If you've been following security news, a flaw that affects all Intel CPUs for the last 20 years has been found and patches to work around it are said to cause performance hits from 5% to 30%. Microsoft hasn't released their patch yet, but some benchmarks have been made using a recent Linux beta release. Compile times for those who roll their own look to be majorly affected. So far unknown how emulation will be affected, though initial test on Linux shows standard gameplay is safe, though not using DirectX of course, which they say could be greatly affected.
I'm running the benches and will update when I get home later, after the MSFT patch they pushed out yesterday; I didn't see a marked difference in a dkong run at least, it was within the margin.
> From what I'm reading, Intel CPUs starting with Haswell have PCID and INVPCID > instructions which reduce the performance hit from the "fix". > > Ebay is about to get flooded with old pre-Haswell CPUs. > > I also recall reading somewhere that programs with a lot of I/O (like compiling) are > impacted much more by the fix.
My desktop runs on a Haswell, so I was relieved to find that I just made the cut. However, my older computer has a Core2Extreme CPU. I don't use it much now, but have been planning to hook it up to my TV as a media center & emulation machine. I'm hoping this patch won't have such a drastic effect for this use.
> From what I'm reading, Intel CPUs starting with Haswell have PCID and INVPCID > instructions which reduce the performance hit from the "fix". > > Ebay is about to get flooded with old pre-Haswell CPUs. > > I also recall reading somewhere that programs with a lot of I/O (like compiling) are > impacted much more by the fix.
I just downloaded and installed the Microsoft patch for Windows 7 but my motherboard hasn't received any firmware updates since 2014 so I'm fucked.
> I just downloaded and installed the Microsoft patch for Windows 7 but my motherboard > hasn't received any firmware updates since 2014 so I'm fucked.
Why does that matter? My understanding is that this can only be fixed at the OS level on existing hardware.
I recall reading on the Red Hat post that the major slowdowns come from applications doing kernel calls, like database software. Games and other applications are unaffected.
> > I just downloaded and installed the Microsoft patch for Windows 7 but my > motherboard > > hasn't received any firmware updates since 2014 so I'm fucked. > > Why does that matter? My understanding is that this can only be fixed at the OS level > on existing hardware.
A firmware update from Intel is also required for additional hardware protection, and those will be distributed separately by OEMs. It’s up to OEMs to release the relevant Intel firmware updates, and support information for those can be found at each OEM support website. If you built your own PC you’ll need to check with your OEM part suppliers for potential fixes.
I'm on a Core I7 2600 Sandy Bridge 2nd gen CPU. Do I really need this patch ? Never had problems with my CPU and I never ever ever install updates in Windows 7. Running on clean Win7 SP1 64 bits. Don't use Win10 because I hate that OS. I for one will not bother with this weird patch.
Unless you want sites to be able to steal your password(s) with nothing more than a simple drive-by Javascript attack, yes, you really do. It will not affect the speed of anything relevant to what you do, Qun Mang is being an alarmist dipshit.
Userland code - games and emulators in particular - are largely unaffected by this patch, on the order of about a 1-2% performance difference, if any.
This patch is extremely important to install unless you're comfortable with the thought of any site with a potentially-malicious ad being able to easily and quickly grab all of your passwords.
I really, really hate that all of these articles just started scremaing about "30% performance loss!!" without clarifying what sorts of workloads would be affected. I wish I could slap the piss out of the article authors, and I wish I could slap the piss out of the people breathlessly running to e.g. emulation forums to scream about the impending performance loss that isn't actually going to happen for userland-bound code.
> and I never ever ever install updates in Windows 7.
are you fucking stupid?
you have a gaping security hole the size of the solar system, the security patches for Windows are beyond vital to apply.
there's no polite way to put this
one wrong click, even on a legitimate website that ends up with some dodgy code and your entire system is compromised even if you don't realise it, such exploits are widespread too, regardless of browser. nobody should EVER be running unpatched Windows online, it's probably the single most stupid thing you can do in this day and age.
I sincerely hope you don't have any payment information, or passwords to online services (ftp, blog etc.) stored on your PC, because they're almost certainly already in the wrong hands just waiting to be used.
worse still, you're actually authoring software from a potentially compromised box, with what you've just said nobody in their right mind should touch anything you upload.
sorry to grill you on this, but this is basic security stuff that anybody over the age of about 12 should already be aware of, it's not some joke that can be ignored.
I ran before and after GTA V benchmarks and there was no change. Similarly, MAME shows no measurable change. Benchmarks by various PC hardware sites back this up.
> > Do I really need this patch ? > > Unless you want sites to be able to steal your password(s) with nothing more than a > simple drive-by Javascript attack, yes, you really do. It will not affect the speed > of anything relevant to what you do, Qun Mang is being an alarmist dipshit.
Says you. I was just following the news. Maybe not everything is affected by the patch, but many things are. Though games on Linux didn't seem to be affected, the article pointed out that DirectX had a very good chance of performance drops. Of course most of us can change engines on MAME but there are some out there who can't. Also, compiling was one thing very much affected and many here like to compile MAME themselves.
Being in various tech circles, I've pretty much grown tired of hearing about this issue and its apocalyptic impact on the computing industry, but that's no reason to give out to you. You didn't know any better.
yes, I am. Some of those "security updates" destroyed my Windows install more than once in the past. I guess I became paranoid since then. Yes, I used to keep my Windows always up to date.
>> worse still, you're actually authoring software from a potentially compromised box, with >> what you've just said nobody in their right mind should touch anything you upload.
Well, like I said above I became a little paranoid. So paranoid that I always reinstall Win7 from scratch once a year.
My uploads are 100% clean of viruses, trojans and spyware. You can check that if you like.
I also have a laptop where I make online purchases. That machine does have an anti-virus installed and is always updated. More people use that laptop too.
If you're messing around with computers since your childhood you should know that you cannot prove the absence of bugs(*), hacks, trojans or viruses..you can only test for the existance of some well defined ones.
So not updating a system which is connected to the internet is indeed foolish. Question is: What do you keep on the PC, can you lose it, can anybody reuse it, etc....if there is any sensible data on it (and if it's just your browser cache files with porn) you better update.
Not using antivirus programs is a differnt thing. Windows comes with its own built-in security programs which indeed makes the use of additional programs questionable (as long as you're behind a good router or something). And yes..I'm sure you don't click on any email link sent by your closest friend (hey..at least the email name matches).
(*) (don't start a discussion about how to show correctness of program code now... I'm aware of this 1st year computer science stuff ;-))
I am very careful of what I do with my computer and websites I visit, and e-mails I receive. I'm not a fool. No, there is no sensitive data in my computer, just PC games, emulators and my projects. I'm a PC gamer. My laptop, on the other hand, Windows 7 is updated and well protected with an anti-virus.
> I am very careful of what I do with my computer and websites I visit, and e-mails I > receive. I'm not a fool. > No, there is no sensitive data in my computer, just PC games, emulators and my > projects. I'm a PC gamer. My laptop, on the other hand, Windows 7 is updated and well > protected with an anti-virus.
You don't have to defend Yourself against malicious and insulting comments, especially like that one from @jonwil ! Keep up the good work, we(gamers) can recognize the good people and enthusiasts (which is appreciated more !)
My motherboard homepage just came out with a bios update after years of silence and the intel driver support program has been updated but I don't see any intel chipset update through it.
> You don't have to defend Yourself against malicious and insulting comments, > especially like that one from @jonwil ! > Keep up the good work, we(gamers) can recognize the good people and enthusiasts > (which is appreciated more !)
You're a retard and I hope your PC gets cratered by a drive-by that your retarded ass is too stupid to patch against, you useless, dick-sucking sycophant
Something like that. I've had bad experiences in the past and I became a little paranoid with Windows updates. But these days I have backup of all my stuff on an external hard drive that I only plug it in when doing the backups, which occurs occasionally.
I don't need the updates, Win7 runs fine to me and I don't have any problems.
> You're a retard and I hope your PC gets cratered by a drive-by that your retarded ass > is too stupid to patch against, you useless, dick-sucking sycophant
Oh, it's better than that. You don't even have to misclick. The number of infections via completely legitimate normal websites' ad providers have gone up so sharply that it's basically unsafe to browse *anything* without at least a minimum level of ad and script blocking tools.
That's just talking zero-day type stuff, too. If you're not keeping your Windows up to date on top of that, you're like an antivaxxer in the middle of a school full of sick kids. It's not IF you're going to get screwed, it's not even so much WHEN-- the question becomes, "How big of a mess is this going to be for you and everyone around you?"
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