ARM based Opteron A1100 series

[Emmanon]

AMD revealed the specs for a new ARM based Opteron yesterday. Would this new CPU have any folding performance gains over existing server silicon? What impact would its support of DDR4 ram have on folding? I'm aware code is tailored to take advantage of ARM architecture, so the answer could be a flat none. I welcome any theoretical speculation as well.

http://techreport.com/news/25977/amd-reveals-arm-based-opteron-a1100-series

 

[Gilthanis]

I had actually brought this up in the BOINC thread http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1040583897&postcount=344

To simply answer your question, nobody will know until there is an actual app for it.

The performance gain is really in the operational (electricity) savings.

 

[Emmanon]

Would FaH folding cores need to be ported for the ARM architecture?

 

[Nathan_P]

Yes they would

 

[Gilthanis]

Pretty much any x86/x64 app would have to be re-compiled for the ARM architecture. Even then, it would have to be tested since all compilers are not the same.

 

[Gilthanis]

http://www.extremetech.com/computing/175583-amd-unveils-its-first-arm-based-cpu-the-64-bit-8-core-opteron-a1100

I wonder if any of our team members will get access to some of the ES chips to test with. BOINC already has a few projects that are probably ready for it. I would be interested on the performance/watt ratio actually is.