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Subject: Re: Here are some actual numbers

Author: Robert Hyatt

Date: 22:24:33 04/11/03

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On April 11, 2003 at 23:47:23, Keith Evans wrote:

>On April 11, 2003 at 23:26:35, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>
>>On April 11, 2003 at 16:53:59, Tom Kerrigan wrote:
>>
>>>On April 11, 2003 at 10:58:29, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>>>
>>>>I have explained "why not" before.
>>>>
>>>>My configuration is a dual 2.8.  I can't remove a CPU because I don't have a
>>>>terminator to
>>>>stick in the socket.  So I am stuck with two.  I can enable or disable SMT when
>>>>I boot the
>>>>machine.
>>>>
>>>>now tell me how to run the test.  Two copies might run on one physical cpu
>>>>(using two
>>>>logical cpus).  Or they might run on two physical cpus.  I have no control over
>>>>that.  And
>>>>they will bounce around between processors as they run.
>>>>
>>>>Your turn.  Tell me how to run a valid test and I'll let 'er rip.
>>>
>>>Actually a friend of mine has access to a P4/3.06 and I ran the test myself.
>>>Took less than 5 minutes.
>>>
>>>I opened two instances of my program and had them search the same position
>>>simultaneously and compared their NPS after ~10 seconds. I did this three times.
>>>Task Manager showed that both logical processors were pegged. The NPS ratios
>>>were:
>>>
>>>51%-49%
>>>49%-51%
>>>48%-52%
>>>
>>>It's pretty darn obvious that HT does not favor one logical processor more than
>>>another. (Contrary to Hyatt and Vincent's assertions.)
>>>
>>>You should thank me, Bob. Your hands must be really tired from all that waving.
>>>
>>>-Tom
>>
>>
>>First, I didn't say it did or it didn't.  I said that tests suggest that there
>>can be imbalances.
>>
>>Second, you found a result for _one_ test.  What about one that does a lot of
>>memory reads?  Memory writes?  Mixture?
>>
>>There are _lots_ of tests to do.
>
>Also I believe that he said that HT didn't improve his program's performance. So
>you may see different behavior for Crafty which is helped by HT.

I ran the test Tom suggested.  Two different ways.

First, four different threads.  Results were a pretty even balance, varying
from 45-55, to 49-51 depending on the run.  Not bad.

Then two programs using two threads each, using a patched kernel that let me
lock a thread to a processor.  Result was wildly varying.  with a best of 60-40
and a worst of 75-25.  Why that is I have absolutely no idea.  But even more
interesting is that the two threads seem to "lose" time for reasons unknown at
the moment.  IE total time increases by about 30-50% which I don't understand at
all.  This still points to some odd cache issue I believe, and it seems to
really influence SMT in a strange way...

I'm trying to understand the two-thread results as they are probably related to
the problem Vincent pointed out last week (NPS about 1.5X a single using a dual
with no SMT at all.)  Something is definitely fishy when I use threads.  And
the balance between CPUS is nowhere near 50-50 for some reason...





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