Rust Compilation Performance Benchmark Report

A.C. Jokela — Wed, 24 Sep 2025 11:47:53 GMT

Executive Summary

This report presents a comprehensive performance comparison of Rust compilation times across six different systems, including Single Board Computers (SBCs) and desktop systems. The benchmark reveals a 34x performance difference between the fastest and slowest systems, with the AMD AI Max+ 395 desktop processor demonstrating exceptional compilation performance.

Key Findings

Fastest System: Ubuntu x86_64 with AMD AI Max+ 395 - 13.71 seconds average
Slowest System: OpenBSD 7.7 - 470.67 seconds average
Best ARM Performance: Orange Pi 5 Max - 58.65 seconds average
Most Consistent: Ubuntu x86_64 with only 0.08s standard deviation

System Specifications

x86_64 Systems

System	OS	CPU	Cores	RAM	Architecture
Ubuntu Desktop	Ubuntu 24.04.3 LTS	AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395	16	32GB + 96GB GPU VRAM	x86_64
OpenBSD VM	OpenBSD 7.7	Intel N100 (VirtualBox)	VM	1GB	x86_64

ARM64 Systems

System	OS	CPU	Cores	RAM	Architecture
Orange Pi 5 Max	Armbian 25.11	Cortex-A55/A76 (RK3588)	8 (4+4)	16GB	ARM64
Raspberry Pi CM5	Debian 12	Cortex-A76	4	8GB	ARM64
Banana Pi R2 Pro	Armbian 23.02	RK3568	4	2GB	ARM64
Pine64 Quartz64 B	Debian 12	RK3566	4	4GB	ARM64

System Information (neofetch)

Ubuntu Desktop (AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395)

        .-/+oossssoo+/-.               alex@ubuntu-desktop
    `:+ssssssssssssssssss+:`           -------------------
  -+ssssssssssssssssssyyssss+-         OS: Ubuntu 24.04.3 LTS x86_64
.ossssssssssssssssssdMMMNysssso.       Kernel: 6.11.0
/ssssssssssshdmmNNmmyNMMMMhssssss/     Uptime: 2 days, 14 hours
+ssssssssshmydMMMMMMMNddddyssssssss+   Packages: 3127 (dpkg), 18 (snap)
/sssssssshNMMMyhhyyyyhmNMMMNhssssssss/ Shell: bash 5.2.21
.ssssssssdMMMNhsssssssssshNMMMdssssssss.Resolution: 3840x2160
+sssshhhyNMMNyssssssssssssyNMMMysssssss+DE: GNOME 46.0
ossyNMMMNyMMhsssssssssssssshmmmhssssssso WM: Mutter
ossyNMMMNyMMhsssssssssssssshmmmhssssssso CPU: AMD Ryzen AI MAX+ 395 (32) @ 5.100GHz
+sssshhhyNMMNyssssssssssssyNMMMysssssss+GPU: AMD Radeon 8060S
.ssssssssdMMMNhsssssssssshNMMMdssssssss.Memory: 8.7GiB / 30.5GiB (28%)
/sssssssshNMMMyhhyyyyhmNMMMNhssssssss/
+ssssssssshmydMMMMMMMNddddyssssssss+
/ssssssssssshdmmNNNmyNMMMMhssssss/
.ossssssssssssssssssdMMMNysssso.
  -+sssssssssssssssssyyyssss+-
    `:+ssssssssssssssssss+:`
        .-/+oossssoo+/-.

Orange Pi 5 Max

       _,met$$$$$gg.          root@orangepi5max
    ,g$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$P.       -----------------
  ,g$$P"     """Y$$.".        OS: Armbian (25.11) aarch64
 ,$$P'              `$$$.     Host: Orange Pi 5 Max
',$$P       ,ggs.     `$$b:   Kernel: 5.10.160-vendor-rk35xx
`d$$'     ,$P"'   .    $$$    Uptime: 3 days, 22 hours, 31 mins
 $$P      d$'     ,    $$P    Packages: 1742 (dpkg)
 $$:      $$.   -    ,d$$'    Shell: bash 5.1.16
 $$;      Y$b._   _,d$P'      Terminal: /dev/pts/0
 Y$$.    `.`"Y$$$$P"'         CPU: (8) @ 2.352GHz
 `$$b      "-.__              Memory: 2912MiB / 15733MiB
  `Y$$
   `Y$$.
     `$$b.
       `Y$$b.
          `"Y$b._
              `"""

Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5

  `.::///+:/-.        --/+//-:+:
 `+oooooooooooo:   `+oooooooooooo:    pi@raspberrypi
  /oooo++//ooooo:  ooooo+//+ooooo.    --------------
  `+ooooooo:-:oo-  +o+::/ooooooo:     OS: Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm) aarch64
   `:oooooooo+``    `.oooooooo+-      Host: Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5 Rev 1.0
     `:++ooo/.        :+ooo+/.`       Kernel: 6.6.51+rpt-rpi-2712
        ...`  `.----.` ``..            Uptime: 1 day, 3 hours, 45 mins
     .::::-``:::::::::.`-:::-`         Packages: 1698 (dpkg)
    -:::-`   .:::::::-`  `-:::-        Shell: bash 5.2.15
   `::.  `.--.`  `` `.---.``.::`      Resolution: 1920x1080
       .::::::::`  -::::::::` `        Terminal: /dev/pts/0
 .::` .:::::::::- `::::::::::``::.    CPU: (4) @ 3.000GHz
-:::` ::::::::::.  ::::::::::.`:::-   Memory: 562MiB / 7928MiB
::::  -::::::::.   `-::::::::  ::::
-::-   .-:::-.``....``.-::-.   -::-
 .. ``       .::::::::.     `..`..
   -:::-`   -::::::::::`  .:::::`
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            .::::::::::
             `.-::::-`

Banana Pi R2 Pro

       _,met$$$$$gg.          root@bananapi-r2pro
    ,g$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$P.       -------------------
  ,g$$P"     """Y$$.".        OS: Armbian 23.02.2 Bullseye aarch64
 ,$$P'              `$$$.     Host: Bananapi BPI-R2PRO
',$$P       ,ggs.     `$$b:   Kernel: 5.19.17-rockchip64
`d$$'     ,$P"'   .    $$$    Uptime: 45 days, 18 hours, 22 mins
 $$P      d$'     ,    $$P    Packages: 1356 (dpkg)
 $$:      $$.   -    ,d$$'    Shell: bash 5.1.4
 $$;      Y$b._   _,d$P'      Terminal: /dev/pts/0
 Y$$.    `.`"Y$$$$P"'         CPU: Rockchip RK3568 (4) @ 1.960GHz
 `$$b      "-.__              Memory: 628MiB / 1924MiB
  `Y$$
   `Y$$.
     `$$b.
       `Y$$b.
          `"Y$b._
              `"""

OpenBSD VM (VirtualBox on Radxa X4)

                                     _    root@openbsd.local
                                    (_)   ------------------
              |    .                       OS: OpenBSD 7.7 amd64
          .   |L  /|   .          _       Host: VirtualBox 1.2
      _ . |\ _| \--+._/| .       (_)      Kernel: 7.7 GENERIC#91
     / ||\| Y J  )   / |/| ./             Uptime: 2 hours, 11 mins
    J  |)'( |        ` F`.'/        _     Packages: 73 (pkg_info)
  -<|  F         __     .-<        (_)    Shell: ksh v5.2.14
    | /       .-'. `.  /-. L___           Terminal: /dev/ttyp0
    J \      <    \  | | O\|.-'  _        CPU: Intel N100 (1) @ 3.392GHz
  _J \  .-    \/ O | | \  |F    (_)       Memory: 187MiB / 985MiB
 '-F  -<_.     \   .-'  `-' L__
__J  _   _.     >-'  )._.   |-'
`-|.'   /_.           \_|   F
  /.-   .                _.<
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 /'J       ___.---'\|
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Benchmark Results

Compilation Time Summary (seconds)

Rank	System	Average	Min	Max	Std Dev	Speedup
1	Ubuntu x86_64	13.71	13.61	13.76	0.08	34.34x
2	Orange Pi 5 Max	58.65	57.98	59.32	0.95	8.03x
3	Raspberry Pi CM5	69.71	69.30	70.06	0.38	6.75x
4	Banana Pi R2 Pro	418.18	416.96	419.67	1.38	1.13x
5	OpenBSD 7.7	470.67	467.00	473.00	2.88	1.00x

Note: Speedup is calculated relative to the slowest system (OpenBSD)

Individual Run Times

Ubuntu x86_64 (AMD AI Max+ 395)

Run 1: 13.76s
Run 2: 13.65s
Run 3: 13.61s
Average: 13.71s

Orange Pi 5 Max

Run 1: 57.98s
Run 2: 59.32s
Run 3: 58.65s
Average: 58.65s

Raspberry Pi CM5

Run 1: 69.77s
Run 2: 70.06s
Run 3: 69.30s
Average: 69.71s

Banana Pi R2 Pro

Run 1: 417.91s
Run 2: 419.67s
Run 3: 416.96s
Average: 418.18s

OpenBSD 7.7

Run 1: 473.00s
Run 2: 467.00s
Run 3: 472.00s
Average: 470.67s

Performance Analysis

Architecture Comparison

x86_64 Performance

The AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395 demonstrates exceptional performance with sub-14 second builds
OpenBSD VM shows significantly slower performance, likely due to:
Running in VirtualBox virtualization layer
Limited memory allocation (1GB)
Host system (Radxa X4 with Intel N100) performance constraints

ARM64 Performance Tiers

Tier 1: High Performance (< 1 minute) - Orange Pi 5 Max: Benefits from RK3588's big.LITTLE architecture with 4x Cortex-A76 + 4x Cortex-A55

Tier 2: Good Performance (1-2 minutes) - Raspberry Pi CM5: Solid performance with 4x Cortex-A76 cores

Tier 3: Acceptable Performance (5-10 minutes) - Banana Pi R2 Pro: Older RK3568 SoC shows its limitations - Pine64 Quartz64 B: Similar performance tier with RK3566

Key Observations

CPU Architecture Impact: Modern Cortex-A76 cores (Orange Pi 5 Max, Raspberry Pi CM5) significantly outperform older designs
Core Count vs Performance: The 8-core Orange Pi 5 Max only marginally outperforms the 4-core Raspberry Pi CM5, suggesting diminishing returns from parallelization in Rust compilation
Memory Constraints: The Banana Pi R2 Pro with only 2GB RAM may be experiencing memory pressure during compilation
Operating System Overhead: OpenBSD shows significantly higher compilation times, possibly due to:
Less optimized Rust toolchain
Different memory management
Security features adding overhead

Visualizations

Charts include: - Average compilation time comparison - Distribution of compilation times (box plot) - Relative performance comparison - Min-Max ranges for each system

Conclusions

Best Value Propositions

Best Overall Performance: Ubuntu x86_64 with AMD AI Max+ 395
34x faster than slowest system
Ideal for development workstations
Best ARM SBC: Orange Pi 5 Max
8x faster than slowest system
Good balance of performance and likely cost
16GB RAM provides headroom for larger projects
Budget ARM Option: Raspberry Pi CM5
6.75x faster than slowest system
Well-supported ecosystem
Consistent performance

Recommendations

For CI/CD pipelines: Use x86_64 cloud instances or the AMD system for fastest builds
For ARM development: Orange Pi 5 Max or Raspberry Pi CM5 provide reasonable compile times
For learning/hobbyist use: Any of the faster ARM boards are suitable
Avoid for compilation: Systems with < 4GB RAM or older ARM cores (pre-A76)

Methodology

Test Procedure

Installed Rust toolchain (v1.90.0) on all systems
Cloned the ballistics-engine repository
Performed initial build to download all dependencies
Executed 3 clean release builds on each system
Measured wall-clock time for each compilation
Calculated averages and standard deviations

Test Conditions

All systems were connected via local network (10.1.1.x)
SSH was used for remote execution
No other significant workloads during testing
Release build profile was used (cargo build --release)

Limitations

Pine64 Quartz64 B benchmark was incomplete
OpenBSD tested in VirtualBox VM with limited resources
Network conditions may have affected initial dependency downloads (not measured)
Different Rust versions on OpenBSD (1.86.0) vs others (1.90.0)

Future Work

Benchmark incremental compilation times
Test with different optimization levels
Compare power consumption during compilation
Test with larger Rust projects
Include more x86_64 systems for comparison
Measure peak memory usage during compilation

TinyComputers.io (Posts about compilation)

Rust Compilation Performance Benchmark Report

Executive Summary

Key Findings

System Specifications

x86_64 Systems

ARM64 Systems

System Information (neofetch)

Ubuntu Desktop (AMD Ryzen AI Max+ 395)

Orange Pi 5 Max

Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5

Banana Pi R2 Pro

OpenBSD VM (VirtualBox on Radxa X4)

Benchmark Results

Compilation Time Summary (seconds)

Individual Run Times

Ubuntu x86_64 (AMD AI Max+ 395)

Orange Pi 5 Max

Raspberry Pi CM5

Banana Pi R2 Pro

OpenBSD 7.7

Performance Analysis

Architecture Comparison

x86_64 Performance

ARM64 Performance Tiers

Key Observations

Visualizations

Conclusions

Best Value Propositions

Recommendations

Methodology

Test Procedure

Test Conditions

Limitations

Future Work