China's Loongson Looks To Mainline LoongArch Support In LLVM

[zxy_thf]

There is a math-like explanation behind the fact that x86 is still competitive. "Sufficient thrust pigs do actually fly perfectly well" isn't such an explanation, nor does it qualify as an analogy.

Another factor is the lack of competitiveness in ARM. Yes I'm serious.

Apple's M1 poses serious threats to x86 but we all know it's behind the walled garden.
Fujitsu's A64fx is nowhere to be found on the common market, and it's a server chip even if sold.
Huawei's Kirin is banned, at least for now.
The only option left is Qualcomm's burning Snapdragon, which just uses the official design of ARM, and I don't see Qualcomm has any intention to change it. Samsung is on the same boat btw.

So effectively there is no competition in ARM, which is worse than the x86 world.
The only hope left is MTK, but we will see how it goes.

[tildearrow]

There isn't one.

Well, there is*, but it is not useful in the context of current computing norms**.

*There's more where that came from.
**If you insist on being able to run Linux, you can, but you need 'some' patience.

It was called Red Star OS.

[scottishduck]

The only problem is that while it may be open, the implementations could have shady components, and more so if both the architecture and implementation come from China... (you know the amount of censorship that exists there)

Luckily we can rely on super safe CPUs made by trustworthy nations like Israel, UAE, USA and UK

[tuxd3v]

Luckily we can rely on super safe CPUs made by trustworthy nations like Israel, UAE, USA and UK

Yeah that is a good sarcasm.. the group of countries that invented and created the biggest mass surveillance programs on planet earth..right.

[PerformanceExpert]

Another factor is the lack of competitiveness in ARM. Yes I'm serious.

Apple's M1 poses serious threats to x86 but we all know it's behind the walled garden.
Fujitsu's A64fx is nowhere to be found on the common market, and it's a server chip even if sold.
Huawei's Kirin is banned, at least for now.
The only option left is Qualcomm's burning Snapdragon, which just uses the official design of ARM, and I don't see Qualcomm has any intention to change it. Samsung is on the same boat btw.

So effectively there is no competition in ARM, which is worse than the x86 world.
The only hope left is MTK, but we will see how it goes.

Wow, that's so wrong on every level...

In fact there is cut-throat competition which is why many companies had to pull out out and move to different markets. Just sticking to mobile phone SoCs, besides QC, Samsung, Apple there is MediaTek, HiSilicon, Allwinner, Rockchip, UNISOC (formerly Spreadtrum).

And yes, you can buy A64FX systems of course. There are many other servers like Ampere Altra (which is directly competing with top-end EPYC), AWS Graviton, Phytium Mars (used in the fastest "secret" Chinese supercomputers), Hisilicon and Alibaba Yitian. Even if you can't buy something on the open market there is still competition. Amazon or Alibaba wouldn't design their own server chips if they couldn't compete - their designs seem miles ahead of what AMD and Intel are offering (more cores, 5nm, DDR5 before anyone else).

[tuxd3v]

There are many other servers like ... AWS Graviton..

At least previous Gravitons were based in NXP LayerScape SoCs, don't know right now..

[PerformanceExpert]

Eh? There's plenty of microarchitectural features missing in current RISC-V CPU's to make them competitive on the high end. And there's plenty to criticize in the RISC-V ISA itself. But so what? As x86 has so amply demonstrated, with sufficient thrust pigs do actually fly perfectly well.

True, however RISC-V doesn't have that kind of money or talent, and while x86 does, it looks like it is running out of steam. You may be willing to spend billions on it, but if the end result is still not competitive then what?

[PerformanceExpert]

At least previous Gravitons were based in NXP LayerScape SoCs, don't know right now..

Graviton is designed by Annapurna Labs (part of Amazon now). Graviton 1 uses the ancient Cortex-A72 like LayerScape but that doesn't mean it is the same chip. The newer Graviton 2 and 3 use Neoverse designs. Graviton 3 is particularly interesting in that performance per socket is similar to EPYC 7763, but it uses only ~100W so they can squeeze far more servers in a rack and save on power/cooling.

[WorBlux]

With POWER 10 no longer being 100% open like POWER 9 and RISC V being less performant that many had hoped for, Loongson looks promising maybe or at least is something to watch!

The latest Power ISA is still availible royalty-free. someone making a design that isn't a supercomputer chip is still a possibility.

[kylew77]

The latest Power ISA is still availible royalty-free. someone making a design that isn't a supercomputer chip is still a possibility.

Michael did an article recently on how the DDR5 and PCIe bus require proprietary blobs. Does this mean you would have to jury rig DDR4 support and get by without a graphics card?