Gábor Samu
Gábor Samu
Creator of this blog.
Jul 8, 2021 31 min read

HiFive Unmatched - some benchmarking results

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No sooner did I receive my SiFive HiFive Unmatched board than did the questions about the performance of the board start to come in - from far and wide. Prior to receiving the board, articles about the performance of the Freedom U740 SOC compared it with Arm Cortex-A55 cores. I’ve had a range of Arm based systems over the years, so this helped to set my expectation ahead of time in terms of performance. What was promising about the Unmatched boars is the fact that it has a PCIe slot (for a GPU) and the possibility to use NVMe storage. And as Unmatched boards started to arrive out in the wild, posts regarding performance of the board appeared in the SiFive forums.

Now that I’ve had the board setup for a few weeks, I decided to run a series of benchmarks on the board, with an HPC flavour. I’ve setup my Unmatched board effectively as a desktop system. I’ve installed both a GPU as well as and NVMe SSD in the system (details below). The system has been installed with Ubuntu 21.04 and has been configured to boot with the CPU clock speed at 1.4 GHz following the procedure here.

For the record, I’ve configured a full desktop running KDE Plasma and I’m actually writing this post in Emacs running on the Unmatched. It’s not quite up to being a desktop replacement, but I can happily use it for less intense tasks as well as programming, etc.

NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030

root@unmatched:/home/ubuntu# lshw -c display
  *-display                 
       description: VGA compatible controller
       product: GP108 [**GeForce GT 1030**]
       vendor: NVIDIA Corporation
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:07:00.0
       logical name: /dev/fb0
       version: a1
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom fb
       configuration: depth=32 driver=nouveau latency=0 mode=1920x1200 visual=truecolor xres=1920 yres=1200
       resources: iomemory:200-1ff iomemory:200-1ff irq:93 memory:61000000-61ffffff memory:2000000000-200fffffff memory:2010000000-2011ffffff ioport:0(size=128) memory:60800000-6087ffff

Samsung SSD 970 EVO Plus 250GB

root@unmatched:/home/ubuntu# lshw -c storage
  *-storage                 
       description: Non-Volatile memory controller
       product: NVMe SSD Controller SM981/PM981/PM983
       vendor: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:06:00.0
       version: 00
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: storage pm msi pciexpress msix nvm_express bus_master cap_list
       configuration: driver=nvme latency=0
       resources: irq:38 memory:60500000-60503fff
     *-nvme0
          description: NVMe device
          product: Samsung SSD 970 EVO Plus 250GB
          physical id: 0
          logical name: /dev/nvme0
          version: 2B2QEXM7
          serial: S59BNXXX2065XXX
          configuration: nqn=nqn.2014.08.org.nvmexpress:144dXXXdS59BNJ0XXX6509J     Samsung SSD 970 EVO Plus 250GB state=live

High-Performance Linpack (HPL)

Although I did previously run HPL on Unmatched, that was prior to the changes needed to boot the system at 1.4 GHz. Furthermore, some helpful individuals on Twitter actually pointed out an issue with my HPL run (based on the massive run queue lengths I observed). You can view the thread on Twitter here.

With the folly of my MPI ways better understood, I ran HPL to completion with a result of 2.5 GFlops. I’ve not devoted more time to squeeze more performance from the system yet, as this result still seems low to me.

ubuntu@unmatched:~/hpl-2.3/bin/Linux_RISCV$ export OMP_NUM_THREADS=1
ubuntu@unmatched:~/hpl-2.3/bin/Linux_RISCV$ mpirun --hostfile ./hostfile ./xhpl 
================================================================================
HPLinpack 2.3  --  High-Performance Linpack benchmark  --   December 2, 2018
Written by A. Petitet and R. Clint Whaley,  Innovative Computing Laboratory, UTK
Modified by Piotr Luszczek, Innovative Computing Laboratory, UTK
Modified by Julien Langou, University of Colorado Denver
================================================================================

An explanation of the input/output parameters follows:
T/V    : Wall time / encoded variant.
N      : The order of the coefficient matrix A.
NB     : The partitioning blocking factor.
P      : The number of process rows.
Q      : The number of process columns.
Time   : Time in seconds to solve the linear system.
Gflops : Rate of execution for solving the linear system.

The following parameter values will be used:

N      :   35712 
NB     :      96 
PMAP   : Row-major process mapping
P      :       2 
Q      :       2 
PFACT  :   Right 
NBMIN  :       4 
NDIV   :       2 
RFACT  :   Crout 
BCAST  :  1ringM 
DEPTH  :       1 
SWAP   : Mix (threshold = 64)
L1     : transposed form
U      : transposed form
EQUIL  : yes
ALIGN  : 8 double precision words

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

- The matrix A is randomly generated for each test.
- The following scaled residual check will be computed:
      ||Ax-b||_oo / ( eps * ( || x ||_oo * || A ||_oo + || b ||_oo ) * N )
- The relative machine precision (eps) is taken to be               1.110223e-16
- Computational tests pass if scaled residuals are less than                16.0

================================================================================
T/V                N    NB     P     Q               Time                 Gflops
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WR11C2R4       35712    96     2     2           11941.62             2.5428e+00
HPL_pdgesv() start time Thu Jul  8 16:26:11 2021

HPL_pdgesv() end time   Thu Jul  8 19:45:12 2021

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
||Ax-b||_oo/(eps*(||A||_oo*||x||_oo+||b||_oo)*N)=   4.76417669e-03 ...... PASSED
================================================================================

Finished      1 tests with the following results:
              1 tests completed and passed residual checks,
              0 tests completed and failed residual checks,
              0 tests skipped because of illegal input values.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

End of Tests.
================================================================================

STREAM

Up next is STREAM, which is used to test memory bandwidth. I ran stream using the default settings for memory size.

ubuntu@unmatched:~/STREAM$ ./stream_c.exe 
-------------------------------------------------------------
STREAM version $Revision: 5.10 $
-------------------------------------------------------------
This system uses 8 bytes per array element.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Array size = 10000000 (elements), Offset = 0 (elements)
Memory per array = 76.3 MiB (= 0.1 GiB).
Total memory required = 228.9 MiB (= 0.2 GiB).
Each kernel will be executed 10 times.
 The *best* time for each kernel (excluding the first iteration)
 will be used to compute the reported bandwidth.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Number of Threads requested = 4
Number of Threads counted = 4
-------------------------------------------------------------
Your clock granularity/precision appears to be 1 microseconds.
Each test below will take on the order of 91364 microseconds.
   (= 91364 clock ticks)
Increase the size of the arrays if this shows that
you are not getting at least 20 clock ticks per test.
-------------------------------------------------------------
WARNING -- The above is only a rough guideline.
For best results, please be sure you know the
precision of your system timer.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Function    Best Rate MB/s  Avg time     Min time     Max time
Copy:            1349.8     0.121990     0.118533     0.132665
Scale:           1175.2     0.138145     0.136152     0.149729
Add:             1306.3     0.186115     0.183730     0.196969
Triad:           1315.8     0.185806     0.182400     0.193755
-------------------------------------------------------------
Solution Validates: avg error less than 1.000000e-13 on all three arrays
-------------------------------------------------------------

IOzone

Next, I wheeled out IOzone to benchmark the filesystem (on the NVMe SSD). The full output from IOzone can be viewed below.

Complete IOzone output. Click to expand!
ubuntu@unmatched:~$ time iozone -a -R -c -b result_file.xls -f ./testfile
	Iozone: Performance Test of File I/O
	        Version $Revision: 3.489 $
		Compiled for 64 bit mode.
		Build: linux 

	Contributors:William Norcott, Don Capps, Isom Crawford, Kirby Collins
	             Al Slater, Scott Rhine, Mike Wisner, Ken Goss
	             Steve Landherr, Brad Smith, Mark Kelly, Dr. Alain CYR,
	             Randy Dunlap, Mark Montague, Dan Million, Gavin Brebner,
	             Jean-Marc Zucconi, Jeff Blomberg, Benny Halevy, Dave Boone,
	             Erik Habbinga, Kris Strecker, Walter Wong, Joshua Root,
	             Fabrice Bacchella, Zhenghua Xue, Qin Li, Darren Sawyer,
	             Vangel Bojaxhi, Ben England, Vikentsi Lapa,
	             Alexey Skidanov, Sudhir Kumar.

	Run began: Thu Jul  8 21:24:44 2021

	Auto Mode
	Excel chart generation enabled
	Include close in write timing
	Command line used: iozone -a -R -c -b result_file.xls -f ./testfile
	Output is in kBytes/sec
	Time Resolution = 0.000001 seconds.
	Processor cache size set to 1024 kBytes.
	Processor cache line size set to 32 bytes.
	File stride size set to 17 * record size.
                                                              random    random     bkwd    record    stride                                    
              kB  reclen    write  rewrite    read    reread    read     write     read   rewrite      read   fwrite frewrite    fread  freread
              64       4    54002   117900   312204   435202   410573   129316   271200    142875    444572   106319   120331   286849   378715
              64       8    69708   153848   357529   551422   488236    49382   321554    200653    576282   128265   167583   467002   503814
              64      16    80398   214781   647135   571375   598110   190947   443837    248136    571375   159991   192730   503814   659861
              64      32    77564   245190   679917   633392   633392   264258   435202    274809    492717   134769   173429   359444   385237
              64      64    98443   280553   516414   780776   571375   279385   463774    280553    529661   266620   278516   477808   587635
             128       4    65641   140659   488594   544601   488594   145936   365764    170879    398625   123084   138554   499970   547377
             128       8    85860   179507   544601   597981   624409   184694   465708    231429    826202   166481   147946   408949   387686
             128      16    93910   246632   731625   294207   612303   245616   410199    239268    419822   114917   143671   509943   537512
             128      32   107658   274080   692017   618653   687585   290859   540217    327199    666253   200339   245168   606767   677178
             128      64   106042   256531   606767   670413   653282   317711   533241    338761    649331   164744   195737   492178   517812
             128     128    97563   203529   592699   695603   533241   217991   351630    198414    348661   164542   183432   430942   621518
             256       4    25934    32372   508929   528987   512818    32245   358056    168092    428843   130406   135167   466275   519266
             256       8    87675   196016   557844   602276   560172   186841   436870    264741    515032   178516   188514   585845   618584
             256      16   103395   234246   576720   557554   598249   242883   531080    335564    882426   193963   223379   585845   510866
             256      32   108845   292508   592636   560172   598249   265003   467290    357937    699594   181442   204959   474937   576411
             256      64   104828   340027   768712   670332   817898   364622   703721    414283    828628   264481   320347   802014   792543
             256     128   129682   291872   604991   615393   661657   335564   349206    341759    627623   182863   267512   663292   716876
             256     256   115533   328180   666586   900936   773140   385433   585526    375459    680960   365242   374935   716876   856386
             512       4    69857   144428   546460   582478   531055   142777   420020    177348    367291   112552   118824   355319   392678
             512       8    83456   212373   675350   619978   688118   217978   599553    285425    503418   161710   158605   438011   466255
             512      16    97062   246644   694797   680918   772252   277352   699322    348063    728502   230743   249858   755144   798675
             512      32    96365   245096   451454   430978   582478   248183   433939    374269    850554   227251   268912   748563   784094
             512      64   100864   346435   762112   706221   750656   347556   680918    357032    717069   181102   216222   435700   606667
             512     128   126577   358283   806171   742096   861818   386947   834037    468493    912733   270914   332901   851903   855978
             512     256    81959   223770   480227   437654   528441   194152   431671    257807    667582   145131   208558   584539   695472
             512     512   106222   295804   618371   774480   714207   364672   538918    340448    525082   323864   312370   537838   467575
            1024       4    65218   117835   409402   473859   473232   144876   396917    187924    466094   140814   145845   557729   374687
            1024       8    81385   187129   525969   498788   572677   196919   466296    280867    478291   179459   185537   580181   591201
            1024      16   103613   200392   388024   369021   452921   194089   362236    352138    456095   202403   225058   703769   768219
            1024      32    98272   210302   471001   490192   642400   277420   605538    391883    634055   256189   277815   749583   804330
            1024      64   113273   223326   397211   360170   523788   287254   516917    436134    872286   248899   296556   722230   793189
            1024     128   104384   221073   377154   349019   531699   300036   581516    453734    909410   238413   282716   630518   708646
            1024     256   117039   212718   321797   337712   437244   272129   506135    434809    874417   202891   240549   585799   679067
            1024     512   106755   189909   310199   389078   395674   241279   344788    315671    600963   143099   158049   354815   420506
            1024    1024   102544   206918   242204   238307   227960   178371   227153    193896    263773   198264   206540   274372   273864
            2048       4    67621   118586   295229   291611   300380   112720   300864    191565    295188   112893   115256   329421   352627
            2048       8    81958   147391   335848   309504   377499   160689   370818    276498    327462   138108   144500   376259   403533
            2048      16    95172   183562   358484   312057   338069   164470   380729    361440    410337   179192   182987   442442   480399
            2048      32    97999   199201   428729   406512   495159   234615   467484    395907    398608   173454   184373   396602   404731
            2048      64   109430   221980   395670   380172   442624   211393   334423    425248    333877   190722   205374   436484   476297
            2048     128   105490   208768   414576   399926   471694   255327   458893    483020    950865   176432   186811   382151   396437
            2048     256   112029   222129   368875   360001   375930   215487   323491    384874    716855   157092   176171   380594   400952
            2048     512   100895   205560   350440   358918   357484   218058   343751    401646    843821   134833   138013   277248   284644
            2048    1024   102057   171524   119222   203356   200433   168239   216584    197434    282323   116628   122092   230343   233417
            2048    2048    91309   153096   178226   192846   190850   155070   195306    154891    187525   153075   158562   196566   192898
            4096       4    66648   112502   290992   290353   289795   111273   271941    192725    267537   109812   110244   287843   282248
            4096       8    78723   138038   323307   290741   310723   136125   332763    289985    335657   131361   130671   326664   326738
            4096      16    91339   158845   351946   302890   343880   158858   342216    367689    343132   152596   147163   338067   341020
            4096      32   100225   179615   324645   309247   364058   177072   349164    396857    335381   167334   165267   318956   325340
            4096      64   105146   190974   331288   251890   281684   187813   365818    461938    363312   173390   171374   330561   332416
            4096     128   108193   188945   312481   305785   339551   186819   345158    492304    336571   170652   168865   310516   317958
            4096     256   106900   190078   299239   254932   297848   190413   338707    506365    966746   164082   150516   277278   293915
            4096     512   104123   167531   258375   268734   250319   172827   267050    420099    827474   135544   127664   260807   261893
            4096    1024    98620   157326   218346   213023   208841   158067   220015    221117    242124   116139   112130   209105   210126
            4096    2048    93929   145650   165971   179879   184646   146995   181736    154455    191312    99717   104482   183070   181473
            4096    4096    88738   142112   163735   171360   171423   140774   171551    142589    172702   143331   143891   172987   172688
            8192       4    65841   110741   282065   282657   277459   109690   260419    193678    269801   106967   106454   280607   281455
            8192       8    78737   132677   315256   290982   308596   131899   295965    292717    307058   127962   126110   313196   313079
            8192      16    90528   154103   323935   298181   323103   155667   320762    371369    315841   144535   144240   319861   322836
            8192      32    98090   171610   321998   295164   326245   170297   315682    405808    327891   159856   157632   323115   323553
            8192      64   102402   183487   320338   294367   326542   183755   330043    462696    324783   165574   164260   319251   314342
            8192     128   104471   186530   322979   294211   308746   182616   327785    469807    307704   160870   162323   308757   308248
            8192     256   103528   181720   293578   274062   294857   179329   303496    508379    294136   146447   150201   280433   286644
            8192     512   101430   168594   256594   244398   255992   168462   263349    452168    823642   128695   129724   243165   252691
            8192    1024    95799   155619   209916   202450   199985   154110   210856    221903    333823   112200   111518   204121   203129
            8192    2048    92977   145702   175608   171498   178584   144194   181762    159601    185932   104202   103452   176134   179028
            8192    4096    92238   141487   166700   165515   171348   141248   169064    146623    169690    99166   102031   170414   168824
            8192    8192    90378   139526   157680   167601   165843   138495   164806    139352    165531   141163   139726   166399   166068
           16384       4    65537   107844   282103   280749   270242   107112   249130    191125    269594   105630   105330   278957   276503
           16384       8    77659   132704   313095   288375   300982   130745   297485    293336    304009   125047   125518   308525   310062
           16384      16    89579   151110   324307   294989   318389   150588   318730    371619    318042   142514   144111   320895   319214
           16384      32    97572   169494   320764   295858   323352   167762   318087    401183    324660   156694   157397   322360   317809
           16384      64   101477   179036   318910   285769   320018   176881   314648    452435    323678   161742   161881   314654   315860
           16384     128   102795   180331   310138   277826   312082   180186   293963    426964    284701   160913   161278   308800   310074
           16384     256   104045   179146   293153   266918   291696   178797   289843    491096    299338   148743   147959   287292   281893
           16384     512   100875   168689   252422   239039   253092   167970   254063    446721    266575   127001   129013   248796   253007
           16384    1024    95676   153097   201314   195896   200676   154616   204118    289716    472338   111232   110130   199120   203740
           16384    2048    92414   145259   176177   169912   177331   144759   176145    164623    188378   103403   103192   175926   176835
           16384    4096    90982   141026   166237   161617   166524   139707   168260    147010    164545   101305   101404   168331   169053
           16384    8192    91386   140560   164431   161942   165147   139306   163070    143700    166585    97515   101440   168344   166060
           16384   16384    89645   137768   152920   160325   160462   135038   162230    136345    162555   135472   137670   162533   160600
           32768      64   100518   176971   320112   294827   326020   173802   315206    469434    321128   161501   161534   318898   321566
           32768     128    94197   177065   310461   267112   318089   174921   311148    514523    313221   159893   160154   309672   313030
           32768     256   103097   176990   290264   270202   299582   175632   289551    523164    291906   149130   148485   289408   294488
           32768     512   101035   167780   253540   241526   261351   168100   251639    541467    256591   129784   128800   251369   257644
           32768    1024    95768   153873   206025   203363   213993   154402   206577    310768    206605   111571   110994   205200   213604
           32768    2048    91379   143551   175813   169633   177196   143577   175918    164190    185869   102097   102274   175730   177497
           32768    4096    90523   140886   165943   151238   166411   134797   165923    147228    168261    99992   100757   167505   165933
           32768    8192    90276   139845   164569   158580   164541   138526   165586    144846    167084    99890   100325   166179   164616
           32768   16384    90288   140233   161049   161259   164707   138540   166524    143497    166659    95763    99373   166405   164719
           65536      64    99673   174433   320956   298810   326104   171399   318123    472110    319315   159545   159839   319251   325261
           65536     128   102216   178852   315098   292086   317099   176802   309199    514040    314167   159211   159476   312052   319301
           65536     256   103198   175205   295177   277020   299460   174958   293350    541848    291703   149396   148300   293892   300441
           65536     512   100693   166563   257401   245254   262460   166880   256944    543574    251791   130994   130085   217541   261817
           65536    1024    95156   151218   208433   201644   210890   153517   206626    314958    208027   111076   110836   209171   212611
           65536    2048    91462   142076   174283   167215   175081   141982   174354    161699    174642   101625   101668   174694   175282
           65536    4096    89889   138807   164119   157697   164260   138665   164529    146819    165145    99342    99703   164013   164483
           65536    8192    89858   138926   163703   156592   164726   138468   165742    146436    165073    99717   100152   165121   164877
           65536   16384    90040   138813   161472   158432   164698   138326   164635    143752    164450    99469    99683   164091   164078
          131072      64    99699   173619   326411   298937   326454   172619   321262    474723    320924   159388   159492   325895   326394
          131072     128   102334   177498   316453   292966   318546   176234   315274    517680    315511   158517   158811   318138   319006
          131072     256   103082   174711   297416   275855   297015   174049   296870    444329    286940   149385   149204   298919   299437
          131072     512   100339   166579   260214   240191   259430   166266   259838    555206    256165   130764   130765   260470   259510
          131072    1024    95586   153909   212513   201096   213837   153992   211843    325153    210439   111303   111203   212527   213064
          131072    2048    91508   142804   173585   165672   176190   142592   176080    164782    175868   101700   101366   176033   176177
          131072    4096    90078   139044   164617   157582   164913   138651   165129    147795    165182    99576    99553   164871   164751
          131072    8192    90091   139102   163556   157103   163885   138561   163914    146168    164348    99535    99576   164213   163900
          131072   16384    90186   139243   163011   157758   164480   138613   164554    146106    164729    99687    99691   164304   164366
          262144      64    99714   173404   320209   298489   326041   172291   322327    473060    323206   158794   158988   326698   326258
          262144     128   101915   176234   318818   291885   318585   176135   315553    519471    316594   158608   158328   318906   319312
          262144     256   101863   174533   299916   275040   297207   174432   297790    544317    296951   149346   149257   299027   299670
          262144     512   100486   166724   263070   244355   262700   166282   260518    556339    260549   131056   131044   262557   262988
          262144    1024    95380   153078   211833   199591   207545   153018   210888    324728    210223   110796   110729   211268   207711
          262144    2048    91384   142689   176506   168217   176610   142538   176400    164159    176496   101693   101779   175330   176267
          262144    4096    89877   138476   164624   157385   164681   138474   164734    147854    165146    99457    99474   164752   164337
          262144    8192    89777   137822   163119   156010   163126   137962   163258    146106    163272    99228    99301   163170   163176
          262144   16384    89746   138290   163080   156668   163621   138319   163816    146164    163653    99030    99000   163817   163616
          524288      64    99570   170849   326940   298947   326141   172346   321165    462987    324978   159041   157407   325485   325701
          524288     128   101686   175674   320133   292759   319437   175953   316947    520033    318289   158680   155071   319095   319083
          524288     256   102589   173927   299620   275856   298894   173725   297501    546112    298252   149043   147016   299433   299173
          524288     512   100349   165718   260204   241624   260026   164597   259583    557023    258697   129011   130355   259933   260064
          524288    1024    95445   153632   212357   200030   212384   153414   211822    324332    211673   111001   110483   212147   212352
          524288    2048    91204   142710   175569   168424   176892   142584   176579    164609    176568   101606   101617   176806   176594
          524288    4096    89824   138544   164376   157141   164100   138492   164385    152223    164688    99467    99468   164713   164703
          524288    8192    89831   138452   163568   156551   163682   138203   163535    148260    163866    99301    99360   163519   163467
          524288   16384    89779   138244   163085   156086   162949   137936   162678    146894    162898    98388    98517   163326   163262

iozone test complete.
Excel output is below:

"Writer report"
        "4"  "8"  "16"  "32"  "64"  "128"  "256"  "512"  "1024"  "2048"  "4096"  "8192"  "16384"
"64"   54002  69708  80398  77564  98443 
"128"   65641  85860  93910  107658  106042  97563 
"256"   25934  87675  103395  108845  104828  129682  115533 
"512"   69857  83456  97062  96365  100864  126577  81959  106222 
"1024"   65218  81385  103613  98272  113273  104384  117039  106755  102544 
"2048"   67621  81958  95172  97999  109430  105490  112029  100895  102057  91309 
"4096"   66648  78723  91339  100225  105146  108193  106900  104123  98620  93929  88738 
"8192"   65841  78737  90528  98090  102402  104471  103528  101430  95799  92977  92238  90378 
"16384"   65537  77659  89579  97572  101477  102795  104045  100875  95676  92414  90982  91386  89645 
"32768"   0  0  0  0  100518  94197  103097  101035  95768  91379  90523  90276  90288 
"65536"   0  0  0  0  99673  102216  103198  100693  95156  91462  89889  89858  90040 
"131072"   0  0  0  0  99699  102334  103082  100339  95586  91508  90078  90091  90186 
"262144"   0  0  0  0  99714  101915  101863  100486  95380  91384  89877  89777  89746 
"524288"   0  0  0  0  99570  101686  102589  100349  95445  91204  89824  89831  89779 

"Re-writer report"
        "4"  "8"  "16"  "32"  "64"  "128"  "256"  "512"  "1024"  "2048"  "4096"  "8192"  "16384"
"64"   117900  153848  214781  245190  280553 
"128"   140659  179507  246632  274080  256531  203529 
"256"   32372  196016  234246  292508  340027  291872  328180 
"512"   144428  212373  246644  245096  346435  358283  223770  295804 
"1024"   117835  187129  200392  210302  223326  221073  212718  189909  206918 
"2048"   118586  147391  183562  199201  221980  208768  222129  205560  171524  153096 
"4096"   112502  138038  158845  179615  190974  188945  190078  167531  157326  145650  142112 
"8192"   110741  132677  154103  171610  183487  186530  181720  168594  155619  145702  141487  139526 
"16384"   107844  132704  151110  169494  179036  180331  179146  168689  153097  145259  141026  140560  137768 
"32768"   0  0  0  0  176971  177065  176990  167780  153873  143551  140886  139845  140233 
"65536"   0  0  0  0  174433  178852  175205  166563  151218  142076  138807  138926  138813 
"131072"   0  0  0  0  173619  177498  174711  166579  153909  142804  139044  139102  139243 
"262144"   0  0  0  0  173404  176234  174533  166724  153078  142689  138476  137822  138290 
"524288"   0  0  0  0  170849  175674  173927  165718  153632  142710  138544  138452  138244 

"Reader report"
        "4"  "8"  "16"  "32"  "64"  "128"  "256"  "512"  "1024"  "2048"  "4096"  "8192"  "16384"
"64"   312204  357529  647135  679917  516414 
"128"   488594  544601  731625  692017  606767  592699 
"256"   508929  557844  576720  592636  768712  604991  666586 
"512"   546460  675350  694797  451454  762112  806171  480227  618371 
"1024"   409402  525969  388024  471001  397211  377154  321797  310199  242204 
"2048"   295229  335848  358484  428729  395670  414576  368875  350440  119222  178226 
"4096"   290992  323307  351946  324645  331288  312481  299239  258375  218346  165971  163735 
"8192"   282065  315256  323935  321998  320338  322979  293578  256594  209916  175608  166700  157680 
"16384"   282103  313095  324307  320764  318910  310138  293153  252422  201314  176177  166237  164431  152920 
"32768"   0  0  0  0  320112  310461  290264  253540  206025  175813  165943  164569  161049 
"65536"   0  0  0  0  320956  315098  295177  257401  208433  174283  164119  163703  161472 
"131072"   0  0  0  0  326411  316453  297416  260214  212513  173585  164617  163556  163011 
"262144"   0  0  0  0  320209  318818  299916  263070  211833  176506  164624  163119  163080 
"524288"   0  0  0  0  326940  320133  299620  260204  212357  175569  164376  163568  163085 

"Re-Reader report"
        "4"  "8"  "16"  "32"  "64"  "128"  "256"  "512"  "1024"  "2048"  "4096"  "8192"  "16384"
"64"   435202  551422  571375  633392  780776 
"128"   544601  597981  294207  618653  670413  695603 
"256"   528987  602276  557554  560172  670332  615393  900936 
"512"   582478  619978  680918  430978  706221  742096  437654  774480 
"1024"   473859  498788  369021  490192  360170  349019  337712  389078  238307 
"2048"   291611  309504  312057  406512  380172  399926  360001  358918  203356  192846 
"4096"   290353  290741  302890  309247  251890  305785  254932  268734  213023  179879  171360 
"8192"   282657  290982  298181  295164  294367  294211  274062  244398  202450  171498  165515  167601 
"16384"   280749  288375  294989  295858  285769  277826  266918  239039  195896  169912  161617  161942  160325 
"32768"   0  0  0  0  294827  267112  270202  241526  203363  169633  151238  158580  161259 
"65536"   0  0  0  0  298810  292086  277020  245254  201644  167215  157697  156592  158432 
"131072"   0  0  0  0  298937  292966  275855  240191  201096  165672  157582  157103  157758 
"262144"   0  0  0  0  298489  291885  275040  244355  199591  168217  157385  156010  156668 
"524288"   0  0  0  0  298947  292759  275856  241624  200030  168424  157141  156551  156086 

"Random read report"
        "4"  "8"  "16"  "32"  "64"  "128"  "256"  "512"  "1024"  "2048"  "4096"  "8192"  "16384"
"64"   410573  488236  598110  633392  571375 
"128"   488594  624409  612303  687585  653282  533241 
"256"   512818  560172  598249  598249  817898  661657  773140 
"512"   531055  688118  772252  582478  750656  861818  528441  714207 
"1024"   473232  572677  452921  642400  523788  531699  437244  395674  227960 
"2048"   300380  377499  338069  495159  442624  471694  375930  357484  200433  190850 
"4096"   289795  310723  343880  364058  281684  339551  297848  250319  208841  184646  171423 
"8192"   277459  308596  323103  326245  326542  308746  294857  255992  199985  178584  171348  165843 
"16384"   270242  300982  318389  323352  320018  312082  291696  253092  200676  177331  166524  165147  160462 
"32768"   0  0  0  0  326020  318089  299582  261351  213993  177196  166411  164541  164707 
"65536"   0  0  0  0  326104  317099  299460  262460  210890  175081  164260  164726  164698 
"131072"   0  0  0  0  326454  318546  297015  259430  213837  176190  164913  163885  164480 
"262144"   0  0  0  0  326041  318585  297207  262700  207545  176610  164681  163126  163621 
"524288"   0  0  0  0  326141  319437  298894  260026  212384  176892  164100  163682  162949 

"Random write report"
        "4"  "8"  "16"  "32"  "64"  "128"  "256"  "512"  "1024"  "2048"  "4096"  "8192"  "16384"
"64"   129316  49382  190947  264258  279385 
"128"   145936  184694  245616  290859  317711  217991 
"256"   32245  186841  242883  265003  364622  335564  385433 
"512"   142777  217978  277352  248183  347556  386947  194152  364672 
"1024"   144876  196919  194089  277420  287254  300036  272129  241279  178371 
"2048"   112720  160689  164470  234615  211393  255327  215487  218058  168239  155070 
"4096"   111273  136125  158858  177072  187813  186819  190413  172827  158067  146995  140774 
"8192"   109690  131899  155667  170297  183755  182616  179329  168462  154110  144194  141248  138495 
"16384"   107112  130745  150588  167762  176881  180186  178797  167970  154616  144759  139707  139306  135038 
"32768"   0  0  0  0  173802  174921  175632  168100  154402  143577  134797  138526  138540 
"65536"   0  0  0  0  171399  176802  174958  166880  153517  141982  138665  138468  138326 
"131072"   0  0  0  0  172619  176234  174049  166266  153992  142592  138651  138561  138613 
"262144"   0  0  0  0  172291  176135  174432  166282  153018  142538  138474  137962  138319 
"524288"   0  0  0  0  172346  175953  173725  164597  153414  142584  138492  138203  137936 

"Backward read report"
        "4"  "8"  "16"  "32"  "64"  "128"  "256"  "512"  "1024"  "2048"  "4096"  "8192"  "16384"
"64"   271200  321554  443837  435202  463774 
"128"   365764  465708  410199  540217  533241  351630 
"256"   358056  436870  531080  467290  703721  349206  585526 
"512"   420020  599553  699322  433939  680918  834037  431671  538918 
"1024"   396917  466296  362236  605538  516917  581516  506135  344788  227153 
"2048"   300864  370818  380729  467484  334423  458893  323491  343751  216584  195306 
"4096"   271941  332763  342216  349164  365818  345158  338707  267050  220015  181736  171551 
"8192"   260419  295965  320762  315682  330043  327785  303496  263349  210856  181762  169064  164806 
"16384"   249130  297485  318730  318087  314648  293963  289843  254063  204118  176145  168260  163070  162230 
"32768"   0  0  0  0  315206  311148  289551  251639  206577  175918  165923  165586  166524 
"65536"   0  0  0  0  318123  309199  293350  256944  206626  174354  164529  165742  164635 
"131072"   0  0  0  0  321262  315274  296870  259838  211843  176080  165129  163914  164554 
"262144"   0  0  0  0  322327  315553  297790  260518  210888  176400  164734  163258  163816 
"524288"   0  0  0  0  321165  316947  297501  259583  211822  176579  164385  163535  162678 

"Record rewrite report"
        "4"  "8"  "16"  "32"  "64"  "128"  "256"  "512"  "1024"  "2048"  "4096"  "8192"  "16384"
"64"   142875  200653  248136  274809  280553 
"128"   170879  231429  239268  327199  338761  198414 
"256"   168092  264741  335564  357937  414283  341759  375459 
"512"   177348  285425  348063  374269  357032  468493  257807  340448 
"1024"   187924  280867  352138  391883  436134  453734  434809  315671  193896 
"2048"   191565  276498  361440  395907  425248  483020  384874  401646  197434  154891 
"4096"   192725  289985  367689  396857  461938  492304  506365  420099  221117  154455  142589 
"8192"   193678  292717  371369  405808  462696  469807  508379  452168  221903  159601  146623  139352 
"16384"   191125  293336  371619  401183  452435  426964  491096  446721  289716  164623  147010  143700  136345 
"32768"   0  0  0  0  469434  514523  523164  541467  310768  164190  147228  144846  143497 
"65536"   0  0  0  0  472110  514040  541848  543574  314958  161699  146819  146436  143752 
"131072"   0  0  0  0  474723  517680  444329  555206  325153  164782  147795  146168  146106 
"262144"   0  0  0  0  473060  519471  544317  556339  324728  164159  147854  146106  146164 
"524288"   0  0  0  0  462987  520033  546112  557023  324332  164609  152223  148260  146894 

"Stride read report"
        "4"  "8"  "16"  "32"  "64"  "128"  "256"  "512"  "1024"  "2048"  "4096"  "8192"  "16384"
"64"   444572  576282  571375  492717  529661 
"128"   398625  826202  419822  666253  649331  348661 
"256"   428843  515032  882426  699594  828628  627623  680960 
"512"   367291  503418  728502  850554  717069  912733  667582  525082 
"1024"   466094  478291  456095  634055  872286  909410  874417  600963  263773 
"2048"   295188  327462  410337  398608  333877  950865  716855  843821  282323  187525 
"4096"   267537  335657  343132  335381  363312  336571  966746  827474  242124  191312  172702 
"8192"   269801  307058  315841  327891  324783  307704  294136  823642  333823  185932  169690  165531 
"16384"   269594  304009  318042  324660  323678  284701  299338  266575  472338  188378  164545  166585  162555 
"32768"   0  0  0  0  321128  313221  291906  256591  206605  185869  168261  167084  166659 
"65536"   0  0  0  0  319315  314167  291703  251791  208027  174642  165145  165073  164450 
"131072"   0  0  0  0  320924  315511  286940  256165  210439  175868  165182  164348  164729 
"262144"   0  0  0  0  323206  316594  296951  260549  210223  176496  165146  163272  163653 
"524288"   0  0  0  0  324978  318289  298252  258697  211673  176568  164688  163866  162898 

"Fwrite report"
        "4"  "8"  "16"  "32"  "64"  "128"  "256"  "512"  "1024"  "2048"  "4096"  "8192"  "16384"
"64"   106319  128265  159991  134769  266620 
"128"   123084  166481  114917  200339  164744  164542 
"256"   130406  178516  193963  181442  264481  182863  365242 
"512"   112552  161710  230743  227251  181102  270914  145131  323864 
"1024"   140814  179459  202403  256189  248899  238413  202891  143099  198264 
"2048"   112893  138108  179192  173454  190722  176432  157092  134833  116628  153075 
"4096"   109812  131361  152596  167334  173390  170652  164082  135544  116139  99717  143331 
"8192"   106967  127962  144535  159856  165574  160870  146447  128695  112200  104202  99166  141163 
"16384"   105630  125047  142514  156694  161742  160913  148743  127001  111232  103403  101305  97515  135472 
"32768"   0  0  0  0  161501  159893  149130  129784  111571  102097  99992  99890  95763 
"65536"   0  0  0  0  159545  159211  149396  130994  111076  101625  99342  99717  99469 
"131072"   0  0  0  0  159388  158517  149385  130764  111303  101700  99576  99535  99687 
"262144"   0  0  0  0  158794  158608  149346  131056  110796  101693  99457  99228  99030 
"524288"   0  0  0  0  159041  158680  149043  129011  111001  101606  99467  99301  98388 

"Re-Fwrite report"
        "4"  "8"  "16"  "32"  "64"  "128"  "256"  "512"  "1024"  "2048"  "4096"  "8192"  "16384"
"64"   120331  167583  192730  173429  278516 
"128"   138554  147946  143671  245168  195737  183432 
"256"   135167  188514  223379  204959  320347  267512  374935 
"512"   118824  158605  249858  268912  216222  332901  208558  312370 
"1024"   145845  185537  225058  277815  296556  282716  240549  158049  206540 
"2048"   115256  144500  182987  184373  205374  186811  176171  138013  122092  158562 
"4096"   110244  130671  147163  165267  171374  168865  150516  127664  112130  104482  143891 
"8192"   106454  126110  144240  157632  164260  162323  150201  129724  111518  103452  102031  139726 
"16384"   105330  125518  144111  157397  161881  161278  147959  129013  110130  103192  101404  101440  137670 
"32768"   0  0  0  0  161534  160154  148485  128800  110994  102274  100757  100325  99373 
"65536"   0  0  0  0  159839  159476  148300  130085  110836  101668  99703  100152  99683 
"131072"   0  0  0  0  159492  158811  149204  130765  111203  101366  99553  99576  99691 
"262144"   0  0  0  0  158988  158328  149257  131044  110729  101779  99474  99301  99000 
"524288"   0  0  0  0  157407  155071  147016  130355  110483  101617  99468  99360  98517 

"Fread report"
        "4"  "8"  "16"  "32"  "64"  "128"  "256"  "512"  "1024"  "2048"  "4096"  "8192"  "16384"
"64"   286849  467002  503814  359444  477808 
"128"   499970  408949  509943  606767  492178  430942 
"256"   466275  585845  585845  474937  802014  663292  716876 
"512"   355319  438011  755144  748563  435700  851903  584539  537838 
"1024"   557729  580181  703769  749583  722230  630518  585799  354815  274372 
"2048"   329421  376259  442442  396602  436484  382151  380594  277248  230343  196566 
"4096"   287843  326664  338067  318956  330561  310516  277278  260807  209105  183070  172987 
"8192"   280607  313196  319861  323115  319251  308757  280433  243165  204121  176134  170414  166399 
"16384"   278957  308525  320895  322360  314654  308800  287292  248796  199120  175926  168331  168344  162533 
"32768"   0  0  0  0  318898  309672  289408  251369  205200  175730  167505  166179  166405 
"65536"   0  0  0  0  319251  312052  293892  217541  209171  174694  164013  165121  164091 
"131072"   0  0  0  0  325895  318138  298919  260470  212527  176033  164871  164213  164304 
"262144"   0  0  0  0  326698  318906  299027  262557  211268  175330  164752  163170  163817 
"524288"   0  0  0  0  325485  319095  299433  259933  212147  176806  164713  163519  163326 

"Re-Fread report"
        "4"  "8"  "16"  "32"  "64"  "128"  "256"  "512"  "1024"  "2048"  "4096"  "8192"  "16384"
"64"   378715  503814  659861  385237  587635 
"128"   547377  387686  537512  677178  517812  621518 
"256"   519266  618584  510866  576411  792543  716876  856386 
"512"   392678  466255  798675  784094  606667  855978  695472  467575 
"1024"   374687  591201  768219  804330  793189  708646  679067  420506  273864 
"2048"   352627  403533  480399  404731  476297  396437  400952  284644  233417  192898 
"4096"   282248  326738  341020  325340  332416  317958  293915  261893  210126  181473  172688 
"8192"   281455  313079  322836  323553  314342  308248  286644  252691  203129  179028  168824  166068 
"16384"   276503  310062  319214  317809  315860  310074  281893  253007  203740  176835  169053  166060  160600 
"32768"   0  0  0  0  321566  313030  294488  257644  213604  177497  165933  164616  164719 
"65536"   0  0  0  0  325261  319301  300441  261817  212611  175282  164483  164877  164078 
"131072"   0  0  0  0  326394  319006  299437  259510  213064  176177  164751  163900  164366 
"262144"   0  0  0  0  326258  319312  299670  262988  207711  176267  164337  163176  163616 
"524288"   0  0  0  0  325701  319083  299173  260064  212352  176594  164703  163467  163262 

real	14m34.837s
user	0m47.578s
sys	13m17.443s

IOzone writer report plotted with LibreOffice Calc.

IOzone reader report plotted with LibreOffice Calc.

High Performance Conjugate Gradient Benchmark (HPCG)

HPCG is another benchmark for ranking HPC systems. As per the HPCG page it’s …designed to exercise computational and data access patterns that more closely match a different and broad set of important applications, and to give incentive to computer system designers to invest in capabilities that will have impact on the collective performance of these applications. In other words, it’s designed to give a more rounded assessment of the capabilites of a system as opposed to HPL. HPCG may provide a more rounded assessment of a system and how it will perform with real world applications.

Like HPL, I built HPCG using the standard Ubuntu supplied compilers, OpenMPI and other libraries. So this is not really considered to be an optimized run.

The result from the HPCG run follows:

Final Summary=
Final Summary::HPCG result is VALID with a GFLOP/s rating of=0.167441
Final Summary::HPCG 2.4 rating for historical reasons is=0.168344
Final Summary::Reference version of ComputeDotProduct used=Performance results a
re most likely suboptimal
Final Summary::Reference version of ComputeSPMV used=Performance results are mos
t likely suboptimal
Final Summary::Reference version of ComputeMG used=Performance results are most 
likely suboptimal
Final Summary::Reference version of ComputeWAXPBY used=Performance results are m
ost likely suboptimal
Final Summary::Results are valid but execution time (sec) is=761.216
Final Summary::Official results execution time (sec) must be at least=1800
ubuntu@unmatched:~/hpcg/bin$ more HPCG-Benchmark_3.1_2021-07-08_19-18-43.txt 
HPCG-Benchmark
version=3.1
Release date=March 28, 2019
Machine Summary=
Machine Summary::Distributed Processes=4
Machine Summary::Threads per processes=1
Global Problem Dimensions=
Global Problem Dimensions::Global nx=240
Global Problem Dimensions::Global ny=240
Global Problem Dimensions::Global nz=120
Processor Dimensions=
Processor Dimensions::npx=2
Processor Dimensions::npy=2
Processor Dimensions::npz=1
Local Domain Dimensions=
Local Domain Dimensions::nx=120
Local Domain Dimensions::ny=120
Local Domain Dimensions::Lower ipz=0
Local Domain Dimensions::Upper ipz=0
Local Domain Dimensions::nz=120
########## Problem Summary  ##########=
Setup Information=
Setup Information::Setup Time=41.0377
Linear System Information=
Linear System Information::Number of Equations=6912000
Linear System Information::Number of Nonzero Terms=184557592
Multigrid Information=
Multigrid Information::Number of coarse grid levels=3
Multigrid Information::Coarse Grids=
Multigrid Information::Coarse Grids::Grid Level=1
Multigrid Information::Coarse Grids::Number of Equations=864000
Multigrid Information::Coarse Grids::Number of Nonzero Terms=22813192
Multigrid Information::Coarse Grids::Number of Presmoother Steps=1
Multigrid Information::Coarse Grids::Number of Postsmoother Steps=1
Multigrid Information::Coarse Grids::Grid Level=2
Multigrid Information::Coarse Grids::Number of Equations=108000
Multigrid Information::Coarse Grids::Number of Nonzero Terms=2788192
Multigrid Information::Coarse Grids::Number of Presmoother Steps=1
Multigrid Information::Coarse Grids::Number of Postsmoother Steps=1
Multigrid Information::Coarse Grids::Grid Level=3
Multigrid Information::Coarse Grids::Number of Equations=13500
Multigrid Information::Coarse Grids::Number of Nonzero Terms=332992
Multigrid Information::Coarse Grids::Number of Presmoother Steps=1
Multigrid Information::Coarse Grids::Number of Postsmoother Steps=1
########## Memory Use Summary  ##########=
Memory Use Information=
Memory Use Information::Total memory used for data (Gbytes)=4.94251
Memory Use Information::Memory used for OptimizeProblem data (Gbytes)=0
Memory Use Information::Bytes per equation (Total memory / Number of Equations)=
715.063
Memory Use Information::Memory used for linear system and CG (Gbytes)=4.3495
Memory Use Information::Coarse Grids=
Memory Use Information::Coarse Grids::Grid Level=1
Memory Use Information::Coarse Grids::Memory used=0.519816
Memory Use Information::Coarse Grids::Grid Level=2
Memory Use Information::Coarse Grids::Memory used=0.0650476
Memory Use Information::Coarse Grids::Grid Level=3
Memory Use Information::Coarse Grids::Memory used=0.00814937
########## V&V Testing Summary  ##########=
Spectral Convergence Tests=
Spectral Convergence Tests::Result=PASSED
Spectral Convergence Tests::Unpreconditioned=
Spectral Convergence Tests::Unpreconditioned::Maximum iteration count=11
Spectral Convergence Tests::Unpreconditioned::Expected iteration count=12
Spectral Convergence Tests::Preconditioned=
Spectral Convergence Tests::Preconditioned::Maximum iteration count=2
Spectral Convergence Tests::Preconditioned::Expected iteration count=2
Departure from Symmetry |x'Ay-y'Ax|/(2*||x||*||A||*||y||)/epsilon=
Departure from Symmetry |x'Ay-y'Ax|/(2*||x||*||A||*||y||)/epsilon::Result=PASSED
Departure from Symmetry |x'Ay-y'Ax|/(2*||x||*||A||*||y||)/epsilon::Departure for
 SpMV=2.57379e-08
Departure from Symmetry |x'Ay-y'Ax|/(2*||x||*||A||*||y||)/epsilon::Departure for
 MG=1.89158e-08
########## Iterations Summary  ##########=
Iteration Count Information=
Iteration Count Information::Result=PASSED
Iteration Count Information::Reference CG iterations per set=50
Iteration Count Information::Optimized CG iterations per set=50
Iteration Count Information::Total number of reference iterations=50
Iteration Count Information::Total number of optimized iterations=50
########## Reproducibility Summary  ##########=
Reproducibility Information=
Reproducibility Information::Result=PASSED
Reproducibility Information::Scaled residual mean=0.000139647
Reproducibility Information::Scaled residual variance=0
########## Performance Summary (times in sec) ##########=
Benchmark Time Summary=
Benchmark Time Summary::Optimization phase=1e-06
Benchmark Time Summary::DDOT=20.1473
Benchmark Time Summary::WAXPBY=14.5966
Benchmark Time Summary::SpMV=103.923
Benchmark Time Summary::MG=622.465
Benchmark Time Summary::Total=761.216
Floating Point Operations Summary=
Floating Point Operations Summary::Raw DDOT=2.08742e+09
Floating Point Operations Summary::Raw WAXPBY=2.08742e+09
Floating Point Operations Summary::Raw SpMV=1.88249e+10
Floating Point Operations Summary::Raw MG=1.05146e+11
Floating Point Operations Summary::Total=1.28146e+11
Floating Point Operations Summary::Total with convergence overhead=1.28146e+11
GB/s Summary=
GB/s Summary::Raw Read B/W=1.03717
GB/s Summary::Raw Write B/W=0.23969
GB/s Summary::Raw Total B/W=1.27686
GB/s Summary::Total with convergence and optimization phase overhead=1.27001
GFLOP/s Summary=
GFLOP/s Summary::Raw DDOT=0.103608
GFLOP/s Summary::Raw WAXPBY=0.143007
GFLOP/s Summary::Raw SpMV=0.181142
GFLOP/s Summary::Raw MG=0.168919
GFLOP/s Summary::Raw Total=0.168344
GFLOP/s Summary::Total with convergence overhead=0.168344
GFLOP/s Summary::Total with convergence and optimization phase overhead=0.167441
User Optimization Overheads=
User Optimization Overheads::Optimization phase time (sec)=1e-06
User Optimization Overheads::Optimization phase time vs reference SpMV+MG time=6
.85121e-08
DDOT Timing Variations=
DDOT Timing Variations::Min DDOT MPI_Allreduce time=6.31348
DDOT Timing Variations::Max DDOT MPI_Allreduce time=10.9565
DDOT Timing Variations::Avg DDOT MPI_Allreduce time=8.88789
Final Summary=
Final Summary::HPCG result is VALID with a GFLOP/s rating of=0.167441
Final Summary::HPCG 2.4 rating for historical reasons is=0.168344
Final Summary::Reference version of ComputeDotProduct used=Performance results a
re most likely suboptimal
Final Summary::Reference version of ComputeSPMV used=Performance results are mos
t likely suboptimal
Final Summary::Reference version of ComputeMG used=Performance results are most 
likely suboptimal
Final Summary::Reference version of ComputeWAXPBY used=Performance results are m
ost likely suboptimal
Final Summary::Results are valid but execution time (sec) is=761.216
Final Summary::Official results execution time (sec) must be at least=1800

syslog-ng

And for something different to close out. Peter Czanik of One Identity ran through some benchmarks of syslog-ng on Unmatched. Peter noted that the Unmatched is between the Raspberry Pi 3 and the SolidRun macchitoBIN. The boards were tested using a simple script generating various synthetic loads for stress testing of syslog-ng. The Raspberry Pi 3 was only faster when there was a low number of concurrent connections using a complex configuration. For all other tests of syslog-ng, the Unmatched board was faster. For higher loads, performance of the Unmatched board was close to the macchiatoBIN, which is a quad-core Cortex A-72 based board. For the sake of comparison, the same syslog-ng benchmarks ran more than 15x faster on an entry level AMD Ryzen desktop CPU.

syslog-ng benchmark results.

For more details, feel free to reach out to Peter on Twitter.

That concludes this post. What struck me was how easily I could compile things such as HPL, HPCG on the system. Certainly, there are no record breaking results to report here, but that was anticipated. Personally, I’m really keen to see how RISCV develops over time. Indeed, it’s certainly something which is being eyed for HPC. Take for example the European Processor Initiative (EPI) where the (vector) accelerator will rely upon RISCV. So I’d wager that the future is bright for RISCV in HPC - and as the saying goes, variety is the spice of life.