SPECTRE and MELTDOWN: Bug rocks Intel / ARM CPUs

[segfaulted]

Kinda glad I bought AMD this round. For those who don't know there is a new bug affecting just about every SKU from Intel made in the last .. ohh.. _DECADE_ or so. It's actually worse then F00F or FDIV. Only mitigation appears to castrate the CPU upward of 30%! (depending on processes).

Can Asus confirm AMD and more importantly for me, this or any AMD motherboard are not affected? If so, will there be RMAs?

Fun fact, Intel's CEO dumped stock back in November before they started issuing gags on people from even talking about it.

*****ASUS advisory page(may get updated): https://www.asus.com/News/V5urzYAT6myCC1o2 ******

[raju2529]

if you uninstall Windows microcode update , then the spectra and meltdown will be un protected . Hence you need to update the new Microcode Bios firmware.
Moreover Microsoft provided registry keys for temporary protection for above vulnerability

[panzlock]

More infromation from AMD:

https://www.techpowerup.com/240255/amd-updates-on-amd-processor-security-status

[ManMountain]

1. Explanation of SPECTRE and MELTDOWN.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/7o2i91/technical_analysis_of_spectre_meltdown/

2. AMD response in full.

https://www.amd.com/en/corporate/speculative-execution

3. Linux now to exclude AMD from PTI patch (Page Table Isolation)

https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Linux-Tip-Git-Disable-x86-PTI

[Monkburger]

Microsoft Powershell Tool to show protection status:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-hk/help/4073119/windows-client-guidance-for-it-pros-to-protect-agai...

[Vlada011]

How much is performance lose for daily usage of home users for Haswell-E and Broadwell-E generation?

[Nixon2992]

Vlada011 wrote:
How much is performance lose for daily usage of home users for Haswell-E and Broadwell-E generation?

Current update for W10 incscrease latency all calls kernel mode objects(events,critical sections).
And add some lags in Windows UI and slowdown I/O(unbufered read and write slowdown about 2x).

[Monkburger]

It's slowing down because, every time a user mode to kernel mode context switch happens (and every time a hardware interrupt occurs) the entire Page Table Directory layout has to be switched. This means all the TLB caches are flushed, and that's where the main performance hit comes from...

This is a terrible solution and the silicon will have to be fixed to correct this issue instead of the current 'workaround' - (Like F00F and other errata)

It *COULD* be fixed in microcode, if the branch predicate execution itself were not baked into the fetch-and-decode pipeline but into the microcode representations of the x86 ISAs..

[no1yak]

Nixon2992 wrote:
Current update for W10 incscrease latency all calls kernel mode objects(events,critical sections).
And add some lags in Windows UI and slowdown I/O(unbufered read and write slowdown about 2x).

With this windows update I have no performance degradation . No latency issues no drop in performance with the 8700K.

[Silent_Scone]

no1yak wrote:
With this windows update I have no performance degradation . No latency issues no drop in performance with the 8700K.

An update to microcode will be required for certain CPU for the patch to work. You can check the status of the patch itself from within powershell following the instructions below:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4073119/protect-against-speculative-execution-side-channel-...

[Nixon2992]

no1yak wrote:
With this windows update I have no performance degradation . No latency issues no drop in performance with the 8700K.

You watch DPC latency.
This update increase reaction for kernel space objects called from user space to see average time reaction to calls this objects set kernel timer latency in latencyMon.
On Haswell-E some degradation speed and RAM latency.
"Old" servers on Haswell-EP or Broadwell-EP with high I/O payload may have serious degradation in typical scenarios work (database fetching or Big data analysis).