Article: PhysX87: Software Deficiency
By: Linus Torvalds (torvalds.delete@this.linux-foundation.org), July 21, 2010 9:05 pm
Room: Moderated Discussions
a reader (a@b.c) on 7/21/10 wrote:
>
>odd things with store buffer replay? like what?
>
>are you sure it's not just L1D too small?
I agree that the L1 is too small too, but no, it's not as
simple as just a small cache.
On the P4, certain instruction scheduling results in
some nasty replays, and if I recall correctly, one of the
worst cases shows up when you have a load that should hit
the store buffer forwarding case, but for one reason or
another ends up not working out correctly.
Now, you can try to google for the exact details, but iirc,
if you have a load that is close to the store that filled
the location (not entirely unusual, happens on the stack
frame due to register spills etc) the P4 insn scheduler can
end up scheduling the load "too close" to the store, and
the load ends up failing and taking a replay trap. Which
basically re-does the instruction, and you lose 10-20
cycles.
I think there were a few other cases of nasty replays too,
and they really end up depending very subtly about just
which cycle the different micro-ops got scheduled in. When
code works well, the P4 runs like a greased bat out of
hell, and then some very non-obvious things can make the
almost identical code take replay traps all the time and
just come to a crawling halt.
As far as I know, Intel never documented the actual rules,
probably because they defy any kind of simple documentation.
And take the above recollection with a pinch of salt, the
details may be wildly different (but it boils down to the
same thing - certain fairly innocuous instruction patterns
could result in lots of pain in the P4 LD/ST unit).
Linus
>
>odd things with store buffer replay? like what?
>
>are you sure it's not just L1D too small?
I agree that the L1 is too small too, but no, it's not as
simple as just a small cache.
On the P4, certain instruction scheduling results in
some nasty replays, and if I recall correctly, one of the
worst cases shows up when you have a load that should hit
the store buffer forwarding case, but for one reason or
another ends up not working out correctly.
Now, you can try to google for the exact details, but iirc,
if you have a load that is close to the store that filled
the location (not entirely unusual, happens on the stack
frame due to register spills etc) the P4 insn scheduler can
end up scheduling the load "too close" to the store, and
the load ends up failing and taking a replay trap. Which
basically re-does the instruction, and you lose 10-20
cycles.
I think there were a few other cases of nasty replays too,
and they really end up depending very subtly about just
which cycle the different micro-ops got scheduled in. When
code works well, the P4 runs like a greased bat out of
hell, and then some very non-obvious things can make the
almost identical code take replay traps all the time and
just come to a crawling halt.
As far as I know, Intel never documented the actual rules,
probably because they defy any kind of simple documentation.
And take the above recollection with a pinch of salt, the
details may be wildly different (but it boils down to the
same thing - certain fairly innocuous instruction patterns
could result in lots of pain in the P4 LD/ST unit).
Linus
Topic | Posted By | Date |
---|---|---|
A bit off base | John Mann | 2010/07/07 07:04 AM |
A bit off base | David Kanter | 2010/07/07 11:28 AM |
SSE vs x87 | Joel Hruska | 2010/07/07 12:53 PM |
SSE vs x87 | Michael S | 2010/07/07 01:07 PM |
SSE vs x87 | hobold | 2010/07/08 05:12 AM |
SSE vs x87 | David Kanter | 2010/07/07 02:55 PM |
SSE vs x87 | Andi Kleen | 2010/07/08 02:43 AM |
80 bit FP | Ricardo B | 2010/07/08 07:35 AM |
80 bit FP | David Kanter | 2010/07/08 11:14 AM |
80 bit FP | Kevin G | 2010/07/08 02:12 PM |
80 bit FP | Ian Ollmann | 2010/07/19 12:49 AM |
80 bit FP | David Kanter | 2010/07/19 11:33 AM |
80 bit FP | Anil Maliyekkel | 2010/07/19 04:49 PM |
80 bit FP | rwessel | 2010/07/19 05:41 PM |
80 bit FP | Matt Waldhauer | 2010/07/21 11:11 AM |
80 bit FP | Emil Briggs | 2010/07/22 09:06 AM |
A bit off base | John Mann | 2010/07/08 11:06 AM |
A bit off base | David Kanter | 2010/07/08 11:27 AM |
A bit off base | Ian Ameline | 2010/07/09 10:10 AM |
A bit off base | Michael S | 2010/07/10 02:13 PM |
A bit off base | Ian Ameline | 2010/07/11 07:51 AM |
A bit off base | David Kanter | 2010/07/07 09:46 PM |
A bit off base | Anon | 2010/07/08 12:47 AM |
A bit off base | anon | 2010/07/08 02:15 AM |
A bit off base | Gabriele Svelto | 2010/07/08 04:11 AM |
Physics engine history | Peter Clare | 2010/07/08 04:49 AM |
Physics engine history | Null Pointer Exception | 2010/07/08 06:07 AM |
Physics engine history | Ralf | 2010/07/08 03:09 PM |
Physics engine history | David Kanter | 2010/07/08 04:16 PM |
Physics engine history | sJ | 2010/07/08 11:36 PM |
Physics engine history | Gabriele Svelto | 2010/07/09 12:59 AM |
Physics engine history | sJ | 2010/07/13 06:35 AM |
Physics engine history | David Kanter | 2010/07/09 09:25 AM |
Physics engine history | sJ | 2010/07/13 06:49 AM |
Physics engine history | fvdbergh | 2010/07/13 07:27 AM |
A bit off base | John Mann | 2010/07/08 11:11 AM |
A bit off base | David Kanter | 2010/07/08 11:31 AM |
150 GFLOP/s measured? | anon | 2010/07/08 07:10 PM |
150 GFLOP/s measured? | David Kanter | 2010/07/08 07:53 PM |
150 GFLOP/s measured? | Aaron Spink | 2010/07/08 09:05 PM |
150 GFLOP/s measured? | anon | 2010/07/08 09:31 PM |
150 GFLOP/s measured? | Aaron Spink | 2010/07/08 10:43 PM |
150 GFLOP/s measured? | David Kanter | 2010/07/08 11:27 PM |
150 GFLOP/s measured? | Ian Ollmann | 2010/07/19 01:14 AM |
150 GFLOP/s measured? | anon | 2010/07/19 06:39 AM |
150 GFLOP/s measured? | hobold | 2010/07/19 07:26 AM |
Philosophy for achieving peak | David Kanter | 2010/07/19 11:49 AM |
150 GFLOP/s measured? | Linus Torvalds | 2010/07/19 07:36 AM |
150 GFLOP/s measured? | Richard Cownie | 2010/07/19 08:42 AM |
150 GFLOP/s measured? | Aaron Spink | 2010/07/19 08:56 AM |
150 GFLOP/s measured? | hobold | 2010/07/19 09:30 AM |
150 GFLOP/s measured? | Groo | 2010/07/19 02:31 PM |
150 GFLOP/s measured? | hobold | 2010/07/19 04:17 PM |
150 GFLOP/s measured? | Groo | 2010/07/19 06:18 PM |
150 GFLOP/s measured? | Anon | 2010/07/19 06:18 PM |
150 GFLOP/s measured? | Mark Roulo | 2010/07/19 11:47 AM |
150 GFLOP/s measured? | slacker | 2010/07/19 12:55 PM |
150 GFLOP/s measured? | Mark Roulo | 2010/07/19 01:00 PM |
150 GFLOP/s measured? | anonymous42 | 2010/07/25 12:31 PM |
150 GFLOP/s measured? | Richard Cownie | 2010/07/19 12:41 PM |
150 GFLOP/s measured? | Linus Torvalds | 2010/07/19 02:57 PM |
150 GFLOP/s measured? | Richard Cownie | 2010/07/19 04:10 PM |
150 GFLOP/s measured? | Richard Cownie | 2010/07/19 04:10 PM |
150 GFLOP/s measured? | hobold | 2010/07/19 04:25 PM |
150 GFLOP/s measured? | Linus Torvalds | 2010/07/19 04:31 PM |
150 GFLOP/s measured? | Richard Cownie | 2010/07/20 06:04 AM |
150 GFLOP/s measured? | jrl | 2010/07/20 01:18 AM |
150 GFLOP/s measured? | anonymous42 | 2010/07/25 12:00 PM |
150 GFLOP/s measured? | David Kanter | 2010/07/25 12:52 PM |
150 GFLOP/s measured? | Anon | 2010/07/19 06:15 PM |
150 GFLOP/s measured? | Linus Torvalds | 2010/07/19 07:27 PM |
150 GFLOP/s measured? | Anon | 2010/07/19 09:54 PM |
150 GFLOP/s measured? | anon | 2010/07/19 11:45 PM |
150 GFLOP/s measured? | hobold | 2010/07/19 09:14 AM |
150 GFLOP/s measured? | Linus Torvalds | 2010/07/19 11:56 AM |
150 GFLOP/s measured? | a reader | 2010/07/21 08:16 PM |
150 GFLOP/s measured? | Linus Torvalds | 2010/07/21 09:05 PM |
150 GFLOP/s measured? | anon | 2010/07/22 02:09 AM |
150 GFLOP/s measured? | a reader | 2010/07/22 07:53 PM |
150 GFLOP/s measured? | gallier2 | 2010/07/23 05:58 AM |
150 GFLOP/s measured? | a reader | 2010/07/25 08:35 AM |
150 GFLOP/s measured? | David Kanter | 2010/07/25 11:49 AM |
150 GFLOP/s measured? | a reader | 2010/07/26 07:03 PM |
150 GFLOP/s measured? | Michael S | 2010/07/28 01:38 AM |
150 GFLOP/s measured? | Gabriele Svelto | 2010/07/28 01:44 AM |
150 GFLOP/s measured? | anon | 2010/07/23 04:55 PM |
150 GFLOP/s measured? | slacker | 2010/07/24 12:48 AM |
150 GFLOP/s measured? | anon | 2010/07/24 02:36 AM |
150 GFLOP/s measured? | Vincent Diepeveen | 2010/07/27 05:37 PM |
150 GFLOP/s measured? | ? | 2010/07/27 11:42 PM |
150 GFLOP/s measured? | slacker | 2010/07/28 05:55 AM |
Intel's clock rate projections | AM | 2010/07/28 02:03 AM |
nostalgia ain't what it used to be | someone | 2010/07/28 05:38 AM |
Intel's clock rate projections | AM | 2010/07/28 10:12 PM |
Separate the OoO-ness from speculative-ness | ? | 2010/07/20 07:19 AM |
Separate the OoO-ness from speculative-ness | Mark Christiansen | 2010/07/20 02:26 PM |
Separate the OoO-ness from speculative-ness | slacker | 2010/07/20 06:04 PM |
Separate the OoO-ness from speculative-ness | Matt Sayler | 2010/07/20 06:10 PM |
Separate the OoO-ness from speculative-ness | slacker | 2010/07/20 09:37 PM |
Separate the OoO-ness from speculative-ness | ? | 2010/07/20 11:51 PM |
Separate the OoO-ness from speculative-ness | anon | 2010/07/21 02:16 AM |
Separate the OoO-ness from speculative-ness | ? | 2010/07/21 07:05 AM |
Software conventions | Paul A. Clayton | 2010/07/21 08:52 AM |
Software conventions | ? | 2010/07/22 05:43 AM |
Speculation | David Kanter | 2010/07/21 10:32 AM |
Pipelining affects the ISA | ? | 2010/07/22 10:58 PM |
Pipelining affects the ISA | ? | 2010/07/22 11:14 PM |
Pipelining affects the ISA | rwessel | 2010/07/23 12:03 AM |
Pipelining affects the ISA | ? | 2010/07/23 05:50 AM |
Pipelining affects the ISA | ? | 2010/07/23 06:10 AM |
Pipelining affects the ISA | Thiago Kurovski | 2010/07/23 02:59 PM |
Pipelining affects the ISA | anon | 2010/07/24 07:35 AM |
Pipelining affects the ISA | Thiago Kurovski | 2010/07/24 11:12 AM |
Pipelining affects the ISA | Gabriele Svelto | 2010/07/26 02:50 AM |
Pipelining affects the ISA | IlleglWpns | 2010/07/26 05:14 AM |
Pipelining affects the ISA | Michael S | 2010/07/26 03:33 PM |
Separate the OoO-ness from speculative-ness | anon | 2010/07/21 05:53 PM |
Separate the OoO-ness from speculative-ness | ? | 2010/07/22 04:15 AM |
Separate the OoO-ness from speculative-ness | anon | 2010/07/22 04:27 AM |
Separate the OoO-ness from speculative-ness | slacker | 2010/07/21 07:45 PM |
Separate the OoO-ness from speculative-ness | anon | 2010/07/22 01:57 AM |
Separate the OoO-ness from speculative-ness | ? | 2010/07/22 05:26 AM |
Separate the OoO-ness from speculative-ness | Dan Downs | 2010/07/22 08:14 AM |
Confusing and not very useful definition | David Kanter | 2010/07/22 12:41 PM |
Confusing and not very useful definition | ? | 2010/07/22 10:58 PM |
Confusing and not very useful definition | Ungo | 2010/07/24 12:06 PM |
Confusing and not very useful definition | ? | 2010/07/25 10:23 PM |
Separate the OoO-ness from speculative-ness | someone | 2010/07/20 08:02 PM |
Separate the OoO-ness from speculative-ness | Thiago Kurovski | 2010/07/21 04:13 PM |
You are just quoting SINGLE precision flops? OMG what planet do you live? | Vincent Diepeveen | 2010/07/19 10:26 AM |
The prior poster was talking about SP (NT) | David Kanter | 2010/07/19 11:34 AM |
All FFT's need double precision | Vincent Diepeveen | 2010/07/19 02:02 PM |
All FFT's need double precision | David Kanter | 2010/07/19 02:09 PM |
All FFT's need double precision | Vincent Diepeveen | 2010/07/19 04:06 PM |
All FFT's need double precision - not | Michael S | 2010/07/20 01:16 AM |
All FFT's need double precision - not | Ungo | 2010/07/21 12:04 AM |
All FFT's need double precision - not | Michael S | 2010/07/21 02:35 PM |
All FFT's need double precision - not | EduardoS | 2010/07/21 02:52 PM |
All FFT's need double precision - not | Anon | 2010/07/21 05:23 PM |
All FFT's need double precision - not | Ricardo B | 2010/07/26 07:46 AM |
I'm on a boat! | anon | 2010/07/22 11:42 AM |
All FFT's need double precision - not | Vincent Diepeveen | 2010/07/24 11:39 PM |
All FFT's need double precision - not | slacker | 2010/07/25 03:27 AM |
All FFT's need double precision - not | Ricardo B | 2010/07/26 07:40 AM |
All FFT's need double precision - not | EduardoS | 2010/07/25 08:37 AM |
All FFT's need double precision - not | Michael S | 2010/07/25 10:43 AM |
All FFT's need double precision - not | Vincent Diepeveen | 2010/07/24 11:19 PM |
A bit off base | EduardoS | 2010/07/08 04:08 PM |
A bit off base | Groo | 2010/07/08 06:11 PM |
A bit off base | john mann | 2010/07/08 06:58 PM |
All right...let's cool it... | David Kanter | 2010/07/08 07:54 PM |
A bit off base | Vincent Diepeveen | 2010/07/19 03:36 PM |