Performance increase for -TU Series (comparison with NVIDIA variants)

[wessel-novacustom]

Dasharo version (if applicable)

v0.9.0

Dasharo variant (if applicable)

NovaCustom V54 and V56 Series without NVIDIA: V540TU and V560TU.

Affected component(s) or functionality (if applicable)

Overall performance, I/O read/write speed, IO read speed for small files.

Brief summary

In Linux but especially in Windows, the laptop feels a bit slow when opening an app like Firefox, the settings via the Windows start menu or opening the file explorer.*

Additional context

*The NVIDIA variants seem to perform way better when doing the same steps.

Since the 155H is an option for both variants (iGPU vs NVIDIA), I would expect that the overall performance (apart from 3D related stuff) is about the same.

How to reproduce?

By comparing the following task on the iGPU vs NVIDIA: open Firefox, the settings via the Windows start menu and open the file explorer. The NVIDIA variant feels more responsive/faster. Even the NV41 Series with ADL processor feels more responsive/faster.

Do you have an idea how to increase the overall performance for the -TU series? Anything firmware-related we can do about this? And is there a solution for this issue that is software-based?

[tlaurion]

Also see linuxboot/heads#1894

[wessel-novacustom]

Here are some relevant tests in Windows 11, iGPU vs NVIDIA:

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There was an element of “choppiness” on the iGPU (non-NVIDIA) variant. But I think that the random non-queued read performance difference would go hand in hand with with perceived poor performance of opening “random” elements of the OS, like various menus, the Windows explorer or applications that access multiple files during the startup of applications.

The Dasharo team is currently investigating how to improve this.