[1]

With [2]Linux 6.18 now past the merge window and many new features and changes introduced (https://www.phoronix.com/review/linux-618-features), I have begun testing out this kernel on various servers, desktops, and laptops at Phoronix. Linux 6.18 is quite important with expected to become this year's LTS kernel version upon its stable debut in December. Up today is a first look at Linux 6.17 vs. 6.18-rc1 performance using Intel Xeon 6 [3]Granite Rapids server performance.

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Now with having a [5]Gigabyte / Giga Computing R284-A92-AAL in the lab to make new [6]Xeon 6980P Linux benchmarks possible, this server was used for carrying out these initial Linux 6.18 kernel benchmarks. The Giga Computing server with dual Intel Xeon 6980P processors, 24 x MRDIMM-8800 64GB memory, and Kioxia PCIe 5 NVMe SSD storage was used for this benchmarking of Linux 6.17.2 stable compared to the Linux 6.18 Git kernel state as of 13 October.

This is quite a straight-forward comparison of the Intel Xeon 6980P 2S performance between Linux 6.17 and 6.18 Git with the same hardware and same Ubuntu 25.10 environment besides the kernel changes from the Ubuntu Mainline Kernel PPA. So let's get looking at the early performance changes of Linux 6.18 using this combined 256-core / 512-thread high-end Intel Xeon 6 server.



[1] https://www.phoronix.com/image-viewer.php?id=linux-618-intel-gnr&image=linux_618_gnr_1_lrg

[2] https://www.phoronix.com/search/Linux+6.18

[3] https://www.phoronix.com/search/Granite+Rapids

[4] https://www.phoronix.com/image-viewer.php?id=linux-618-intel-gnr&image=linux_618_gnr_2_lrg

[5] https://www.phoronix.com/review/intel-xeon-6980p-2025

[6] https://www.phoronix.com/search/Xeon+6980P