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Does turning them off improve performance?


Yes, very significantly, especially on old CPUs that don’t have hardware mitigations.


I've read the word "mitigation" so much (not only here, and not only you; so this comment is not directed at you personally) that I only hear doublespeak now: when people say mitigation I immediately think of a slab of concrete in the back of my car to compensate for not having any brakes installed. Please recognize for what it is: a design failure that is pampered upon. A mitigation is not a solution, it lessens the impact of the failure mode that was identified. Afaik, if the flushes and changes actually work, it is not a mitigation but a workaround: the failure mode cannot occur anymore. Mitigation sounds better than workaround though (and is probably the reason it was choosen).


Mitigation and work around mean the same thing.


Not really: mitigation lessens the effect, workaround avoids the effect.




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