Due to a design flaw that puts machines at risk. Lots more at the link. In short, because a flaw that could enable the machine to be hacked, all OSes which run on Intel chips made in the past ten years are getting a patch to fix this. As a result of the patch, the machines will run from 5 to 30% slower, depending upon the chip and the applications running. I'm so glad that I buy AMD chips and machines.
All of the existing INTEL chips have the same flaw, so there's no remedy to be had by upgrading the hardware. Besides, Linux and Microsoft have zero financial incentive to redesign their OSes just because INTEL might want people to buy new chips. They are NOT "pulling an Apple".
Nope. This is damaging to Intel's business. It'll be months before hardware without this flaw can hit the shelves, and if you're someone who can't afford to take a 30% performance hit, then then you're going to have to buy an AMD powered machine. Unless, of course, you're using software which only runs on a Mac, in which case you're fucked. If Steve Jobs was still alive, you can bet that after he ripped the CEO of Intel several new ones, he'd be on the phone to AMD and working on a deal with them.
I was really looking forward to the Intel chip with the AMD Radion GPU built into it as it was supposed to make laptop gaming for the masses a thing. Now? I don't know.
I've been an AMD guy most of my adult life. My last Intel processor was a Celeron 533Mhz chip for a system I bought in 1999. The next system was one I built myself, and I had found a great deal on an AMD Athlon 2800 "Barton." I was sold from that point forward. I mean, come on, as much power as the Intel processors, for 1/3rd the price? It was a hell of a deal.
Sad thing is that I've been something of an AMD devotee since I gained an interest in computers, yet recently I let my somewhat more tech savvy friend talk me out of this bias, and I got an Acer laptop with an Intel i3-7100U, and I got parts for a new build with an i5. :/
I have an i3-4170 myself, and was looking into an i7 because I love how well the i3 has performed, but yeah, this new revelation makes me want to go back to AMD for my next upgrade, which won't be for quite a while.
Ughhhh....... One has to wonder if any state level actors or expert hackers knew about this and how long they've known about it. Perhaps I should just forget my password and every time I log in somewhere say I forgot it and go through the process of getting a new one.
@Amaris Honestly, I built a couple of systems over the years too and mostly used AMD because they were slightly cheaper.
I find it hard to believe that a flaw like this could exist for 10 years and it not be known by state actors. I wonder what kind of PCs the Iranian nuclear program was using. Were they all Intel? AMD? A mixture?
Not sure it's time to get your willies up; it looks like the impact is more to cloud servers running VMs than consumers. Still it wouldn't surprise me if the patch has a performance impact on consumer machines slowing down I/O and other kernel calls a perceivable amount. Time to run some benchmarks and compare after the patch comes out . Microsoft and Linux are pushing patches by Tuesday at which time the embargo on the flaw details will be lifted and more will be known. I've read the Register's write-up and the blogger's piece they reference. There's also this analysis from a gamer site: "Right now, there's no evidence that the kernel patches will impact a single-user system and it's unlikely going to pose any serious impact for gaming. According to this breakdown of the issue, it seems that the security-related hardware bug will impact large scale applications, such as cloud services. Amazon, Google, and Microsoft are already working on fixes."
It probably means the NSA or CIA was happy to sit on this for a decade as long as they were the only ones who knew. Now the cat is out of the bag so it needs fixing.
I do a LOT of audio editing and processing so I definitely have a dog in this fight. However, I'm not going to start using my Intel-powered stuff for doorstops or boat anchors just yet. Of course, video editing/processing could be massively impacted. 30% drop in performance could lead to huge problems. Funny how it got revealed at about the time Intel was finally get some stock market love...nah...not going there...never mind...
crappy work laptop just now. I'll run another from home. I'll post this and the scores after next week's patch. If someone knows a better benchmark test please post a link. Same test on the cheap tower at home: Same test on dirt cheap TVPC
I can't find it now, but someone posted pretty comprehensive stats showing before and after with Linux. In general, it looked like there would be some modest hits to performance here and there, as well as some really dramatic hits in other areas.
It really depends on the patch (not available yet) and the process you're running. Maybe Mike can try rendering something and then again after.
It looks like ARM chips are vulnerable to a similar hack. http://www.zdnet.com/google-amp/art...cessors-vulnerable/?__twitter_impression=true
I'll try to keep track, but to be honest, iZotope RX 6 audio cleanup program is like pulling a horse trailer with a Mazda 3...especially when you're running batch processes. Even my big tower (relatively speaking) bogs down with it.
And now Intel execs are being accused of insider trading for dumping tens of millions of dollars in stock after they found out about the bug but before the info was made public.
The boss may have some cover through an obscure rule that is supposed to force them to plan sales ahead of time to keep away accusations of insider trading. However there's no denying that it looks very weird. Marketwatch explains. The thing about this particular flaw that I'm wondering about is if this is some sort of shortcut that everyone uses to jack up performance. Intel was exposed first and may be the only one, but I'm wondering...
Unfortunately, if anything is affected it's going to be long batch processing that uses a lot of memory. The average user probably won't notice. According to intel, it's a common design between manufacturers:
Raymond James Financial, which is a long-term bear on Intel has just released report agreeing with Intel's assertion that their financial risk is minimal. Even more interesting to me is that the RJF report is skeptical about AMD's claims that it is not at risk from the potential flaw even though they apparently use some of the same techniques. AMD stock got a big bump yesterday while INTEL took a hit, but if it turns out that AMD is downplaying or underestimating the potential liability, they might get hit as well.
Why? "Similar technologies" is a vague enough term to include silicon. As for "other companies," we know who at least two of them are: ARM (who design mobile chips) and Apple (who use customized ARM chips for their iPhones). Frankly, it wouldn't bother me a bit if it turned out that this flaw was a fundamental element of x86 based chips, and that all those made by either Intel or AMD had the problem, because then, hopefully, they'd finally ditch the x86 architecture and adopt one of the other architectures out there which are faster, run cooler, and use less energy. HP was touting a design they called "The Machine" some years back that they hoped to bring to market by 2020 along those lines.
Meltdown and Spectre CPU Flaws Affect Intel, ARM, AMD Processors It was just discovered that another flaw affects AMD processors, among others. All those "I have AMD chips" posters upthread should be eating crow right about now,
