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

HP recently introduced their Z4 G6i workstation, which I have been evaluating over the past few weeks. This particular unit is powered by the Granite Rapids WS, specifically using the Intel Xeon 678X processor. Having never encountered Granite Rapids WS before, I conducted Windows 11 Pro versus Ubuntu 26.04 LTS performance benchmarks to compare operating system performance on this 48 core / 96 thread system.

The HP Z4 G6i has performed impressively during my testing, and I will soon publish a review and benchmark articles featuring it. This workstation features the Intel Xeon 678X GNR-WS processor, 4 x 32GB DDR5-6400 memory, 2TB SK Hynix NVMe SSD, and NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell graphics. For this comparison, Microsoft Windows 11 Pro was tested in its out-of-the-box configuration, complete with all available Windows updates at the time of testing.

Ubuntu 26.04 LTS was installed as a fresh clean install, utilizing the Linux 7.0 kernel and default software. This Windows versus Linux comparison was driven by curiosity, as it was the first time I had experience with any Granite Rapids WS hardware. Additionally, performance numbers for the NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell were gathered using the default driver provided by each operating system.

Further benchmarks featuring this Intel Xeon 678X processor on Linux will be included in subsequent articles while I continue to utilize this HP Z4 G6i workstation for several weeks. HP is thanked for providing the hardware for testing at Phoronix.