[Libre-soc-dev] maybe get ryzen 7950x for faster compilation and avx512

[Timothy Pearson]

----- Original Message -----
> From: "Jacob Lifshay" <programmerjake at gmail.com>
> To: "Timothy Pearson" <tpearson at raptorengineering.com>
> Cc: "Libre-Soc General Development" <libre-soc-dev at lists.libre-soc.org>
> Sent: Monday, September 26, 2022 11:38:51 AM
> Subject: Re: [Libre-soc-dev] maybe get ryzen 7950x for faster compilation and avx512

> On Mon, Sep 26, 2022, 09:24 Timothy Pearson <tpearson at raptorengineering.com>
> wrote:
> 
>> Why would you want to use non-free hardware (AMD PSP, a "ring -3" closed
>> source signed binary) to work on a libre chip?  More importantly, why would
>> libre-soc want to use its resources to purchase this type of non-free
>> hardware for its developers?
>>
> 
> 3 reasons:
> * POWER9 would need to be around 2x the cost to get comparable
> multi-threaded performance (the 18-core cpu just by itself is more than the
> price of the whole amd-based upgrade, that's not even counting the
> motherboard or ram or new ssd for server)

We may be able to offer some degree of discount / sponsorship for LibreSoC in this area.

> * the 7950x waay outdoes the POWER9 in single threaded performance (very
> important for silicon layout, hardware simulation, formal proofs, etc.
> where we can be running code for multiple hours, taking 1/2 the time can
> save a huge amount of time)

If we're looking purely at performance vs. ownership, why should hardware be purchased at all vs. leasing a single powerful CPU from a cloud provider for the specific simulation runs you are talking about?

> * avx512 would be very useful to be able to compare against.

AVX512 could be tested with short term lease from a cloud provider, if such data needs to be gathered.