From owner-freebsd-performance@FreeBSD.ORG Thu Feb 17 16:23:52 2011 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-performance@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 36C84106567A for ; Thu, 17 Feb 2011 16:23:52 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from matthew@phoronix.com) Received: from phx1.phoronix.com (173.192.77.202-static.reverse.softlayer.com [173.192.77.202]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id AEFEA8FC1A for ; Thu, 17 Feb 2011 16:23:51 +0000 (UTC) Received: from c-76-126-240-159.hsd1.ca.comcast.net ([76.126.240.159] helo=MBP22L64C.local) by phx1.phoronix.com with esmtpsa (TLSv1:AES256-SHA:256) (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1Pq6dy-0005nb-Ak; Thu, 17 Feb 2011 10:23:51 -0600 Message-ID: <4D5D4B93.10308@phoronix.com> Date: Thu, 17 Feb 2011 08:23:47 -0800 From: Matthew Tippett User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10.5; rv:2.0b10pre) Gecko/20110114 Thunderbird/3.3a2 MIME-Version: 1.0 To: freebsd-performance@freebsd.org References: <4D58D518.1010400@phoronix.com> <4D593956.9080803@pcbsd.org> In-Reply-To: <4D593956.9080803@pcbsd.org> Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="------------080307050700030307050203" X-AntiAbuse: This header was added to track abuse, please include it with any abuse report X-AntiAbuse: Primary Hostname - phx1.phoronix.com X-AntiAbuse: Original Domain - freebsd.org X-AntiAbuse: Originator/Caller UID/GID - [47 12] / [47 12] X-AntiAbuse: Sender Address Domain - phoronix.com X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.5 Cc: Michael Larabel , Kris Moore Subject: Sandybridge Scalability with 3 & 4 cores X-BeenThere: freebsd-performance@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Performance/tuning List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 17 Feb 2011 16:23:52 -0000 This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --------------080307050700030307050203 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Thanks Kris, Moving to freebsd-performance. Hi all, When running NASA's NAS Parallel Benchmarks [1] under Phoronix Test Suite [2] on PC-BSD 8.1, we are seeing a scalability issue on Intel's new Sandybridge hardware. We see scalability at 1, 2 and 6 processors enabled (via BIOS). At 3 & 4 cores, we're seeing drop off in some tests, or a collapse in performance in others. Although it may be a quirk on the Sandybridge hardware, it may also be a scalability issue in general. Attached are two images showing the collapse in scalability. The LU.A test was unable to complete in a reasonable time (hours, vs the expected minutes) and was aborted. Interestingly the scalability at 6 cores were in line with the other platforms. To repeat these tests, you can download Phoronix Test Suite 3 RC and run the NAS Parallel Benchmarks via the command ./phoronix-test-suite benchmark pts/npb And choose either the MG.B or LU.A subtest. We'll be trying to remove the HW from being a potential factor. Also note that scalability of 6 cores + HyperThreading also dropped off fairly heavily (so did OpenIndiana). Thanks in advance. Matthew [1] http://www.nas.nasa.gov/Resources/Software/npb.html [2] http://www.phoronix-test-suite.com/ On 02/14/2011 06:16 AM, Kris Moore wrote: > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > Hash: SHA1 > > On 02/14/2011 02:09, Matthew Tippett wrote: >> Hi Kris, >> >> I work with Michael Larabel, of Phoronix fame. We've recently run some >> benchmarks with a core i7 970 against OpenIndiana, PC-BSD and Ubuntu >> with various cores turned off. >> >> One interesting behaviour that we saw is that between 3 and 4 cores >> running the performance of PC-BSD dropped fairly badly in some of the >> NAS parallel benchmarks. The system performs reasonably well for 1,2 >> and 6 cores. Is this performance behaviour known within the PC-BSD >> community? It is fairly easy to reproduce the results with the Phoronix >> Test Suite and we'd be happy to work with some developers in determining >> the underlying issue. >> >> Note, however that the article covering this benchmark will probably get >> published over the next few days. >> >> Regards, >> >> Matthew > Matthew, > > Thanks for the heads up! What specific types of benchmarks are falling > behind? On the PC-BSD side we mostly handle usability stuff, and don't > monkey with the FreeBSD internals, so this may best be a question for > the FreeBSD Performance mailing list. I'm sure you'll get all kinds of > comments there on how to improve the scalability tuning, and if there is > still an issue then those will be the people who can fix it :) > > http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-performance > > > > - -- > Kris Moore > PC-BSD Software > iXsystems > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- > Version: GnuPG v2.0.16 (FreeBSD) > Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org/ > > iQEcBAEBAgAGBQJNWTlWAAoJEDv6T4U6J2HSvOUH/0NBW+8J/6JbLl4RFfY75Ujs > Y7fAkqK8jmMVdaFxnwDm/wt3ThmWOcvzyCg+f/XUDDm41D9Js+iFbQlY8r8vR+Q6 > MwubRsw4eFJgS7fNTomakBw+NgiJwG1pFGyoTjWTz5VR3f3lMGBpkeFR40kT90eb > K/Rn7f52ph1LInKyYZ4SF7NuBoF4akBfr2AGx7xvwoxaxNn9tJ92u/2jkHe//7k9 > GbQJ1f77hXMTsFkoYB0F3E4JEQuUzgaZWqodff8+gYKWBs0lsnhzL82HbKdfN3LI > Oy5WOv0d2wNuQyYaT6iQ0r5xAZy3LZX6LL2qhwnHKs/dbkLSDwy/EtwwDlSNZUg= > =jj6I > -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --------------080307050700030307050203--