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Subject: Re: OT: P4- 3 GHz with hyper-threading

Author: Vincent Diepeveen

Date: 14:07:10 11/01/02

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On November 01, 2002 at 14:55:50, Eugene Nalimov wrote:

So you have a P4 2.8 then to your avail.

Can you post the results of that P4 2.8 single cpu for the next 4
results:

first:
 P4 2.8 SMT in bios off and
   a) MT 1
   b) MT 2

secondly:
 P4 2.8 SMT in bios on and
   a) MT 1
   b) MT 2

Thanks in advance,
Vincent

>Once again: the system I run that test on is located in other building. I don't
>want to bother the friend with rebooting/changing settings/etc. I run the test
>on a 2.8Hz P4 with hyperthreading turned off, and got 50 seconds at 1,113knps.
>50*(2.8/2.4) == 58, so 57 seconds looks about right. (I think it is slightly
>slower than estimate because memory on 2.4GHz system is slower than on 2.8GHz
>one).
>
>I run the same executable on AMD/2000. It tooks 56 seconds at 994knps to run the
>test, so 57 seconds at 976knps again looks right.
>
>Thanks,
>Eugene
>
>On November 01, 2002 at 14:35:21, Vincent Diepeveen wrote:
>
>>On November 01, 2002 at 13:58:06, Eugene Nalimov wrote:
>>
>>>I cannot produce the test you are demanding, as I don't have physical access to
>>>the system on which I run the test, but here are my results.
>>>
>>>Dual P4/2.4GHz, hyperthreating turned on, Windows XP Professional.
>>>Unmodified Crafty 19.0 (i.e. with "bad" spinlock loop).
>>>"Bench" results (executable restarted after each test).
>>
>>also do the tests with SMT disabled in bios,
>>it should produce the same results as in MT 1 and MT 2.
>>If not then something different is wrong. In MT 4 it should
>>produce something real bad there.
>>
>>Amazing that with 976 MT 1 you need only 57 seconds to finish the
>>test. Single cpu AMD i need (but of course a bit older crafty version):
>>
>>White(1): hash 400MB
>>hash table memory = 384M bytes.
>>White(1): hashp 16MB
>>pawn hash table memory = 10M bytes.
>>White(1): bench
>>Running benchmark. . .
>>......
>>Total nodes: 92683962
>>Raw nodes per second: 827535
>>Total elapsed time: 112
>>SMP time-to-ply measurement: 5.714286
>>White(1): quit
>>execution complete.
>>
>>Or in short 112 seconds (visual c++ 6.0 sp4 proc pack default compile)
>>and 827 K nps.
>>
>>You need millions of nodes less?
>>
>>>mt=1:   976knps, 57 seconds
>>>mt=2: 1,705knps, 38 seconds
>>>mt=4: 2,006knps, 35 seconds
>>>
>>>I.e. there is not only ~17% raw nps speedup, but *absolute time* is also ~8%
>>>smaller.
>>>
>>>And that is for the executable that is non-hyperthread aware, i.e. contains bad
>>>spinlock loop.
>>>
>>>I tested exactly the executable that is on Bob's FTP site. You can download it
>>>yourself.
>>>
>>>Thanks,
>>>Eugene
>>>
>>>On November 01, 2002 at 13:06:53, Vincent Diepeveen wrote:
>>>
>>>>On November 01, 2002 at 12:20:14, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>>>>
>>>>Feel free to ship a version of crafty that doesn't do spinlock
>>>>or whatever you want to modify. I'll extensively test it for you
>>>>at all P4s i can get my hands on...
>>>>
>>>>I would be really amazed if you get even 0.1% faster in nodes a
>>>>second...
>>>>
>>>>...of course it must be a fair compare in contradiction to what
>>>>intel shows. They do next comparision
>>>>
>>>>  a) some feature called 'SMT' in the bios turned on
>>>>     - just running 2 threads then
>>>>  b) turning it off
>>>>     - also running 2 threads at it
>>>>
>>>>Like everyone who is not so naive we know that you also need
>>>>to do next test:
>>>>
>>>>  a) some feature called 'SMT' in the bios turned on
>>>>     - just running 1 thread eating all system time
>>>>  b) turning it off
>>>>     - also running 1 thread eating all system time
>>>>
>>>>There shouldn't be a speed difference between a and b of course.
>>>>
>>>>That verification step is missing.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>On November 01, 2002 at 11:56:56, Vincent Diepeveen wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>On November 01, 2002 at 10:41:25, Robert Hyatt wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>On October 31, 2002 at 10:53:07, Vincent Diepeveen wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>On October 30, 2002 at 06:59:21, Terje Vagle wrote:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>Hi all,
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>The new cpu from intel will have a new function called
>>>>>>>>>hyper-threading.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>This will make the operating system able to recognize the cpu as if it was
>>>>>>>>>2 cpu's.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>Could the programs with smp-support make use of this?
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>Regards,
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>Terje Vagle
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>No chessprograms cannot make use of that feature at all. It is sad but
>>>>>>>>the truth. Hyperthreading is a cool thing for the future but the P4
>>>>>>>>processor is a too small processor to allow hyperthreading from getting
>>>>>>>>to work.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>Apart from that a major problem is that even if we have a great processor
>>>>>>>>which really allows hyperthreading to be effective, that the threads
>>>>>>>>run at unequal speeds.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>Hyper threading is supposed to work for 2 threads where 1 is a fast
>>>>>>>>thread and the other is some kind of background thread eating little cpu
>>>>>>>>time.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>In chessprograms having a second search thread which just runs now and
>>>>>>>>then in the background is simply impossible to use.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>It is not impossible at all.  The only problem was spinlocks and Eugene
>>>>>>>posted a link to an Intel document that describes how to solve this problem.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>Given that solution, hyper-threading will work just fine since spinlocks
>>>>>>>won't confuse the processor...
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>It won't be 2x faster, but it will certainly be faster if you can run a second
>>>>>>>thread while the first is blocked on a memory access...
>>>>>>
>>>>>>No it won't be 2 times faster. suppose you start crafty with 2 threads.
>>>>>
>>>>>I didn't say it would be _two_ times faster.
>>>>>
>>>>>I said it would be _faster_.
>>>>>
>>>>>And it will.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>thread A starts search and has 1.e4,e5
>>>>>>thread B starts and continues with 1.d4
>>>>>>
>>>>>>now when A is ready, B will still be busy with its own search space,
>>>>>>and delay thread A time and again.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>that'll slow down incredible.
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>Except that isn't how it works.  The threads co-execute in an intermingled
>>>>>way as one blocks for a memory read the other fills in the gap.  It is
>>>>>something like having 1.5 cpus...  and it does work.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>>You'll be a lot slower than searching with a single thread!
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>Not very likely...
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>>Also note that there is just 8 KB data cache and just like
>>>>>>40 registers to rename variables. then another 12KB tracecache.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>*both* threads are eating from that 8 KB and 12KB tracecache,
>>>>>>that is an additional problem they 'overlook'.
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>That is a problem on an SMP machine.  But _both_ threads are executing
>>>>>the _same_ code anyway...  so that isn't a problem.  At least for me.
>>>>>
>>>>>For you it is different because you are not using "shared everything" in
>>>>>lightweight threads, so your results might be different.  But all my threads
>>>>>share the exact same executable instruction code...
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>>As you can see from graphs. Usually SMT brings zero speedup.
>>>>>
>>>>>I have seen numbers around 1.3 up to 1.5...  which is not to be
>>>>>ignored.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Try crafty on a 2.4Ghz single cpu P4 or P4-Xeon please (northwood) or
>>>>>>above. Not on a slower P4 or P4-Xeon. Of course we go for the latest
>>>>>>hardware...
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>Why does it matter?  Hyper-Threading is Hyper-Threading, unless you are
>>>>>going to start that memory speed nonsense.  And, in fact, the faster the
>>>>>processor vs memory speed, the better hyperthreading should perform.  Just
>>>>>like the greater the difference in processor speed vs disk speed, the better
>>>>>normal operating systems do at running multiple processes.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Just try it like i tried at Jan Louwman's 2.4Ghz P4s and 2.53Ghz P4s.
>>>>>
>>>>>That says it all.  "Like I tried it".  As if that is a comprehensive and
>>>>>exhaustive testing?
>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>I can't measure *any* speedup *anyhow*.
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>Why am I not surprised???
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>>Also theoreticlaly i see major problems for the P4 chip even if you
>>>>>>have software which could theoretically profit.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>"theoretically".
>>>>>
>>>>>:)
>>>>>
>>>>>:)
>>>>>
>>>>>:)
>>>>>
>>>>>Theory from someone that doesn't know theory.
>>>>>
>>>>>:)
>>>>>
>>>>>:)



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