Intel GPUs Gain 20% Performance by Disabling Security Mitigations

[AleksandarK]

Intel GPUs, both iGPUs and Arc, on Linux, can achieve a surprising 20% performance boost by taking direct action within their own graphics stack. The company has long incorporated security mitigations into its open-source Compute Runtime to protect against vulnerabilities like Spectre, but these safeguards have carried a hidden cost. With the introduction of a build-time option named NEO_DISABLE_MITIGATIONS, Intel now allows users to compile the Compute Runtime without these extra checks, thereby reclaiming up to 20% in OpenCL and Level Zero workloads. Behind the scenes, Intel's engineers have been testing unmitigated builds on GitHub for months, and the results have been clear: disabling these driver-level mitigations can significantly speed up shader compilation, AI-driven upscaling routines, and physics simulations that rely on GPU compute.

Intel's confidence in disabling these checks stems from the fact that modern Linux kernels already address Spectre vulnerabilities comprehensively at the operating system level. To keep users informed, the Compute Runtime build will emit a warning if it detects a kernel lacking the necessary patches, ensuring transparency about any residual risk. Canonical's Ubuntu team has partnered with Intel to introduce this enhancement in its upcoming 25.10 release. But make no mistake, this is Intel's initiative: the company is driving the performance improvements, publishing unmitigated binaries upstream, and coordinating with distribution partners to make the change broadly available. Security teams at Intel have analyzed the potential attack surface and concluded that the performance gains far outweigh the minimal risk, especially given that Intel's own builds have been running unmitigated without incident.



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[Rexter]

So, two things:

1. I didn't really understand, is this relevant on windows as well?
2. Why would you need spectre exploit mitigations on a gpu? First i've heard of this. I thought it was a cpu issue?

 

[Jism]

Yes, GPU's have security flaws as well. And can be exploited if there's not a decent driver patch for it.

 

[ncrs]

So, two things:

1. I didn't really understand, is this relevant on windows as well?

Partially it is. The Intel Compute Runtime can run under Windows Subsystem for Linux. The Windows drivers themselves provide a version of CR, but it's not known whether they ship the same configuration.

1. Why would you need spectre exploit mitigations on a gpu? First i've heard of this. I thought it was a cpu issue?

It's not mitigating against Spectre on the GPU. It's mitigating in the runtime code running on the CPU. It's redundant if the kernel already does its mitigations, so now it's not being enabled by default.
Intel went with a cautious approach with this mitigation, for the time where Spectre mitigations were not always running in the kernel for whatever reason.

One has to keep in mind that this issue is only affecting Intel OpenCL runtime, not the graphic drivers themselves as far as we know.

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

How much more competitive would this make with GPU testing.

 

[Rexter]

How much more competitive would this make with GPU testing.

As far as I understand, this only affects compute performance.

 

[GeoffreyA]

I believe their shader compiler also relies on the Compute Runtime. If so, this could slightly speed up the first run of games or new driver installations. I wonder if the actual GPU drivers themselves aren't being handicapped by unneeded mitigations.

 

[Darmok N Jalad]

So, two things:

1. I didn't really understand, is this relevant on windows as well?
2. Why would you need spectre exploit mitigations on a gpu? First i've heard of this. I thought it was a cpu issue?

Intel GPUs are very CPU-dependent when it comes to best performance, so it makes sense that any boost the CPU would get from disabling mitigations would boost GPU performance.

 

[DudeBeFishing]

Is Intel suffering from amnesia? We've known since 2018.

 

[Prima.Vera]

Since nobody has access on my personal PC but me, I want to disable those craps on my Intel CPU too. Is there any possible way to do that??

 

[TumbleGeorge]

Since nobody has access on my personal PC but me, I want to disable those craps on my Intel CPU too. Is there any possible way to do that??

Has another way to boost performance. If you want. Make dev drive and install games in this place.

 

[lemonadesoda]

Good way to encourage people to upgrade their non-kernel mitigated CPUs. An additional 20% boost when you can confidently turn off those software based spectre workarounds.

 

[_roman_]

I wonder what non-kenrel mitigated CPUs are? Any examples?

 

[Visible Noise]

Is Intel suffering from amnesia? We've known since 2018.

Who is “we”? Did “we” know the Linux kernel wasn’t fully patched against Spectre until version 6.13, released in January 2025?

 

[Prima.Vera]

Has another way to boost performance. If you want. Make dev drive and install games in this place.

Sorry, but how does this boost performance over an nVme drive and what does it have to do with Intel's Security mitigations slowing down the CPU?

 

[TumbleGeorge]

Sorry, but how does this boost performance over an nVme drive and what does it have to do with Intel's Security mitigations slowing down the CPU?

optimizing file system operations and leveraging a more efficient file system, ReFS, along with a performance mode for Windows Defender

This.

 

[DudeBeFishing]

Who is “we”? Did “we” know the Linux kernel wasn’t fully patched against Spectre until version 6.13, released in January 2025?

We as in anyone who frequently reads tech news. It's known these mitigations reduce performance. The Windows patches and microcode updates reduce performance. It's no surprise the Linux kernel mitigations do too. Intel pushed hard to have these unneeded mitigations pushed to home PCs. Intel was fine with their older CPUs performance tanking. Now it affects their new product, and all of a sudden these mitigations aren't worth the performance hit. And no, these mitigations have been there since 2019 or so.

 

[Visible Noise]

And no, these mitigations have been there since 2019 or so.

Holy smokes. At least google it before you double down on being wrong.

Buh-bye.

 

[_roman_]

If I want I can disable those mitigation in the linux kernel. I doubt it's that simple and easy with windows.
the gnu userspace is evolving. It's hard to compare real life values or benchmarks from the past years with as of today.
When I want an insecure gaming only system i boot up windows 11 pro.

Once in a while i read ignored members.

I think those other bugs were found later or were tested or verified much later. I saw quite recently they classify these bugs in another fashion.
Note: I do not watch or check cpuinfo on every warmboot.

model name : AMD Ryzen 5 7600X 6-Core Processor
bugs : sysret_ss_attrs spectre_v1 spectre_v2 spec_store_bypass srso spectre_v2_user

Quoting an antique kernel with 6.13.x is kinda funny. New hardware should run bleeding edge. For dated hardware, E.g. Intel T3000 and similar, linux mint is fine with the outdated old packages (=Software)

You quote a kernel from end of january 2025

     Sun Jan 19 21:17:06 2025 >>> sys-kernel/gentoo-sources-6.12.10
       merge time: 51 seconds.

     Tue Jan 21 12:51:53 2025 >>> sys-kernel/gentoo-sources-6.13.0
       merge time: 1 minute and 22 seconds.