[Beowulf] Register article on Epyc (Brian Dobbins)

[mathog]

On Thu, Jun 22, 2017 at 10:04:34 -0600 Brian Dobbins wrote
> On Wed, Jun 21, 2017 at 6:29 PM, Christopher Samuel 
> <samuel at unimelb.edu.au>
> wrote:
> 
>> I thought it interesting that the only performance info in that 
>> article
>> for Epyc were SpecINT and (the only mention for SpecFP was for 
>> Radeon).
>> 
> 
> As did I, but a little digging shows a STREAM benchmark (on AMD's page)
> showing +25% performance of a single-socket Epyc vs. a dual-socket 
> E5-2690
> v4 Broadwell system[1], and roughly 60% better specfp_rate2006 numbers 
> when
> comparing socket-to-socket[2].  When I read stuff like this, I feel a
> little bit like Charlie Brown going to kick the football, and *hoping* 
> it's
> not going to get whisked away by Lucy...

If by Lucy you mean Intel, then that suspicion may have some merit.

Recall that when the Opterons first came out the major manufacturers did 
not ship any systems with it for what, a year, maybe longer?  I vaguely 
recall SuperMicro going in quickly and Dell, HP, and IBM whistling in a 
corner.  Something about contractual obligations to Intel, or a desire 
not to piss off Intel.

Let's see, HP shipped its first system "in the first half" of 2004.
http://www.networkworld.com/article/2330795/data-center/hp-to-ship-its-first-opteron-servers.html

while the first Opterons shipped in, um, April 2003.  So yes, about a 
year.
When the multiple core Opterons came out once again the big 
manufacturers were slow to ship them, although in some cases it was 
apparently due to supply issues:

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/11/06/ibm_opteron_x3455/

Regards,

David Mathog
mathog at caltech.edu
Manager, Sequence Analysis Facility, Biology Division, Caltech