Intel can't compete with this kind of high core count and high bandwidth memory strategy because their arch is just to complicated and runs too hot. The future is increasingly parallel and ARM is positioned well but RISC-V probably has the drop on it long term.
First generation used Pentium Pro with 4T/1C extensions. Second generation used modified Atom cores. These underperform. Third will do the same (newer arch step), but demand could be really low for that to even surface. Only saving grace for at least socketed Phi was Omnipath. Trouble is low-power x86 doesn't scale well sideways without massive interconnects that eat silicon and power budget, and given the sole reason for x86 at this point is backward compatibility, it is really inflexible mess. Redesigning it from ground up is troublesome, with minimum improvement for great amount of work. Intel never felt great with HUGE fabrics, too. Otherwise we would see more chips like doomed Avoton, but i.e. in 256C configuration already.
Interesting. That memory bandwidth is spectacular. I wonder how this will compete with AMD's EPYC in similar core counts? Seems ARM has a leg up in some areas.
So is it ARM or Arm? I see AT using those two forms and I'm uncertain if there is a distinction between the all caps and first letter only capitalized variations.
Kinda amazing to compare that 8.8B transistors with the 10B in an A12X. Not in a dick-measuring way -- obviously Fujitsu are doing everything very differently, from using all large HPC transistors to providing a LOT of high drive memory IOs.
But interesting in the sense of how little transistor count tells you anymore. Fujitsu are going for good CPU cores (with at least non-trivial amounts of various cache), and this gets them 48 such cases. Apple is going for a whole lot of lightweight throughput computing (GPU, NPU, ISP, media ...) and burns up the equivalent of what, maybe 36 or so Fujitsu cores on that stuff.
People (some anyway) mock the idea of dark silicon, but this comparison is part of dark silicon in action --- Apple (and Qualcomm, and Huawei, just not yet quite at the level of Apple) burning SO many transistors to ship what's the equivalent of a 48 (or 52) core chip with "only" 8 nominal cores...
If Fujitsu’s SVE1 +64bit ARMv8 Core implementation is so performant with compiler parallel vectorisation - why isn’t Nvidia looking to team up with Fujitsu to license parts of the A64fx?
Are there’re parts of SVE2 that will benefit HPC & Fugaku?
With Arm allowing bespoke extensions to the ARM ISA - is it likely that CPU only supercomputers will make a resurgence - or are there workloads that are preferable to run on GPUs from a perf/watt perspective?
Seems like Intel's larrabee. These chips are not very energy efficient, compared to GPUs. Instead they should be replacing CPUs. Not act like a GPU on a pcie card.
Is there any motherboard available based on Fujtsu A64FX for applications performance testing including running HPC workloads/modeling. Thank you Email: maneesh.[email protected]
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prisonerX - Thursday, December 5, 2019 - link
Intel can't compete with this kind of high core count and high bandwidth memory strategy because their arch is just to complicated and runs too hot. The future is increasingly parallel and ARM is positioned well but RISC-V probably has the drop on it long term.jeffsci - Thursday, December 5, 2019 - link
https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/produc... shipped three years ago with up to 72 cores, ~490 GB/s memory bandwidth and ~2 TF/s DGEMM.Meteor2 - Thursday, December 5, 2019 - link
And was discontinued shortly afterwards.tuxRoller - Thursday, December 5, 2019 - link
Err, that link says bandwidth is 115.2GB.Spunjji - Friday, December 6, 2019 - link
1/8 the memory bandwidth (it's 1/4 what you stated here), inferior interconnect capabilities, and you can't buy it anymore.Certainly seems a lot like they couldn't make it compete.
Vatharian - Friday, December 6, 2019 - link
First generation used Pentium Pro with 4T/1C extensions. Second generation used modified Atom cores. These underperform. Third will do the same (newer arch step), but demand could be really low for that to even surface. Only saving grace for at least socketed Phi was Omnipath. Trouble is low-power x86 doesn't scale well sideways without massive interconnects that eat silicon and power budget, and given the sole reason for x86 at this point is backward compatibility, it is really inflexible mess. Redesigning it from ground up is troublesome, with minimum improvement for great amount of work. Intel never felt great with HUGE fabrics, too. Otherwise we would see more chips like doomed Avoton, but i.e. in 256C configuration already.FreckledTrout - Thursday, December 5, 2019 - link
Interesting. That memory bandwidth is spectacular. I wonder how this will compete with AMD's EPYC in similar core counts? Seems ARM has a leg up in some areas.Betty66 - Sunday, December 8, 2019 - link
#1 in green top500 https://www.top500.org/green500/lists/2019/11/willis936 - Thursday, December 5, 2019 - link
Fujitsu ARM? Then what does Socionext do? Sorry these companies are not easy to get straight.arnd - Thursday, December 5, 2019 - link
Socionext is a fabless embedded SoCs design company and a joint venture of Fujitsu and Panasonic.Fujitsu builds their own server/supercomputer/mainframe chips and apparently acts as a foundry for fabless semiconductor companies.
PixyMisa - Thursday, December 5, 2019 - link
594 signal pins. Plus a whole lot of power and ground.PeachNCream - Thursday, December 5, 2019 - link
So is it ARM or Arm? I see AT using those two forms and I'm uncertain if there is a distinction between the all caps and first letter only capitalized variations.FreckledTrout - Thursday, December 5, 2019 - link
ARM = ArchitectureArm = Company specifically Arm Holdings
PeachNCream - Thursday, December 5, 2019 - link
Ah thanks muchly!Ian Cutress - Thursday, December 5, 2019 - link
Arm (the company) also used to be ARM stylistically, because it is/was an acronym. Sometimes we forget, because it was that way for so long (!)29a - Thursday, December 5, 2019 - link
Acorn RISM Machine. ; )29a - Thursday, December 5, 2019 - link
RISCSupercell99 - Friday, December 6, 2019 - link
not confusing at all.Soulkeeper - Thursday, December 5, 2019 - link
I guess this would be a competitor to the NEC TSUBASAname99 - Friday, December 6, 2019 - link
Kinda amazing to compare that 8.8B transistors with the 10B in an A12X.Not in a dick-measuring way -- obviously Fujitsu are doing everything very differently, from using all large HPC transistors to providing a LOT of high drive memory IOs.
But interesting in the sense of how little transistor count tells you anymore.
Fujitsu are going for good CPU cores (with at least non-trivial amounts of various cache), and this gets them 48 such cases.
Apple is going for a whole lot of lightweight throughput computing (GPU, NPU, ISP, media ...) and burns up the equivalent of what, maybe 36 or so Fujitsu cores on that stuff.
People (some anyway) mock the idea of dark silicon, but this comparison is part of dark silicon in action --- Apple (and Qualcomm, and Huawei, just not yet quite at the level of Apple) burning SO many transistors to ship what's the equivalent of a 48 (or 52) core chip with "only" 8 nominal cores...
Antony Newman - Friday, December 6, 2019 - link
If Fujitsu’s SVE1 +64bit ARMv8 Core implementation is so performant with compiler parallel vectorisation - why isn’t Nvidia looking to team up with Fujitsu to license parts of the A64fx?Are there’re parts of SVE2 that will benefit HPC & Fugaku?
With Arm allowing bespoke extensions to the ARM ISA - is it likely that CPU only supercomputers will make a resurgence - or are there workloads that are preferable to run on GPUs from a perf/watt perspective?
AJ
ProDigit - Thursday, March 5, 2020 - link
Seems like Intel's larrabee.These chips are not very energy efficient, compared to GPUs. Instead they should be replacing CPUs. Not act like a GPU on a pcie card.
Maneeshsit - Monday, March 23, 2020 - link
Is there any motherboard available based on Fujtsu A64FX for applications performance testing including running HPC workloads/modeling. Thank you Email: maneesh.[email protected]