Intel Accused of Inflating Over 2,600 CPU Benchmark Results

An anonymous reader shared this report from PCWorld:

The Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation, better known as SPEC, has invalidated over 2600 of its own results testing Xeon processors in the 2022 and 2023 version of its popular industrial SPEC CPU 2017 test. After investigating, SPEC found that Intel had used compilers that were, quote, 'performing a compilation that specifically improves the performance of the 523.xalancbmk_r / 623.xalancbmk_s benchmarks using a priori knowledge of the SPEC code and dataset to perform a transformation that has narrow applicability.'

In layman's terms, SPEC is accusing Intel of optimizing the compiler specifically for its benchmark, which means the results weren't indicative of how end users could expect to see performance in the real world. Intel's custom compiler might have been inflating the relevant results of the SPEC test by up to 9%...

Slightly newer versions of the compilers used in the latest industrial Xeon processors, the 5th-gen Emerald Rapids series, do not use these allegedly performance-enhancing APIs. I'll point out that both the Xeon processors and the SPEC 2017 test are some high-level hardware meant for 'big iron' industrial and educational applications, and aren't especially relevant for the consumer market we typically cover.

More info at ServeTheHome, Phoronix, and Tom's Hardware.

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