial testing has reported performance loss of about 1% in gaming, and the big performance losses seem to mainly effect people using VMs.

What's more, the performance loss is a loss to one particular CPU function, syscalls. ESO is a somewhat CPU-heavy game, but not due to syscalls (AFAIK). So even if your PC loses some performance power, it shouldn't noticeably effect ESO (unless you're asking it to do something syscall-heavy at the same time).

This and its high chance this will affect web browsers and similar mostly. Games already run in an performance mode bypassing lots of security.
An game has way higher chance of generating an bluescreen than windows application because they do this while an normal program would just crash.