Performance increase for -TU Series (comparison with NVIDIA variants) - coreboot issue

[wessel-novacustom]

Dasharo version (if applicable)

v0.9.0

Dasharo variant (if applicable)

NovaCustom V54 and V56 Series without NVIDIA: V540TU and V560TU.

Affected component(s) or functionality (if applicable)

Overall performance, I/O read/write speed, IO read speed for small files.

Brief summary

In Linux but especially in Windows, the laptop feels a bit slow when opening an app like Firefox, the settings via the Windows start menu or opening the file explorer.*

Additional context

*The NVIDIA variants seem to perform way better when doing the same steps.

Since the 155H is an option for both variants (iGPU vs NVIDIA), I would expect that the overall performance (apart from 3D related stuff) is about the same.

How to reproduce?

By comparing the following task on the iGPU vs NVIDIA: open Firefox, the settings via the Windows start menu and open the file explorer. The NVIDIA variant feels more responsive/faster. Even the NV41 Series with ADL processor feels more responsive/faster.

Do you have an idea how to increase the overall performance for the -TU series? Anything firmware-related we can do about this? And is there a solution for this issue that is software-based?

[tlaurion]

Also see linuxboot/heads#1894

[wessel-novacustom]

Here are some relevant tests in Windows 11, iGPU vs NVIDIA:

---

There was an element of “choppiness” on the iGPU (non-NVIDIA) variant. But I think that the random non-queued read performance difference would go hand in hand with with perceived poor performance of opening “random” elements of the OS, like various menus, the Windows explorer or applications that access multiple files during the startup of applications.

The Dasharo team is currently investigating how to improve this.

[mkopec]

I think I've found the issue. The NVidia release had some additional fixes for power and stability (VR loadline, psys), iGPU releases don't have this yet. HWINFO suggests that these settings aren't programmed correctly causing excessive chipset / ring thermal throttling, so I'm applying the same fix to iGPU, and the performance appears better already. Will publish some results today

[wessel-novacustom]

I think I've found the issue. The NVidia release had some additional fixes for power and stability (VR loadline, psys), iGPU releases don't have this yet. HWINFO suggests that these settings aren't programmed correctly causing excessive throttling, so I'm applying the same fix to iGPU, and the performance appears better already. Will publish some results today

@mkopec That's great! I'm happy to hear that.

I would be happy if you could share iGPU variant binaries that has these additional fixes integrated so I can test it on my side as well.

[mkopec]

Binaries for testing are available here: https://github.com/Dasharo/coreboot/actions/runs/13200088667

I've tested V540TU (155H 1x32GB 1TB) and the results in crystaldiskmark are as follows:

---	Read (MB/s)	Write (MB/s)
SEQ1M Q8T1	7030.04	6698.90
SEQ1M Q1T1	4611.04	5509.81
RND4K Q32T1	982.01	435.73
RND4K Q1T1	78.89	142.47

[wessel-novacustom]

Binaries for testing are available here: https://github.com/Dasharo/coreboot/actions/runs/13200088667

I've tested V540TU (155H 1x32GB 1TB) and the results in crystaldiskmark are as follows:
--- Read (MB/s) Write (MB/s)
SEQ1M Q8T1 7030.04 6698.90
SEQ1M Q1T1 4611.04 5509.81
RND4K Q32T1 982.01 435.73
RND4K Q1T1 78.89 142.47

@mkopec It's great to see that the random read speed of small files (what seemed to be problematic) has more than doubled. This feels like a solution to me. I will test this patch as quickly as possible on the V560TU, hopefully tomorrow already.

[Firminator]

Would this issue apply to the Dasharo release for the Z690/Z790 or OptiPlex?

[miczyg1]

Would this issue apply to the Dasharo release for the Z690/Z790 or OptiPlex?

Is such issue even occurring on these platforms in the first place?

[macpijan]

Would this issue apply to the Dasharo release for the Z690/Z790 or OptiPlex?

This particular issue is very specific to these laptops.