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Bulldozer Folding

N

Nightbird

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jun 10, 2010
Messages
1,067
There is a lively discussion going on on Anandtech forums about how Bulldozer will be a good folder, with some interesting tidbits from JF-AMD. It get a bit technical for me so I was hoping someone could break it down for me. Is F@H a floating point hogger? How does this module's INT and FP capabilities compare to one core from Sandy-Bridge? Most important, will it fold well? :) Thanks beforehand.

Excerpt from page 4:
We have a 256b FP datapath (pipes 0 and 1) AND a 256b INT datapath (pipes 2 and 3), so

2 128b FP + 2 128b INT
or
1 256b FP + 2 128b INT
or
1 256b FP + 1 256b INT
or
2 128b FP + 1 256b INT

The INT here is an integer unit for doing the integer portion of math inside an SSE instruction, that is not the integer clusters that you would commonly call cores.

Plus there is a really cool feature around moves. Technically, we can do 4 128b SSE moves per cycle with a ZERO cycle latency. This is known as “MOVE ELIMINATION”.
Click to expand...

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2148217
 
I skimmed, cause a lot of its over my head, but if the leaked numbers are true, I will be springing for higher end C32 bulldozer cpus than I was planning. Possibly replacing my 920 with an 8 core zambezi as well.
 
If that is true.....

The FS section might get flooded with SR-2 rigs :eek:
 
why C32? it only has dual channel.. ya might as well spend the extra 100 bucks and go with a G34 board with quad channel ram and cut your times in half.
 
Because I already have the dual C32 board. I'll reevaluate keeping the board when Interlagos is actually available.
 
if thats true signe me up for 2 of these

4x16 core Bulldozer: 780,000 PPD
 
ugh i'll have to finish reading that thread later.. white background is killing my eyes..


Vediovus said:
Because I already have the dual C32 board. I'll reevaluate keeping the board when Interlagos is actually available.
Click to expand...

ahh.. i'd throw that up for sale and snag a 2p G34 board.. extra cost is well worth it for the insane memory bandwidth using quad channel DDR3.
 
I might. I don't have much faith in the Asus BIOS team. The initial BIOS release for my board lacked support for the onboard raid ffs. :rolleyes:
 
Well, it's still one thing to look good on paper and another to perform well in the real world (barring the leaked benchmark supposedly from 4x16 core Interlagos @1.8ghz no turbo).

Well, even for theoretical performance, if someone could explain how one Bulldozer module compares to one or two Sandy-Bridge cores, that'd be great. Sandy-bridge is coming out with 6/8/10 cores late summer after all so a 8Bdz versus 4SB comparison wouldn't last long.
 
Nightbird said:
Well, even for theoretical performance, if someone could explain how one Bulldozer module compares to one or two Sandy-Bridge cores, that'd be great. Sandy-bridge is coming out with 6/8/10 cores late summer after all so a 8Bdz versus 4SB comparison wouldn't last long.
Click to expand...
Will the 8/10 core variants be available in consumer versions?
 
On LGA 2011 as extreme edition parts iirc, at least at release. Most likely too rich for my blood.
 
Nightbird said:
Well, it's still one thing to look good on paper and another to perform well in the real world (barring the leaked benchmark supposedly from 4x16 core Interlagos @1.8ghz no turbo).

Well, even for theoretical performance, if someone could explain how one Bulldozer module compares to one or two Sandy-Bridge cores, that'd be great. Sandy-bridge is coming out with 6/8/10 cores late summer after all so a 8Bdz versus 4SB comparison wouldn't last long.
Click to expand...


if you go through that thread, look for the posts from JF_AMD.. hes probably got the best inside information and hes not a biased douche. he just puts the facts out and lets people decide what they want to read. but right now its really hard to say since the interlagos for example are designed for far different applications then say a consumer processor. so performance numbers/information will be slightly different.
 
sirmonkey1985 said:
if you go through that thread, look for the posts from JF_AMD.. hes probably got the best inside information and hes not a biased douche. he just puts the facts out and lets people decide what they want to read. but right now its really hard to say since the interlagos for example are designed for far different applications then say a consumer processor. so performance numbers/information will be slightly different.
Click to expand...

I read through the whole thread, all I got out of it is that the new architecture might be amazing from the side comments lol.
 
Goonigoogoo said:
You must be new to the internet i guess. Just be careful, never trust any site. Make sure your AV and firewalls are on high alert.
Click to expand...

Fixed?

APOLLO said:
Will the 8/10 core variants be available in consumer versions?
Click to expand...

Good question. Without trustworthy performance benchmarks nor price info, I shouldn't even ask about possible match ups. AMD and Intel always price their chips according to relative performance anyways. I see in that thread they extrapolated that a 8core Bulldozer will produce 70k ppd from the "leaked" benchmark by reducing cores, scaling up frequency, and recalculating bonus points. I'll believe that when I see it. My real question still is if anyone could explain how the 256b FP and INT pipes that can split and do 2x128b instead matches up against Intel's SB architecture?

For example, in this article Anand says SB doubled peak FP performance.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3922/intels-sandy-bridge-architecture-exposed/3

Edit: Adding this to avoid post spam:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3863/amd-discloses-bobcat-bulldozer-architectures-at-hot-chips-2010/4
Looking at the first picture, it shows each integer scheduler having access to 4 pipelines, is that what the above is talking about?
 
Last edited:
Nightbird said:
Fixed?



Good question. Without trustworthy performance benchmarks nor price info, I shouldn't even ask about possible match ups. AMD and Intel always price their chips according to relative performance anyways. I see in that thread they extrapolated that a 8core Bulldozer will produce 70k ppd from the "leaked" benchmark by reducing cores, scaling up frequency, and recalculating bonus points. I'll believe that when I see it. My real question still is if anyone could explain how the 256b FP and INT pipes that can split and do 2x128b instead matches up against Intel's SB architecture?

For example, in this article Anand says SB doubled peak FP performance.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3922/intels-sandy-bridge-architecture-exposed/3

Edit: Adding this to avoid post spam:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3863/amd-discloses-bobcat-bulldozer-architectures-at-hot-chips-2010/4
Looking at the first picture, it shows each integer scheduler having access to 4 pipelines, is that what the above is talking about?
Click to expand...


the FP and INT is because bulldozer uses modules.. so in essence there are 2 cores per module. but where bulldozer has the advantage is that it uses an external scheduler(probably got the name wrong) but what it allows is to have the data split between the separate FP/INT's when needed or it can combine them. basically it has the ability to turn 2 cores into a single core ala if you have a single threaded application it allows that single threaded application to access both FP's and INT's within the single module. something SB can't do since it uses the traditional core setup.

thats just a basic description.. i can understand most of what their talking about i just can't explain it all that well.
 
If BD is badass I'll be buying a BD setup when it comes out. Simple as that.
 
Might be time to make the SR-2 my daily driver and build a Bulldozer folding machine...
 
My desktop SR-2 is great at Plants vs. Zombies. Also Winamp and Quicken.
 
I shouldn't talk..... I've been playing Morrowind on my main rig (L5640) :eek:
 
Kendrak said:
I shouldn't talk..... I've been playing Morrowind on my main rig (L5640) :eek:
Click to expand...

And my wife plays Mahjong on my 980x with SLI 465s. Then again I've been playing Angry Birds with my dual core Moto Atrix phone. Those birds do fly real nice.
 
Activate: AMD said:
does Morrowind even run on that rig? It'd be like showing up to a medieval joust in a tank.. i don't think they'd let you compete :p
Click to expand...

I've got 16x Anisotropic filtering and 32X Antialiasing forced through NV control panel.

The shocking thing is, for as old of a game that it is, with a few texture packs and tweeking, it looks quite good. It is also a much better game than Oblivion. I think this will be my 8th time though the game. But my first as a 100% mage.
 
I saw those TPF's and had to do a double take to make sure they weren't vanilla SMP numbers. I hope these are priced aggressively to take some of the thunder out of Intel. Just hurry the F up!

I have been playing some BlackOps and Mafia 2 while folding. I'm pretty impressed that these are still smooth while folding.
 
Wiseguy2001 said:
I saw those TPF's and had to do a double take to make sure they weren't vanilla SMP numbers. I hope these are priced aggressively to take some of the thunder out of Intel. Just hurry the F up!

I have been playing some BlackOps and Mafia 2 while folding. I'm pretty impressed that these are still smooth while folding.
Click to expand...


yup the F@H client does a good job releasing cpu cycles for higher priority applications.
 
Yeah the gpu client has always released the gpu nicely while playing games without pausing, nvidia or ati.
 
I thought that we were only going to see an 8 core LGA2011 chip from Intel as an extreme edition processor at the end of this year, and an upto 10 core for the server side of things.

I am absolutely hoping that Bulldozer is going to be competitive, although it is uncertain how well Zambezi 8 cores will be able to compete against Gulftowns and the upcoming octocore LGA2011 Sandy Bridge. If folders could once again have a viable option, then we and science both win.
 
amdgamer said:
I thought that we were only going to see an 8 core LGA2011 chip from Intel as an extreme edition processor at the end of this year, and an upto 10 core for the server side of things.

I am absolutely hoping that Bulldozer is going to be competitive, although it is uncertain how well Zambezi 8 cores will be able to compete against Gulftowns and the upcoming octocore LGA2011 Sandy Bridge. If folders could once again have a viable option, then we and science both win.
Click to expand...

http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/cpu/di...ight_Core_i7_Sandy_Bridge_with_Bulldozer.html

If this product positioning slide is real and the conjecture about Bulldozer HPC capability is also true, I still don't see the 4 module 8 core Bulldozer being comparable with 8 true cores, especially if they also clock to 5+ Ghz. I would be pleasantly surprised if Bulldozer's 4x2 cores on par with Sandy Bridge 6x2 threads though, considering that Bulldozer would have fewer transistors due to their module design and be cheaper to produce. Alas, still a good 2 months probably before we see leaked benchmarks.
 
I never played anything but wow back when I had an nvidia card folding and could never tell when the client was running or not. Same with the ati client, but the ati client doesn't really utilize the card well anyways.
 
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