This is marginally helpful for removing redundant extensions, and it's easier to read, so it seems like an all-around win. In the new test i8-phi-ext.ll, we used to emit an AssertSext i8; now we emit an AssertZext i2, which allows the extension of the return value to be eliminated.
Someone familiar with the AMDGPU backend should review the test change there; I'm not sure why this change makes a difference. (We now emit an AssertZext i27 for the stack address.)