Linux 6.9 is now live, bringing with it a number of improvements including performance enhancements for Intel Core Ultra Meteor Lake processors and AMD Ryzen CPUs (as reported by Phoronix). Regarding the Core Ultra optimizations, Linux 6.9 includes a tuning adjustment to Intel's P-State driver which is claimed to boost performance. Phoronix tested this new tuning adjustment and found it improved performance by 2.6% on average.
The new adjustment applies specifically to Intel's Energy Performance Preference (EPP) system for its Meteor Lake parts. EPP dictates the performance behavior of the CPU and tells it to run in a more power-optimized state, more performance-oriented state, or a balanced state depending on how it is configured. In Linux 6.9, EPP has been updated to feature a balanced performance profile of 115 and a performance EPP of 16, which reportedly improves the chip's performance per watt.
