By: Linus Torvalds (torvalds.delete@this.linux-foundation.org), August 17, 2018 10:20 am
Room: Moderated Discussions
Michael S (already5chosen.delete@this.yahoo.com) on August 17, 2018 3:13 am wrote:
>
> I beleive it when I see it.
> This particular design team promised power efficient cores in the past. But until now never delivered.
"This particular team"? I don't recall a single design (ARM or otherwise) that actually lived up to the promises.
It may not be as bad as the ia64 promises always were, so Intel has actually been one of worst offenders, but the "future design" numbers I've seen have always been some horribly bad simulation result that don't take the memory pipeline or the TLB into account, and seem to compare some simulated Spec numbers against actual real numbers. Or something.
Even if the design itself is finalized, real hardware is simply something else. Because it turns out that the core is just a small part of the equation if you didn't actually have a real memory controller and real DRAM, but you just plugged in some optimistic numbers for "this is what the memory could do".
And then you compare with some existing chip with not "could do", but "actually does", and you look really damn good. But only in simulation - even if the simulation is supposedly cycle accurate (or, more commonly, "at least close to it").
So yeah, I'm with you on wanting actual measured numbers. Both for power and performance. And even then it's obviously going to be marketing that cherry-picks the numbers, but at least you can make some judgments by the actual benchmarks they chose to mention.
Before that it seems to be almost entirely made up.
Maybe ARM has gotten to the point where the changes are so incremental and well-understood that the expected numbers are actually fairly close to reality. But the promised big leap makes me doubt that. Whenever you promise some big leap, my gut feel is "ok, let's wait for reality to hit".
So yeah, I'd love to see an actual good A76 design. One with an actual good memory subsystem and TLB fill and reasonable IO. Something that actually would work in a laptop (or something like a NUC).
Because dammit, I want an ARM box that I can actually build and test on. Not the "yet another device that can do mobile loads and run GB".
Linus
>
> I beleive it when I see it.
> This particular design team promised power efficient cores in the past. But until now never delivered.
"This particular team"? I don't recall a single design (ARM or otherwise) that actually lived up to the promises.
It may not be as bad as the ia64 promises always were, so Intel has actually been one of worst offenders, but the "future design" numbers I've seen have always been some horribly bad simulation result that don't take the memory pipeline or the TLB into account, and seem to compare some simulated Spec numbers against actual real numbers. Or something.
Even if the design itself is finalized, real hardware is simply something else. Because it turns out that the core is just a small part of the equation if you didn't actually have a real memory controller and real DRAM, but you just plugged in some optimistic numbers for "this is what the memory could do".
And then you compare with some existing chip with not "could do", but "actually does", and you look really damn good. But only in simulation - even if the simulation is supposedly cycle accurate (or, more commonly, "at least close to it").
So yeah, I'm with you on wanting actual measured numbers. Both for power and performance. And even then it's obviously going to be marketing that cherry-picks the numbers, but at least you can make some judgments by the actual benchmarks they chose to mention.
Before that it seems to be almost entirely made up.
Maybe ARM has gotten to the point where the changes are so incremental and well-understood that the expected numbers are actually fairly close to reality. But the promised big leap makes me doubt that. Whenever you promise some big leap, my gut feel is "ok, let's wait for reality to hit".
So yeah, I'd love to see an actual good A76 design. One with an actual good memory subsystem and TLB fill and reasonable IO. Something that actually would work in a laptop (or something like a NUC).
Because dammit, I want an ARM box that I can actually build and test on. Not the "yet another device that can do mobile loads and run GB".
Linus
Topic | Posted By | Date |
---|---|---|
ARM turns to a god and a hero | AM | 2018/08/16 08:32 AM |
ARM turns to a god and a hero | Maynard Handley | 2018/08/16 08:41 AM |
ARM turns to a god and a hero | Doug S | 2018/08/16 10:11 AM |
ARM turns to a god and a hero | Geoff Langdale | 2018/08/16 10:59 PM |
ARM turns to a god and a hero | dmcq | 2018/08/17 04:12 AM |
ARM is somewhat misleading | Adrian | 2018/08/16 10:56 PM |
It's marketing material | Gabriele Svelto | 2018/08/17 12:00 AM |
It's marketing material | Michael S | 2018/08/17 02:13 AM |
It's marketing material | dmcq | 2018/08/17 04:23 AM |
It's marketing material | Andrei Frumusanu | 2018/08/17 06:25 AM |
It's marketing material | Linus Torvalds | 2018/08/17 10:20 AM |
It's marketing material | Groo | 2018/08/17 12:44 PM |
It's marketing material | Doug S | 2018/08/17 01:14 PM |
promises and deliveries | AM | 2018/08/17 01:32 PM |
promises and deliveries | Passing Through | 2018/08/17 02:02 PM |
Just by way of clarification | Passing Through | 2018/08/17 02:15 PM |
Just by way of clarification | AM | 2018/08/18 11:49 AM |
Just by way of clarification | Passing Through | 2018/08/18 12:34 PM |
This ain't the nineties any longer | Passing Through | 2018/08/18 12:54 PM |
This ain't the nineties any longer | Maynard Handley | 2018/08/18 01:50 PM |
This ain't the nineties any longer | Passing Through | 2018/08/18 02:57 PM |
This ain't the nineties any longer | Passing Through | 2018/09/06 01:42 PM |
This ain't the nineties any longer | Maynard Handley | 2018/09/07 03:10 PM |
This ain't the nineties any longer | Passing Through | 2018/09/07 03:48 PM |
This ain't the nineties any longer | Maynard Handley | 2018/09/07 04:22 PM |
Just by way of clarification | Wilco | 2018/08/18 12:26 PM |
Just by way of clarification | Passing Through | 2018/08/18 12:39 PM |
Just by way of clarification | none | 2018/08/18 09:52 PM |
Just by way of clarification | dmcq | 2018/08/19 07:32 AM |
Just by way of clarification | none | 2018/08/19 07:54 AM |
Just by way of clarification | dmcq | 2018/08/19 10:24 AM |
Just by way of clarification | none | 2018/08/19 10:52 AM |
Just by way of clarification | Gabriele Svelto | 2018/08/19 05:41 AM |
Just by way of clarification | Passing Through | 2018/08/19 08:25 AM |
Whiteboards at Gatwick airport anyone? | Passing Through | 2018/08/20 03:24 AM |
It's marketing material | Michael S | 2018/08/18 10:12 AM |
It's marketing material | Brett | 2018/08/18 04:22 PM |
It's marketing material | Brett | 2018/08/18 04:33 PM |
It's marketing material | Adrian | 2018/08/19 12:21 AM |
A76 | AM | 2018/08/17 01:45 PM |
A76 | Michael S | 2018/08/18 10:20 AM |
A76 | AM | 2018/08/18 11:39 AM |
A76 | Michael S | 2018/08/18 11:49 AM |
A76 | AM | 2018/08/18 12:06 PM |
A76 | Doug S | 2018/08/18 12:43 PM |
A76 | Maynard Handley | 2018/08/18 01:42 PM |
A76 | Maynard Handley | 2018/08/18 03:22 PM |
Why write zeros when one can use metadata? | Paul A. Clayton | 2018/08/18 05:19 PM |
Why write zeros when one can use metadata? | Maynard Handley | 2018/08/19 10:12 AM |
Dictionary compress might apply to memcopy | Paul A. Clayton | 2018/08/19 12:45 PM |
Instructions for zeroing | Konrad Schwarz | 2018/08/30 05:37 AM |
Instructions for zeroing | Maynard Handley | 2018/08/30 07:41 AM |
Instructions for zeroing | Adrian | 2018/08/30 10:37 AM |
dcbz -> dcbzl (was: Instructions for zeroing) | hobold | 2018/08/31 12:50 AM |
dcbz -> dcbzl (was: Instructions for zeroing) | dmcq | 2018/09/01 04:28 AM |
A76 | Travis | 2018/08/19 10:36 AM |
A76 | Maynard Handley | 2018/08/19 11:22 AM |
A76 | Travis | 2018/08/19 01:07 PM |
A76 | Maynard Handley | 2018/08/19 05:24 PM |
Remote atomics | matthew | 2018/08/19 11:51 AM |
Remote atomics | Michael S | 2018/08/19 12:58 PM |
Remote atomics | matthew | 2018/08/19 01:32 PM |
Remote atomics | Michael S | 2018/08/19 01:36 PM |
Remote atomics | matthew | 2018/08/19 01:48 PM |
Remote atomics | Michael S | 2018/08/19 02:16 PM |
Remote atomics | Ricardo B | 2018/08/20 09:05 AM |
Remote atomics | dmcq | 2018/08/19 01:33 PM |
Remote atomics | Travis | 2018/08/19 01:32 PM |
Remote atomics | Michael S | 2018/08/19 01:46 PM |
Remote atomics | Travis | 2018/08/19 04:35 PM |
Remote atomics | Michael S | 2018/08/20 02:29 AM |
Remote atomics | matthew | 2018/08/19 06:58 PM |
Remote atomics | anon | 2018/08/19 11:59 PM |
Remote atomics | Travis | 2018/08/20 09:26 AM |
Remote atomics | Travis | 2018/08/20 08:57 AM |
Remote atomics | Linus Torvalds | 2018/08/20 03:29 PM |
Fitting time slices to execution phases | Paul A. Clayton | 2018/08/21 08:09 AM |
Fitting time slices to execution phases | Linus Torvalds | 2018/08/21 01:34 PM |
Fitting time slices to execution phases | Linus Torvalds | 2018/08/21 02:31 PM |
Fitting time slices to execution phases | Gabriele Svelto | 2018/08/21 02:54 PM |
Fitting time slices to execution phases | Linus Torvalds | 2018/08/21 03:26 PM |
Fitting time slices to execution phases | Travis | 2018/08/21 03:21 PM |
Fitting time slices to execution phases | Linus Torvalds | 2018/08/21 03:39 PM |
Fitting time slices to execution phases | Travis | 2018/08/21 03:59 PM |
Fitting time slices to execution phases | Linus Torvalds | 2018/08/21 04:13 PM |
Fitting time slices to execution phases | anon | 2018/08/21 03:27 PM |
Fitting time slices to execution phases | Linus Torvalds | 2018/08/21 05:02 PM |
Fitting time slices to execution phases | Etienne | 2018/08/22 01:28 AM |
Fitting time slices to execution phases | Gabriele Svelto | 2018/08/22 02:07 PM |
Fitting time slices to execution phases | Travis | 2018/08/22 03:00 PM |
Fitting time slices to execution phases | anon | 2018/08/22 05:52 PM |
Fitting time slices to execution phases | Travis | 2018/08/21 03:37 PM |
Is preventing misuse that complex? | Paul A. Clayton | 2018/08/23 04:42 AM |
Is preventing misuse that complex? | Linus Torvalds | 2018/08/23 11:46 AM |
Is preventing misuse that complex? | Travis | 2018/08/23 12:29 PM |
Is preventing misuse that complex? | Travis | 2018/08/23 12:33 PM |
Is preventing misuse that complex? | Jeff S. | 2018/08/24 06:57 AM |
Is preventing misuse that complex? | Travis | 2018/08/24 07:47 AM |
Is preventing misuse that complex? | Linus Torvalds | 2018/08/23 01:30 PM |
Is preventing misuse that complex? | Travis | 2018/08/23 02:11 PM |
Is preventing misuse that complex? | Linus Torvalds | 2018/08/24 12:00 PM |
Is preventing misuse that complex? | Gabriele Svelto | 2018/08/24 12:25 PM |
Is preventing misuse that complex? | Linus Torvalds | 2018/08/24 12:33 PM |
Fitting time slices to execution phases | Travis | 2018/08/21 02:54 PM |
rseq: holy grail rwlock? | Travis | 2018/08/21 02:18 PM |
rseq: holy grail rwlock? | Linus Torvalds | 2018/08/21 02:59 PM |
rseq: holy grail rwlock? | Travis | 2018/08/21 03:27 PM |
rseq: holy grail rwlock? | Linus Torvalds | 2018/08/21 04:10 PM |
rseq: holy grail rwlock? | Travis | 2018/08/21 05:21 PM |
ARM design houses | Michael S | 2018/08/21 04:07 AM |
ARM design houses | Wilco | 2018/08/22 11:38 AM |
ARM design houses | Michael S | 2018/08/22 01:21 PM |
ARM design houses | Wilco | 2018/08/22 02:23 PM |
ARM design houses | Michael S | 2018/08/29 12:58 AM |
Qualcomm's core naming scheme really, really sucks | Heikki Kultala | 2018/08/29 01:19 AM |
A76 | Maynard Handley | 2018/08/18 01:07 PM |
A76 | Michael S | 2018/08/18 01:32 PM |
A76 | Maynard Handley | 2018/08/18 01:52 PM |
A76 | Michael S | 2018/08/18 02:04 PM |
ARM is somewhat misleading | juanrga | 2018/08/17 12:20 AM |
Surprised?? | Alberto | 2018/08/17 12:52 AM |
Surprised?? | Alberto | 2018/08/17 01:10 AM |
Surprised?? | none | 2018/08/17 01:46 AM |
Garbage talk | Andrei Frumusanu | 2018/08/17 06:30 AM |
Garbage talk | Michael S | 2018/08/17 06:43 AM |
Garbage talk | Andrei Frumusanu | 2018/08/17 08:51 AM |
Garbage talk | Michael S | 2018/08/18 10:29 AM |
Garbage talk | Adrian | 2018/08/17 07:28 AM |
Garbage talk | Alberto | 2018/08/17 08:20 AM |
Garbage talk | Andrei Frumusanu | 2018/08/17 08:48 AM |
Garbage talk | Adrian | 2018/08/17 09:17 AM |
Garbage talk | Andrei Frumusanu | 2018/08/17 09:36 AM |
Garbage talk | Adrian | 2018/08/17 01:53 PM |
Garbage talk | Andrei Frumusanu | 2018/08/17 11:17 PM |
More like a religion he?? ARM has an easy life :) | Alberto | 2018/08/17 08:13 AM |
More like a religion he?? ARM has an easy life :) | Andrei Frumusanu | 2018/08/17 08:34 AM |
More like a religion he?? ARM has an easy life :) | Alberto | 2018/08/17 09:03 AM |
More like a religion he?? ARM has an easy life :) | Andrei Frumusanu | 2018/08/17 09:43 AM |
More like a religion he?? ARM has an easy life :) | Doug S | 2018/08/17 01:17 PM |
15W phone SoCs | AM | 2018/08/17 02:04 PM |
More like a religion he?? ARM has an easy life :) | Maynard Handley | 2018/08/17 11:29 AM |
my future stuff will be better than your old stuff, hey I'm a god at last (NT) | Eric Bron | 2018/08/18 02:34 AM |
my future stuff will be better than your old stuff, hey I'm a god at last | none | 2018/08/18 07:34 AM |