Question Why are AMD processors so much slower than Intel on Internet while using a VPN service?

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pinball_one

pinball_one

Junior Member
Sep 26, 2019
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I have two rigs connected to a LAN line thru a router with a cable subscription (up to 500 Mbps DL)... I also use ExpressVPN as a vpn service when I choose too. I first noticed this difference awhile back, comparing my 2 rigs, one an Intel i7 7820x rig with 32gb ram, SLI config'ed dual Geforce 1080 TI cards, Samsung M.2 OS drive and assorted storage devices...the second rig being an AMD FX-9370, 16 gb ram, single graphics card config (Geforce GTX 980), with an Kingston SDD OS drive with assorted storage devices...both having 1000w power supplies. Now checking my internet speed on both rigs back to back at the same test site i got approx. 365 - 466 Mbps DL's. UL's ran me roughly 15-21Mbps.

Now, after cleaning all caches etc on browsers and enabling the VPN's (@ like Server locations and speeds) I run the same exact speed tests/Speed sites... I get on the Intel rig roughly 235 - 270 Mbps DL's and 14 - 20 Mbps UL's. And on the AMD rig I get 135 - 155 Mbps DL's and 15 -20 UL's.

Go Figure.

All my drivers are updated to current, the VPN's settings are identical. All software installed on both rigs makes them practically clones (but for Hardware).

I have since retired the AMD rig and have built myself a second rig consisting of an AMD Ryzen 7 2700X w/ Gigabyte AX370 Gaming Mobo, 16 gb ram, single graphics config (Geforce 1050 TI) with a Samsung M.2 OS drive and assorted storage devices. Using the 1000w power supply from the older AMD rig.

I really didn't expect there to be much differences in my suspicions regarding the drop in performance in the newer AMD rig than that of the Intel rig (the speedtests both with or without VPN are the same as when using the older AMD rig)... And I was correct.

But why?

Tech support on this issue from ExpressVPN has not been able to correct it even after fiddling with the settings and doing installs and uninstalls etc.

I'm just looking for a possible answer from someone more knowledge-able than I. Your Feedback would be appreciated.

Peace, ~PB1
 
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daveybrat

daveybrat

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Jan 31, 2000
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Could it be that the Intel rig uses an Intel lan controller whereas the 2 AMD builds probably are using Realtek lan controllers?
 
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Mr Evil

Mr Evil

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Jul 24, 2015
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My first thought would be to check CPU use while doing the speed test, in case some DLL somewhere is using inappropriate optimizations for each CPU. You could also try a different OS (Linux, Windows) to help narrow down the cause.
 
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pinball_one

pinball_one

Junior Member
Sep 26, 2019
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to both...thank you for your replies...

daveybrat>..........indeed so. Yet, I should have mentioned it I guess, but while the FX-9370 rig was still up and running I disabled the realtek from within the BIOS and threw in an older intel nic (Intel EXPI9301CT Desktop Adapter Gigabit CT 10/100/1000Mbps PCI-Express) using the pci-e 1 slot. Retesting the rig at this config resulted in the same results, give or take a few Mbps'. That being said I returned to the original config.

Mr Evil>......looking within taskmanager I've yet to see anything of excess or beyond what I would expect anyhow.

~PB1
 
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S

SamirD

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Jun 12, 2019
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www.huntsvillecarscene.com
So I thought this has to do with single thread cpu performance, which is drastically different between the 7820x and fx9370:

But if this was the case, the faster ryzen setup should have been closer to the Intel one. So the next thing that got me thinking was that there was some sort of instruction available in the Intel not available in the AMD platforms--and I think I found it--avx-512:

I believe these instruction sets can help speed up vpn encoding/decoding, which would explain the speed differences.
 
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VirtualLarry

VirtualLarry

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Aug 25, 2001
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mxnerd said:
AES-NI performance comparison for some AMD & INTEL CPU models.
Click to expand...
That seems to be the avenue that I would pursue. I would assume that most VPNs use AES encryption, and thus, processor-supported AES-NI opcodes for "acceleration" (and security from other running software). It's entirely possible (I didn't look at the link), that Intel's AES-NI performance is greater than AMD's, clock-for-clock, even against Ryzen. (It's unsurprising that an Intel HEDT CPU would out-run an AM3+ CPU.)

Edit: After reading that link, the first chart in it has the Ryzen 1800X at the top of the charts. So I'm not sure why the discrepancy, other than perhaps the VPN software that the OP is using, isn't "optimized for Ryzen", and isn't properly enabling AES-NI instructions.
 
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mxnerd

mxnerd

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Jul 6, 2007
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VirtualLarry said:
Edit: After reading that link, the first chart in it has the Ryzen 1800X at the top of the charts. So I'm not sure why the discrepancy, other than perhaps the VPN software that the OP is using, isn't "optimized for Ryzen", and isn't properly enabling AES-NI instructions.
Click to expand...
Yep. OP might need to run the test himself to find out why the discrepancy.
 
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mxnerd

mxnerd

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AES performace comparison by Anandtech.

www.anandtech.com

The AMD 3rd Gen Ryzen Deep Dive Review: 3700X and 3900X Raising The Bar

www.anandtech.com www.anandtech.com

111200.png
 
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pinball_one

pinball_one

Junior Member
Sep 26, 2019
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SamirD said:
So I thought this has to do with single thread cpu performance, which is drastically different between the 7820x and fx9370:

But if this was the case, the faster ryzen setup should have been closer to the Intel one. So the next thing that got me thinking was that there was some sort of instruction available in the Intel not available in the AMD platforms--and I think I found it--avx-512:

I believe these instruction sets can help speed up vpn encoding/decoding, which would explain the speed differences.
Click to expand...

After going to your supplied links and studying them I believe this to be a very good possiblity. But reading some of the other posts I can their points. I suspect that it prolly is a combination of both scenarios. I appreciate your input.
 
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pinball_one

pinball_one

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Sep 26, 2019
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VirtualLarry said:
That seems to be the avenue that I would pursue. I would assume that most VPNs use AES encryption, and thus, processor-supported AES-NI opcodes for "acceleration" (and security from other running software). It's entirely possible (I didn't look at the link), that Intel's AES-NI performance is greater than AMD's, clock-for-clock, even against Ryzen. (It's unsurprising that an Intel HEDT CPU would out-run an AM3+ CPU.)

Edit: After reading that link, the first chart in it has the Ryzen 1800X at the top of the charts. So I'm not sure why the discrepancy, other than perhaps the VPN software that the OP is using, isn't "optimized for Ryzen", and isn't properly enabling AES-NI instructions.
Click to expand...

I never took in account the encryption angle, and I agree with you assessment in regards to my FX-9370...it was not only positively strong but solid in it's performance... ty for your input.
 
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pinball_one

pinball_one

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Sep 26, 2019
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mxnerd said:
Yep. OP might need to run the test himself to find out why the discrepancy.
Click to expand...

mxnerd>... thanks for the posts. I took some time to delve into your info. I do have a sidebar question tho' concerning running this test. Is it ran from the command line dos windows, powershell or some other console to run and produce results?
 
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mxnerd

mxnerd

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Jul 6, 2007
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But prebuilt is up to 2.5.5 only

==
or

If you install OpenVPN Windows binaries (https://openvpn.net/community-downloads/)
then you get free openssl exe files under C:\Program Files\OpenVPN\bin directory.

You can then run the same commands described in

openssl speed -elapsed -evp chacha
openssl speed -elapsed -evp aes-128-gcm
openssl speed -elapsed -evp aes-256-gcm
openssl speed -elapsed -evp aes-128-cbc
openssl speed -elapsed -evp aes-256-cbc
 
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