Intel Xeon 678X Windows 11 vs. Ubuntu 26.04 Performance With The HP Z4 G6i

HP recently launched their Z4 G6i workstation that I have been testing out the past few weeks. The HP Z4 G6i is powered by Granite Rapids WS with the review unit specifically being powered by the Intel Xeon 678X. As the unit shipped with Microsoft Windows 11 Pro and this being the first time I've had my hands on Granite Rapids WS, I took the opportunity to run some Windows 11 vs. Ubuntu 26.04 LTS performance benchmarks to see how the operating system performance compares for this 48 core / 96 thread workstation processor. The HP Z4 G6i has been working out well in my testing the past few weeks and will have up a review and a few benchmark articles from it soon. This HP workstation was equipped with the Intel Xeon 678W GNR-WS processor, 4 x 32GB DDR5-6400 memory, 2TB SK Hynix NVMe SSD, and NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell graphics. Microsoft Windows 11 Pro was tested in its out-of-the-box configuration shipped by HP with all available Windows updates as of testing. Ubuntu 26.04 LTS was then performed as a clean install with its Linux 7.0 kernel and other default software components. This Windows vs. Linux comparison was mainly driven out of curiosity sake in this being the first time I've had my hands on any Granite Rapids WS hardware. Plus some fresh Windows vs. Linux numbers on the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell using the default driver shipped by each operating system. Other benchmarks of this Intel Xeon 678X on Linux will be coming in follow-up articles while having my hands on this HP Z4 G6i workstation for a few weeks. Thanks to HP for providing the hardware for testing at Phoronix.