As noted at the end of March, System76's [1]Pop!_OS Linux distribution has upgraded to the Linux 6.8 kernel as a stable release update for this Ubuntu-derived distribution. That Linux 6.6 to 6.8 leap on Pop!_OS yielded some [2]nice kernel performance improvements for the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 7980X available with [3]their newest System76 Thelio Major workstations. But tests I've carried out of the Pop!_OS upgrade on a years older System76 Thelio is showing off some nice advantages too.

[4]

In addition to [5]the new Linux 6.8 features , Linux 6.8 (and 6.7) deliver some nice performance optimizations particularly for the newest Intel/AMD platforms. But it's also worthwhile to note that some of the recent kernel optimizations are still beneficial for older hardware. In today's benchmarking roundabout is a look at [6]the 2020 version of the System76 Thelio Major now four years old while featuring the still potent AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3990X 64-core processor.

This older System76 Thelio Major being tested has the AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3990X as the top-end Zen 2 model, Gigabyte TRX40 AORUS PRO WIFI motherboard, 4 x 32GB DDR4-3000 memory, Samsung 970 EVO Plus 512GB NVMe SSD, and AMD Radeon RX 5700 (RDNA1) graphics.

This same system was tested with Pop!_OS back in its state a few weeks ago while riding the Linux 6.6 kernel and then again when applying the recent Pop!_OS stable updates to take it onto the Linux 6.8 kernel. Thanks to System76 for having supplied the Thelio Major review samples for making this ongoing testing possible.



[1] https://www.phoronix.com/news/Pop_OS-Goes-Linux-6.8

[2] https://www.phoronix.com/news/Threadripper-7980X-Linux-6.8

[3] https://www.phoronix.com/review/v

[4] https://www.phoronix.com/image-viewer.php?id=linux68-system76-threadripper&image=pop_os_linux68_lrg

[5] https://www.phoronix.com/review/linux-68-features

[6] https://www.phoronix.com/review/system76-threadripper-linux