Intel CPU Update: Biggest Performance Impacts, Which Chips Have 'Reboot Issue' 

Intel gave us a big CPU firmware report, as the company says it has rolled out Meltdown and Spectre updates for 90% of Intel CPUs.

Data center speed test - peformance impact

• Simulated broker-stock exchange transactions took a 4% performance hit
• When simulating different types of I/O loads, impact varied from a few percent to 18% 
• Storage Performance Data Kit: "Using SPDK iSCSI, we saw as much as a 25% impact while using only a single core." 
• See all results in the latest Intel CPU firmware update
  

More Intel chips, rebooting more often, after firmware update

The issue was detected by customers last week and acknowledged by Intel. Some machines are auto rebooting more frequently after Meltdown and Spectre firmware updates are implemented.

"As part of this, we have determined that similar behavior occurs on other products in some configurations, including Ivy Bridge-, Sandy Bridge-, Skylake-, and Kaby Lake-based platforms. We have reproduced these issues internally and are making progress toward identifying the root cause. In parallel, we will be providing beta microcode to vendors for validation by next week."

More on this issue is in the latest guidance on Intel CPU updates from the company.