Intel P6 vs P7 system call performance
Quoted 11 lines · Mike Dresser
Quoted 5 lines · Dave Jones
Note that there are more factors at play than raw cpu speed in a kernel compile. Your time here is slightly faster than my 2.8Ghz P4-HT for example. My guess is you have faster disk(s) than I do, as most of the time mine seems to be waiting for something to do.
Quantum Fireball AS's in that machine. My main comment was that his Althon MP at 1.8 was half or less the speed of a single P4. Even with compiler changes, I wouldn't think it would make THAT much of a difference?
I've been doing a lot of benchmarking with "contest" lately, and one thing I can state emphatically is that the kernel that you are running while performing a compile can be a large factor, especially if you are maxing out the machine with a large "make -jN". Some kernel versions vary enormously in their ability to handle I/O load (an area I've been paying close attention to). Sounds like you have some decent SMP hardware, and probably a good chunk of memory to go with it, so you might want to experiment with these kernels, which have given good I/O performance in my tests:
linux-2.4.19-rmap14c
linux-2.4.19-rmap15a
linux-2.4.18-rml-O1 (slow at creating tarballs, fast everwhere else)
And if you you don't mind bleeding edge, just go with a more recent 2.5 kernel that you can make work. You simply can't get comparable performance out of 2.4.
I've attached some contest numbers for tests I've run to-date below. Please note that while I use contest as the benchmarking tool, I use qmail compiles as the actual load, not kernel compiles (I don't have the patience--qmail compiles take about 35-40% the time as a kernel compile. Now if we can get Con to work on speeding up "Killing the the load process..." <g>).
---scott
sorry for the html table to text pasting conversion :(
noloadprocess_loadctar_loadxtar_loadread_loadlist_loadmem_load
linux-2.4.18
16.73
22.61
244.52
78.84
108.52
18.58
53.12
linux-2.4.18-ac3
19.01
25.64
99.52
94.23
314.29
23.34
119.95
linux-2.4.18-rc1-akpm-low-latency
16.69
21.92
335.62
79.10
122.34
18.39
104.80
linux-2.4.18-rc4-aa1
16.43
93.85
179.12
100.29
46.64
17.15
96.91
linux-2.4.18-rmap12h
18.84
24.72
143.12
95.11
298.85
23.17
121.22
linux-2.4.18-rml-O1
16.83
31.42
266.28
77.98
77.15
18.18
63.03
linux-2.4.18-rml-preempt
16.93
21.87
334.08
84.22
116.30
18.46
60.30
linux-2.4.18-rml-preempt+lockbreak
16.85
22.42
271.52
74.37
229.96
19.57
45.21
linux-2.4.19
16.99
22.42
261.69
103.61
163.55
18.44
66.16
linux-2.4.19-ac4
19.08
30.32
176.03
89.38
288.53
22.79
102.09
linux-2.4.19-akpm-low-latency
16.90
21.87
230.92
111.37
179.63
18.36
87.47
linux-2.4.19-ck14
-
-
-
-
-
-
176.41
linux-2.4.19-rc5-aa1
18.37
27.18
931.45
154.94
372.73
22.01
125.92
linux-2.4.19-rmap14c
17.84
24.56
74.81
76.73
121.86
20.57
165.10
linux-2.4.19-rmap15
18.27
24.09
71.32
77.05
146.68
18.99
102.56
linux-2.4.19-rmap15-splitactive
17.28
23.09
69.16
79.49
140.15
20.27
129.84
linux-2.4.19-rmap15a
17.10
23.00
62.44
78.12
138.96
18.46
133.32
linux-2.4.19-rml-O1
16.61
25.45
314.24
90.43
124.27
18.32
72.90
linux-2.4.19-rml-preempt
16.88
21.80
238.80
86.46
155.89
18.45
56.74
linux-2.4.20
16.62
21.84
191.12
101.06
100.35
18.22
70.47
linux-2.4.20-aa1
18.23
29.03
331.96
137.70
96.88
22.22
143.22
linux-2.4.20-ac1
20.24
28.41
776.73
138.35
221.55
22.06
171.13
linux-2.4.20-rc2-aa1
18.44
28.39
255.79
156.30
86.78
21.98
139.04
linux-2.5.49
17.66
22.39
36.73
26.85
19.91
20.29
57.34
linux-2.5.50
17.80
24.19
32.81
25.87
21.43
21.17
45.96