[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 11:46:44 AM
> Subject: Re: [Libre-soc-dev] maybe get ryzen 7950x for faster compilation and avx512

> On Mon, Sep 26, 2022, 09:38 Jacob Lifshay <programmerjake at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> 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)
>> * 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)
>> * avx512 would be very useful to be able to compare against.
>>
> 
> another reason:
> * it comes with an integrated gpu with hardware raytracing support, that's
> something we'll want to test against in the future.
> 
> Jacob
> 

For that specific point, you can get a card that will work with any inexpensive host machine (or even a POWER9) with hardware raytracing for under $200 USD:

https://www.newegg.com/powercolor-radeon-rx-6500-xt-axrx-6500xt-4gbd6-dh-oc/p/N82E16814131792

Best part is, if you need a newer model or it stops working for your purposes due to AMD fiat (firmware changes), it can be swapped out for a similar cost vs. having to replace the entire system.