Intel Arc GPUs Boost Performance by 20% With Security Mitigation Checks Disabled in Linux

Intel has been working to offer users who prefer it an extra performance boost on their Intel Arc dedicated graphics cards and integrated GPUs in their CPUs. You can gain up to 20% more performance if you exclude the security checks introduced in its open-source software for Linux, which protects against well-known vulnerabilities such as Spectre. As we can see, these checks come with a performance cost.

These types of vulnerabilities are managed through the Linux Kernel. The latest versions of the Linux Kernel include these security checks comprehensively at the operating system level. Additionally, Intel allows disabling these checks because if the operating system detects an older version of the Kernel, it will display a warning message.

Performance Improvements in Intel Arc GPUs

Intel engineers have been performing additional tests without these security checks and have obtained positive results, determining that the performance improvements, relative to minimal risk, are worth the trade-off. These improvements will allow better results in OpenCL and Level Zero, as well as tasks executed by the GPU, such as shader compilation, AI scaling routines, and physical simulations.

Ubuntu has partnered with Intel to introduce this improvement in version 25.10, but it can also be implemented in any other Linux distribution with a modern kernel by using the option NEO_DISABLE_MITIGATIONS.