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AVX Folding

Mon Nov 28, 2016 3:17 pm

If you're doing CPU folding and have an AVX-capable CPU, make sure you're running a current version of the client; I believe this is necessary in order to properly detect AVX capability. There are some AVX-optimized WUs in the wild (GRO_A7 core), and I'm seeing production rates in excess of 30K PPD on an FX-8350 when it manages to snag an AVX WU.
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chuckula
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Re: AVX Folding

Mon Nov 28, 2016 3:21 pm

I don't fold, but additional results from people folding with AVX-enabled workloads would be very interesting.
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SangiYaro
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Re: AVX Folding

Fri Dec 02, 2016 1:45 pm

Hi,
I have tested some CPUs at my workplace.
Result are for A7 WUs with base score of 1000 in systems running Linux:
i7-3770 (3.4 GHz, 4C8T): reports ~44-45K PPD, completes WU in ~105 min
i5-6600 (3.3 GHz, 4C4T): reports ~56-57K PPD, completes WU in ~90 min
i7-6950X (3.0 GHz, 10C20T): reports ~280K PPD, completes WU in ~30min
 
DragonDaddyBear
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Re: AVX Folding

Fri Dec 02, 2016 7:50 pm

How can one tell if they are using AVX?

And where the heck are the gerbils?  We're down to 25th place!
 
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Re: AVX Folding

Fri Dec 02, 2016 8:07 pm

Losergamer04 wrote:
How can one tell if they are using AVX?

If it is an A7 WU and your CPU has AVX, it should be used. The other clue is significantly higher PPD compared to other SMP WUs.
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sophisticles
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Re: AVX Folding

Fri Dec 02, 2016 10:26 pm

SangiYaro wrote:
Hi,
I have tested some CPUs at my workplace.
Result are for A7 WUs with base score of 1000 in systems running Linux:
i7-3770 (3.4 GHz, 4C8T): reports ~44-45K PPD, completes WU in ~105 min
i5-6600 (3.3 GHz, 4C4T): reports ~56-57K PPD, completes WU in ~90 min
i7-6950X (3.0 GHz, 10C20T): reports ~280K PPD, completes WU in ~30min

This scaling seems wild, going from a 3.3ghz quad core Skylake to a 10c/20t 3ghz Broadwell results in a 3x speedup? Impressive
 
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Re: AVX Folding

Fri Dec 02, 2016 10:49 pm

sophisticles wrote:
SangiYaro wrote:
Hi,
I have tested some CPUs at my workplace.
Result are for A7 WUs with base score of 1000 in systems running Linux:
i7-3770 (3.4 GHz, 4C8T): reports ~44-45K PPD, completes WU in ~105 min
i5-6600 (3.3 GHz, 4C4T): reports ~56-57K PPD, completes WU in ~90 min
i7-6950X (3.0 GHz, 10C20T): reports ~280K PPD, completes WU in ~30min

This scaling seems wild, going from a 3.3ghz quad core Skylake to a 10c/20t 3ghz Broadwell results in a 3x speedup? Impressive

F@h scales close to linearly with number of cores, and the 6950X has more cache (relative to the number of cores) than the 6600 which probably gives it an edge in per-core IPC.
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Kougar
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Re: AVX Folding

Fri Dec 09, 2016 11:47 am

Wow. When did they flip the switch on AVX?? Version 7.4.4 is two years old, so I should hope people were already running it.

I remember the pre-AVX units were 10-20K for a typical Intel quad. Now I'm seeing >50K on my haswell chips.

SangiYaro wrote:
Hi,
I have tested some CPUs at my workplace.
Result are for A7 WUs with base score of 1000 in systems running Linux:
i7-3770 (3.4 GHz, 4C8T): reports ~44-45K PPD, completes WU in ~105 min
i5-6600 (3.3 GHz, 4C4T): reports ~56-57K PPD, completes WU in ~90 min
i7-6950X (3.0 GHz, 10C20T): reports ~280K PPD, completes WU in ~30min


Holy crap.  :o I never thought I'd see the day cores mattered again on F@H.

sophisticles wrote:
This scaling seems wild, going from a 3.3ghz quad core Skylake to a 10c/20t 3ghz Broadwell results in a 3x speedup? Impressive


Folding@home scales exponentially based on a time-to-completion system. The faster a work unit is crunched and returned the larger the bonus added onto the base points will be.
 
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Re: AVX Folding

Fri Dec 09, 2016 11:56 am

Kougar wrote:
Wow. When did they flip the switch on AVX??

I think they've been rolling out the WUs gradually. There are only a few that seem to be AVX optimized.
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