Impact of the Intel security patch for Intel CPUs

[sirhawkeye64]

I have been reading up on the Intel security flaw that was bought to people's attention late last year and what is being done about it. But one thing I have heard and read here and there is that the patch (which I guess it sounds like is at the OS level, so in my case, Windows) will slow the computer down, anywhere from 5% to as much as 30% overall. Some people have said that newer CPUs won't notice as much of a decrease in performance compared to older CPUs, like really old Core 2 Duos, Core 2 Quads, the first and second gen Intel i3/i5/i7 2000-series and 3000-series CPUs, etc. They're basically saying like the newer ones, like the 5000/7000/8000-series Intel CPUs won't be impacted that much because they are newer (and supposedly "faster" I guess).

Anyone have any experience on this yet? I haven't read yet up on Microsoft's part in this yet, as to the patch itself, so I need to check if it's installed on my or not.


Here's an article from TheVerge that sort of goes over some of the patch(es), and they do also talk about firmware updates that may be required, which can also slow down computers:
https/www.theverge.com/2018/1/3/16846784/microsoft-processor-bug-windows-10-fix

This article is talking about Spectre and Meltdown, but I'm also concerned about the Intel Management Engine flaw as well (unless of course the two are related--I'm still reading up on all the new security flaws relating to these as I'm considering building a new Intel-based system for photo editing, but want to see relative what sort of impact--if any-- I might encounter).

Thoughts or experiences?

 

[jpe1701]

If you have windows 10 the patches that can be done at os level should be installed already, they have been dropping updates out side of the usual patch tuesday. The firmware level update came out, but intel recalled it because they found it was causing alot of trouble so we are all still waiting for a fix. The ME flaw there is a tool at the link I will provide to check if it has been patched.

https/www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000025619/software.html

 

[sirhawkeye64]

OK. Yeah I heard about the "recall" on the Intel patch. I believe my desktop at home has been patched, and I really can't see any impact (however, I do occassionally get stutter from listening to music, but that could also be a number of things, especially since I multi-task a lot, despite having a lot of RAM--about 16GB--available). But beyond the occassional stutter, I don't notice anything different, and it's an i5 3470-based system (although it's getting replaced very soon with an i5 8400 setup).