Raptor Talos II POWER9 Benchmarks Against AMD Threadripper & Intel Core i9

[pracedru]

Wow.....
Will this threaten the x86 dominance on the desktop maybe?
Will this threaten the x86 dominance in the super computers?
maybe... Would be nice with some competition.

[Sonadow]

Nice results, but until more applications get a proper upstream port to POWER that does not require making extensive patches to the code it's not even up for consideration as a desktop or workstation.

Upstream Chromium sources are still unbuildable on POWER. Ditto upstream Libreoffice and Firefox. And a bunch of other applications I use on a regular basis.

[classichasclass]

"The Talos II power consumption during this task was about a 400 Watt average." That's more then my ageing dual-core Apple "IBM 970MP" G5, … where can I sight up? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NU1RK4TR-GA ;-)

Let me give you another data point. This 8-core (two 4-core SMT-4 Sforza) system with 1.5TB in NVMe storage, 32GB RAM, BD-ROM and WX7100 workstation card is running about 165W as I type this. I think that would be a more typical workstation loadout than what Michael is testing here.

Cameron Kaiser

[classichasclass]

If there are open drivers for the card, it just works for the most part. For using the GPU in petitboot (before the target operating system has loaded) the only obstacle is proprietary GPU firmware, which we do not ship as part of the base Talos II firmware image (unless a specific GPU was ordered as part of a built system).

We've been working on ways to simplify providing the proprietary GPU firmware to the bootloader, see for instance https://wiki.raptorcs.com/wiki/Talos..._To_BOOTKERNFW, but there's still some work to go (including making this as simple as point + click). Long term it would be great if AMD would provide open firmware for their GPUs and compute cards, so that either it could be flashed to the GPU itself or shipped as part of the base firmware image, but AMD has publicly stated they cannot do so at this time.

If you don't want to mess around with GPU firmware and the bootloader, you don't need to -- just use the onboard VGA or serial to interact with the bootloader and allow the OS to load the proprietary firmware for your GPU.

I'll have to say this is still rather a pain point. On my system I have the VGA jumper off because it just seems to work better that way (with the WX7100 workstation card). Looking forward to a better solution but right now it's just a matter of putting back on the VGA jumper when I want to muck around in Petitboot, and there are worse things in life. 8)

Cameron Kaiser

[torsionbar28]

I didn't imagine POWER is so competitive with x86

POWER chips have been very competitive against x86 for many years now. The fastest supercomputer in the world runs RHEL on POWER.

[dungeon]

Retail cost for your config is what? $7500-$8500?

That is not much - dual socket workstation average

https://www.titancomputers.com/Best-...uters-s/72.htm

OK 4/5000 is an average These in data centers probably do only Dual Sockets and Quad AMD Instinct/s... of course all that comes with an Instinctive prices

[nuetzel]

@Michael
Nice system (!) and GREAT test.
But maybe pull one CPU or disable it and bench then.
The more natural dual comparisons are underway, you mentioned.

[Marc Driftmeyer]

Retail cost for your config is what? $7500-$8500?

[cen1]

This is very interesting. I'd consider to get a lower end box for around 2000 $$ for some cross platform compiling. I didn't imagine POWER is so competitive with x86

[rene]

"The Talos II power consumption during this task was about a 400 Watt average." That's more then my ageing dual-core Apple "IBM 970MP" G5, … where can I sight up? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NU1RK4TR-GA ;-)