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    Intel Security Flaw may impact CPU performance up to 30%

    Discussion in 'Dell XPS and Studio XPS' started by pressing, Jan 3, 2018.

  1. pressing

    pressing Notebook Deity

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    pressing, Jan 3, 2018
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  2. MrBuzzkill

    MrBuzzkill Notebook Consultant

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    Very first Windows based benchmark's show a neglible performance decrease for 7th gen and up CPUs. I see so much fear mongering on all kinds of tech websites and reddit. Only very specific use cases will truely be hit hard.
     
    MrBuzzkill, Jan 4, 2018
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  3. hmscott

    hmscott Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    Intel CPU Bug Cannot Be Fixed With Microcode Update | Cripples Performance Up To 30 Percent
    http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...rmance-up-to-30-percent.812424/#post-10658064
     
    hmscott, Jan 4, 2018
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  4. pressing

    pressing Notebook Deity

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    " Summary The severe design flaw in Intel microprocessors that allows sensitive data, such as passwords and crypto-keys, to be stolen from memory is real – and its details have been revealed." (Source: The Register)

    Without more information, this should be considered a critical issue.
     
    pressing, Jan 4, 2018
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  5. _sem_

    _sem_ Notebook Deity

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    https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/01/22/intel_spectre_fix_linux/

    https://newsroom.intel.com/news/roo...-updated-guidance-for-customers-and-partners/

    It appears that the Spectre microcode fixes are unstable and Intel recommends holding distribution until the new version is tested - however I understand Dell started distributing the original unstable version with BIOS updates even before Meltdown&Spectre were published?

    I've noticed boot issues lately after a round of updates from BIOS to Windows 1709, no idea if related.

    Btw, 1.5.1 seems to be the latest BIOS for the 9550 again, 1.6.1. withdrawn.

    http://www.dell.com/support/article...cve-2017-5754-impact-on-dell-products?lang=en
     
    Last edited: Jan 23, 2018
    _sem_, Jan 23, 2018
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  6. Vasudev

    Vasudev Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    Do you know which microcode(s) are blacklisted? I have C2 uCode on 6700HQ.
     
    Vasudev, Jan 23, 2018
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  7. Techland

    Techland Notebook Consultant

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    Thanks for that note! In the last days I had two incidents of crash on my 9550. One after going to standby, one after wakeup from standby. This system ran totally stable and problem-free before, and the incidents really made me wonder. I now downgraded to 1.51, and am 100% sure the issues will not show up again.
     
    Techland, Jan 24, 2018
    #7