Geekbench 6.7 will detect Intel BOT
Geekbench has published a deeper analysis of Intel’s Binary Optimization Tool , or BOT, after previously warning that some recent Intel benchmark results may not be directly comparable with standard runs. Intel describes BOT as an optional feature inside Advanced Mode of Intel Application Optimization for select Core Ultra 200 Plus and Core Ultra Series 3 processors, with support currently limited to a small set of games and applications.
Source: Intel
Geekbench has concluded after a week-long test that BOT appears to identify a known executable and then apply tuned changes to that binary before the workload runs. Primate Labs says its testing suggests BOT computes a checksum of the Geekbench executable to determine whether that version is recognized. That would explain why Geekbench 6.3 gained 5.5% in both single-core and multi-core scores with BOT enabled, while Geekbench 6.7 showed almost no change.
Source: Geekbench
Geekbench also says BOT is doing more than basic instruction reordering. Using Intel’s Software Development Emulator to inspect the HDR workload, Primate Labs found total instructions dropped by 14%, scalar instructions fell by 62%, and vector instructions jumped by 1,366% with BOT enabled.
Geekbench says BOT is an interesting technology, and it would have far fewer issues with it if the tool worked broadly across normal software. The problem, according to Primate Labs, is that BOT currently supports only a handful of applications, which can make Intel systems look faster in selected benchmarks than they do in typical usage.
If BOT worked with every application, we wouldn’t have concerns with its use with Geekbench. It is an interesting optimization technique that has some drawbacks (the two-second startup delay being one of them, especially for short-lived processes).
— Primate Labs
Primate Labs says Geekbench 6.7, due later this week, will include a way to detect whether BOT is running and flag those results when it is. Older Geekbench 6.6 and earlier results on Windows will continue to carry a warning. Intel, meanwhile, still presents BOT as an optional performance feature for supported systems through Intel Application Optimization and Dynamic Tuning Technology.
Source: Geekbench
