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Increased Linux kernel timer frequency delivers big boost in AI workloads

At the weekend, a Google engineer proposed raising the default Linux kernel timer frequency from 250 Hz to 1,000 Hz. Linux-centric tech site Phoronix has quickly stepped up and assessed what the change might mean to users with a suite of A/B testing. Spoiler alert: The most notable benefits were seen in AI LLM acceleration. Elsewhere, the differences might be considered within the margin of error of system benchmarking. System power consumption changes seen in the comparison were also minimal.Let’s recap the patch statement shared by Google engineer Qais Yousef on Sunday before looking at some measured impacts. As mentioned, Yousef’s main thrust was to propose that the current Linux kernel default to a timer frequency of 1,000Hz. The reasoning behind the proposal was that Linux users would benefit from improved responsiveness and faster workload completion in general.Yousef also thought that moving to 1,000 Hz would banish the 250 Hz-related issues with “scheduler decisions such as imprecise time slices, delayed load balance, delayed stats updates, and other related complications,” reported Phoronix. Toward the end of his patch notes, the engineer openly pondered over system power consumption, assuming that “the faster TICK might still result in higher power.”Image […]

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RX 9070 XT leaked specs point to 4,096 shaders and 16GB VRAM — 3.1 GHz boost clocks and PCIe 5.0 support

We finally have more details on AMD’s soon-to-launch flagship RX 9070 XT, with a new leak alleging 4096 Stream Processors and 16GB of GDDR6 memory via HKEPC at X. The tipster’s shared GPU-Z screenshot corroborates previous rumors. Moreover, the leak includes a real-world benchmark of the RX 9070 XT; however, frame generation leaves little room for comparison. Thus, it’s best to approach this leak skeptically, as such images can be easily manipulated.AMD briefly went over RDNA 4 last month in Las Vegas, sharing not much beyond a handful of press slides. Nonetheless, we grabbed a few snippets of Navi 48, the GPU that powers AMD’s Radeon RX 9070 family. Eyeballing the die size gave us a figure of roughly 390mm2, slightly larger than GB203 on the RTX 5080. Later on, AMD confirmed that you should expect retail RDNA 4 availability by early March, with rumors of a dedicated launch event later this month.The screenshot depicts a C0 revision of the Navi 48 GPU, likely the RX 9070 XT, featuring 4,096 SPs (Streaming Processors), which equates to 64 Compute Units. Interestingly, GPU-Z mentions that the card is PCIe 5.0 compatible, similar to Nvidia’s RTX 50-series (Blackwell) GPUs, though AMD hasn’t officially confirmed this.Image […]