Latest performance tests show Ubuntu 22.04 with Linux 5.19 creeping up on Windows 11 fast

Ubuntu 22.04 LTS shipped with Linux kernel version 5.15 in general, barring the desktop which came with version 5.17. And with an upgrade to Linux 5.19, it looks like Ubuntu 22.04 LTS could have some big gains, even going toe to toe with Windows 11 under certain circumstances. At least, this seems to be the case with AMD's Ryzen 6000 series Rembrandt APUs which come with the updated Zen 3+ micro-architecture and RDNA 2 on-board graphics.

The testing was conducted by fellow media site Phoronix and the following test system was used for the Ubuntu 22.04 LTS vs Windows 11 comparison:

Lenovo ThinkPad X13 Gen 3

Ryzen 7 PRO 6850U with Radeon 680M

16GB of LPDDR5-6400

512GB Micron NVMe SSD

Ubuntu 22.04 LTS with stock Linux 5.15

Ubuntu 22.04 LTS with Linux 5.19

Windows 11 Pro

This new test with Linux 5.19 comes hot on the heels of another comparison with Linux 5.18 on an Intel Alder Lake system. The previous test showed that Linux has closed the gap with Windows 11.

First up, we have browser benchmark tests and the results are a mixed bag here in the case of Google Chrome. While some tests like the WebXPRT show very good gains of around 50%, other benchmarks like the Basemark test show no significant improvements and as such, Windows 11 is still much farther ahead.

In the case of Gecko-based Firefox though, Linux 5.19 has generally shown more favorable performance and at times even beating the Windows 11 system.

While the browser benchmarks have generally shown the biggest improvement on the new 5.19 kernel, the remaining tests are a bit of a mixed bag overall. For example, in the LuxCoreRender physically-based rendering (PBR) test, Linux 5.19 on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS shows no improvement at all. In fact, the performance actually drops off slightly. Depending on the scene, Ubuntu and Windows 11 trade blows here.

Windows 11 performance vs Ubuntu 2204 and Linux 519

Interestingly, in the JPEG image encoding test, the Linux test system seems to be ahead of the Windows 11 system when the encode speed is lower. However, the Microsoft OS picks up pace as the encode speed is increased.

Meanwhile, in the compression test using Zstandard data compression algorithm, Windows 11 is significantly ahead of Linux.

Finally, we come to the gaming tests. Generally in this case, the performance of Windows 11 on OpenGL is terrible on AMD. However, it could change with the upcoming WDDM 3.1 Radeon driver that shows boosts of up to 55%.

Interestingly, in the Yamagi Quake II test below, the OpenGL API seems to be doing very well in the case of Windows 11. However, the Vulkan performance is nowhere close.