I recently updated my macbook to the newly released model. The idea was to get a faster feedback loop when working on complex stuff like PHPStan itself.

How much impact has hardware on PHPStan performance?

Let’s find out what we can expect when running different hardware.

For the sake of this article we compare running PHPStan@cc4eb92. We are running time make from within the terminal/console and the project root 5 times. We do so after a fresh boot-up and without any other applications running. These numbers are not scientific, but give us a rough idea.

Running macOS

no opcache
$ php -v
PHP 8.3.13 (cli) (built: Oct 22 2024 18:39:14) (NTS)
Copyright (c) The PHP Group
Zend Engine v4.3.13, Copyright (c) Zend Technologies

Apple MacBook M1 Pro (2021), 10‑Core CPU, 1 TB SSD, 32 GB RAM (on full battery)

  • 77-85 seconds

Apple MacBook M4 Pro (2024), 14‑Core CPU, 1 TB SSD, 48 GB RAM (on full battery)

  • 57-59 seconds

-> In my experience the performance of “on battery” vs. “plugged in” is not that different on a MacBook.

with opcache
$ php -v
PHP 8.3.13 (cli) (built: Oct 22 2024 18:39:14) (NTS)
Copyright (c) The PHP Group
Zend Engine v4.3.13, Copyright (c) Zend Technologies
    with Zend OPcache v8.3.13, Copyright (c), by Zend Technologies

Apple MacBook M2 Pro (2023), 12‑Core CPU, 1 TB SSD, 16 GB RAM (plugged in)

  • 76-82 seconds

Apple MacBook M2 Pro (2023), 12‑Core CPU, 1 TB SSD, 16 GB RAM (on full battery)

  • 75-85 seconds

-> opcache on the CLI does not affect the app, as long as you don’t use filebased caching.

Running windows11x64 23H2

$ php -v
PHP 8.2.12 (cli) (built: Oct 24 2023 21:15:35) (NTS Visual C++ 2019 x64)
Copyright (c) The PHP Group
Zend Engine v4.2.12, Copyright (c) Zend Technologie

Lenovo Thinkpad P1 Gen 5, Intel Core i9-12900H, 1 TB SSD, 32 GB RAM (on full battery) Microsoft defender XDR hardened

  • 115-120 seconds

Lenovo Thinkpad P1 Gen 5, Intel Core i9-12900H, 1 TB SSD, 32 GB RAM (plugged in) Microsoft defender XDR hardened

  • 110-120 seconds

-> In my experience the performance of “on battery” vs. “plugged in” is marginal different on a Thinkpad.

Closer look at Apple MacBook M4 Pro (2024), 14‑Core CPU, 1 TB SSD, 48 GB RAM

$ php -v
PHP 8.3.13 (cli) (built: Oct 22 2024 18:39:14) (NTS)
Copyright (c) The PHP Group
Zend Engine v4.3.13, Copyright (c) Zend Technologies

Still on PHPStan@cc4eb92 but looking at the separate make targets:

time make cs

  • 290-310 milli-seconds

time make tests

  • 37-45 seconds

time make phpstan

  • 18-19 seconds

Found a bug? Please help improve this article.

<
Previous Post
Dead code detection for PHP_* constants
>
Next Post
A mixed type PHPStan journey