Lesson learned. Same Strix Halo. Same Qwen3.8 but OS ...
Windows 11 → 37.94 sec
Ubuntu → 25.27 sec
That’s 33% less time just by changing the software/OS stack.
Hardware Busters retested the same BOSGAME M5:
🧠 Ryzen AI Max+ 395
💾 128GB unified memory
🎮 96GB graphics allocation
On Ubuntu 26.04.1, the long Qwen3.8 response finished in
🪟 Windows → 37.94 sec
🐧 Ubuntu → 25.27 sec
And the first text appeared about 11 seconds sooner.
The Ubuntu setup used llama.cpp with Mesa/RADV Vulkan and ROCm paths.
This is a pretty big deal for anyone buying these 128GB Strix Halo boxes for Local AI.
Before spending money on new hardware, keep in mind the OS/runtime stack; it may be leaving a lot of performance on the table.
🔗 Great article from Hardware Busters in ALT.
Link in ALT