With Ubuntu, Kubuntu, and Xubuntu each deploying a different desktop environment (GNOME, KDE, and Xfce respectively), how do each of these distributions compare performance-wise? We have taken two systems -- one with dual Intel Clovertown processors and the other an AMD Sempron -- and tested out each of these distributions in some of our commonly used Linux benchmarks to see how the performance truly stacks up. In this article we will be presenting part one of our results.

In part one of this article we are comparing Ubuntu, Kubuntu, and Xubuntu using some common desktop benchmarks here at Phoronix; these tests consist of gzip compression, LAME compilation, and LAME encoding. The next part of this article will look at the Ubuntu/Xubuntu/Kubuntu performance in a gaming environment with a variety of open-source and closed-source games. For this article we had used Herd 4 of Feisty Fawn with all three *buntu versions. For those that may be new to the Linux or Ubuntu world, all three distributions are essentially the same, except Ubuntu uses GNOME as the default desktop environment where as Kubuntu uses KDE and Xubuntu uses Xfce.

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