AMD CEO: The Next Challenge Is Energy Efficiency

Post by Salgat » Wed, Feb 22, 2023, 3:45 PM UTC

senttoschool wrote: post #153

Salgat wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you take a Zen 3 running at optimal clocks for efficiency (such as the 5800U) the difference between its computing performance per watt is competitive with the M1 if you account for the difference in node size (which TSMC claims gives 30% less power consumption at the same performance). As the article points out, the real efficiency gains will be domain specific changes such as shifting to 8 bit for more calculati…

It really isn't competitive. First of all, when you downclock anything, you're going to gain efficiency. If Apple downclocks M1, it can get even more efficient. Second, most of these tests use Cinebench, which is highly optimized for x86, not ARM instructions. Geekbench should be used instead. Third, the M1 is a SoC. Everything is on it. Everything is efficiently connected directly inside the chip.

Post by mrtweetyhack » Wed, Feb 22, 2023, 3:53 PM UTC

bayindirh wrote: post #190

Tepix wrote: post #183

They could score a quick win for power efficiency by making the Ryzen 9 5900 and Ryzen 9 3900 12-core 65W CPUs generally available instead of only selling them to OEMs.

If your production process and binning doesn't create enough supply for these parts, you only sell them to OEMs, because they can silently discontinue, or limit availability of these models when parts can not be found. However it'll be a PR disaster if the parts have spotty availability in retailers, and will cause wild rumors to spread, from "AMD doesn't want you to have this CPU" to "AMD is going bankrupt".

Post by howinteresting » Wed, Feb 22, 2023, 4:00 PM UTC

kanbara wrote: post #87

apatheticonion wrote: post #86

From the perspective of a consumer, my MacBook Pro is basically the perfect laptop, at least in theory. I love the battery life and performance of the hardware, not to mention the unrivaled build quality of the MacBook (screen, trackpad, keyboard). In practice, however, MacOS limits the capabilities of the hardware such that I cannot daily drive my MacBook Pro as a work or personal computer (poor containerization sup…

i've used a mac for development for various projects which have been globally impactful for over a decade. it's literally unix, man. docker on mac can be improved, but if i'm developing for other architectures it's much easier to just test natively. toolchain for all the languages i use is exactly the same as any other *nix. gaming i'll give you a point, but that's why i have windows dual boot at home. /shrug

Post by ignoramous » Wed, Feb 22, 2023, 4:10 PM UTC

daemontus wrote: post #242

madmax96 wrote: post #225

This is not a completely hashed-out thought. But I'll share it and see what others think. My impression is that the simplest way to improve energy efficiency is to simplify hardware. Silicon is spent isolating software, etc. Time is spent copying data from kernel space to user space. Shift the burden of correctness to compilers, and use proof-carrying code to convince OSes a binary is safe. Let hardware continue mana…

A good reason why memory virtualization has not been "disrupted" yet seems to be fragmentation. Almost all low level code relies on the fact that process memory is continuous, it can be extended arbitrarily, and that data addresses cannot change (see Rust `Pin` trait). This is an illusion ensured by the MMU (aside from security). A "software replacement for MMU" would thus need to solve fragmentation of the address s…

Post by weeeeelp » Wed, Feb 22, 2023, 4:13 PM UTC

jb1991 wrote: post #193

unxdfa wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes WSL2

That's interesting to hear. I've not used Windows in over a decade (I primarily work on mac) but I've heard that WSL was quite compromising and not a great experience for people who primarily use Linux tools.