NVIDIA 387.12 Vulkan vs. OpenGL Performance Across Multiple CPUs
Dawn of War III meanwhile saw just small boosts in performance out of using the Vulkan renderer, but at least no losses.
Dawn of War III also enjoyed noticeably lower CPU usage when running with Vulkan instead of OpenGL.
Lastly is a look at the overall CPU utilization over the course of all the OpenGL vs. Vulkan tests ran on each of the CPUs with the NVIDIA GPU and using the 387.12 driver. The Core i3 8100 average CPU usage dropped from 37% to 25% when using Vulkan, the Core i5 8400 went from 24% to 17%, and the Core i7 8700K went from 12% to 8%.
These tests done with the 387.12 beta driver are some of the best Vulkan vs. OpenGL Linux gaming results we have seen to date. Even with the NVIDIA driver going some time back, in several games/configurations the Vulkan performance would stumble behind the OpenGL performance. But we've seen more work in recent months by game developers on better optimizing for Vulkan and at the same time the driver developers have also continued working to improve their Vulkan driver performance. With these NVIDIA tests using the 387.12 driver with the newest Vulkan changes paired with the GeForce GTX 1060, across the board we saw better performance with Vulkan ranging from just a few percent faster to over 60% better depending upon the conditions. As well, we continue to see much lower CPU utilization when using Vulkan rather than OpenGL. The last we've tested with RADV it's not quite in the same position yet relative to RadeonSI for always delivering better Vulkan performance, but it's getting there.
Those that missed it can see some fresh RadeonSI/RADV vs. NVIDIA numbers in the Intel Core i3, i5, i7 With NVIDIA vs. AMD Radeon For Linux Gaming article. If you enjoy all these benchmarks and other coverage provided at Phoronix.com, consider showing your support by joining Phoronix Premium this week. Thanks for your support.
If you enjoyed this article consider joining Phoronix Premium to view this site ad-free, multi-page articles on a single page, and other benefits. PayPal or Stripe tips are also graciously accepted. Thanks for your support.