Windows 11 vs. Ubuntu Linux Performance On The AMD Ryzen AI Max PRO 390 "Strix Halo"
When using vkpeak to test the raw Vulkan compute performance of the Radeon 8050S Strix Halo RDNA3.5 Graphics on both Windows and Linux, Ubuntu 25.04 did pick-up a number of wins using the Mesa RADV driver while Radeon Software on Windows also secured a few wins in these synthetic compute tests. In any event it was a strong showing for the open-source RADV driver stack for the modern Strix Halo platform with RDNA 3.5 graphics compared to years ago when the AMD open-source driver performance at launch would trail Windows by wide margins.
With the GravityMark Vulkan performance benchmark, there was a very nice showing under Ubuntu 25.04. Like with the Ryzen AI Max+ PRO 395, it was very surprising that even in Vulkan ray-tracing tests we are beginning to see the Mesa RADV driver outperform the Windows driver in some cases.
Windows 11 did have a significant advantage for the 3DMark Wild Life Extreme benchmark that is native to each platform. With 3DMark Wild Life Extreme on Linux being reserved for select organizations/users and not widely available, it's potentially a case of it simply not being as well optimized by Mesa developers depending upon their access.