Xeon processors &&Hyper-Threading
Does Linux support the Xeon (p4) processor and its capabilities?
The company I work for recently ported its application to Linux and one of our current HP clients asked this and I figure it would be just a recompile the kernel as a P4, but not sure if this would do it.
I'm not asking if Linux can RUN the Xeon processor.
I'm asking if Linux processor takes any advantage of the Hyper-Threading built into this processor?
below is a link to more info on this.
http://www.intel.com/design/xeon/prodbref/
Joe
Quoted 3 lines · Joe
I'm not asking if Linux can RUN the Xeon processor.
I'm asking if Linux processor takes any advantage of the Hyper-Threading built into this processor?
The kernel has full support for hyperthreading. Be aware however that it doesn't always buy you any performance gain and can actually result in performance decrease.
Chris
Signature · 4 lines
Chris Friesen | MailStop: 043/33/F10 Nortel Networks | work: (613) 765-0557 3500 Carling Avenue | fax: (613) 765-2986 Nepean, ON K2H 8E9 Canada | email: [email protected]
Quoted 8 lines · Joe
Does Linux support the Xeon (p4) processor and its capabilities?
The company I work for recently ported its application to Linux and one of our current HP clients asked this and I figure it would be just a recompile the kernel as a P4, but not sure if this would do it.
I'm not asking if Linux can RUN the Xeon processor.
Quoted 9 lines
I'm asking if Linux processor takes any advantage of the Hyper-Threading built into this processor?
below is a link to more info on this.
http://www.intel.com/design/xeon/prodbref/
Joe
You recompile the kernel for SMP as well as P4. If the motherboard hasn't disabled HT capabilities, you will take full advantage of the processor under Linux. Whatever "full advantage" means, is not absolute, but whatever it is, will be used to its fullest. Basically, if the code is I/O bound, you'll not see any difference. If the code is compute-intensive, you will.
Cheers,
Dick Johnson
Penguin : Linux version 2.4.20 on an i686 machine (797.90 BogoMips). Why is the government concerned about the lunatic fringe? Think about it.
Quoted 6 lines
You recompile the kernel for SMP as well as P4. If the motherboard hasn't disabled HT capabilities, you will take full advantage of the processor under Linux. Whatever "full advantage" means, is not absolute, but whatever it is, will be used to its fullest. Basically, if the code is I/O bound, you'll not see any difference. If the code is compute-intensive, you will.
I discovered that you need the 'CPU Enumeration' part of ACPI to be enabled otherwise the kernel only sees physical processors, not sibling HT processors
- shouldnt this be selected automatically when you select SMP ?
Thanks, I was asked this by one of our clients, and told them that they would probably have to recompile their kernel.
Joe
Quoted 35 lines · Richard B. Johnson
Quoted 8 lines · Joe
Does Linux support the Xeon (p4) processor and its capabilities?
The company I work for recently ported its application to Linux and one of our current HP clients asked this and I figure it would be just a recompile the kernel as a P4, but not sure if this would do it.
I'm not asking if Linux can RUN the Xeon processor.
Quoted 9 lines
I'm asking if Linux processor takes any advantage of the Hyper-Threading built into this processor?
below is a link to more info on this.
http://www.intel.com/design/xeon/prodbref/
Joe
You recompile the kernel for SMP as well as P4. If the motherboard hasn't disabled HT capabilities, you will take full advantage of the processor under Linux. Whatever "full advantage" means, is not absolute, but whatever it is, will be used to its fullest. Basically, if the code is I/O bound, you'll not see any difference. If the code is compute-intensive, you will.
Cheers,
Dick Johnson
Penguin : Linux version 2.4.20 on an i686 machine (797.90 BogoMips). Why is the government concerned about the lunatic fringe? Think about it.
Don't linux vendors ship a variety of precompiled
kernels to match the various hardware scenarios?
I'm trying to imagine why a customer would ever
want or need to roll their own...
Joe
Quoted 41 lines · Joe
Thanks, I was asked this by one of our clients, and told them that they would probably have to recompile their kernel.
Joe
Quoted 34 lines · Richard B. Johnson
Quoted 8 lines · Joe
Does Linux support the Xeon (p4) processor and its capabilities?
The company I work for recently ported its application to Linux and one of our current HP clients asked this and I figure it would be just a recompile the kernel as a P4, but not sure if this would do it.
I'm not asking if Linux can RUN the Xeon processor.
Quoted 9 lines
I'm asking if Linux processor takes any advantage of the Hyper-Threading built into this processor?
below is a link to more info on this.
http://www.intel.com/design/xeon/prodbref/
Joe
You recompile the kernel for SMP as well as P4. If the motherboard hasn't disabled HT capabilities, you will take full advantage of the processor under Linux. Whatever "full advantage" means, is not absolute, but whatever it is, will be used to its fullest. Basically, if the code is I/O bound, you'll not see any difference. If the code is compute-intensive, you will.
Cheers,
Dick Johnson
Penguin : Linux version 2.4.20 on an i686 machine (797.90 BogoMips). Why is the government concerned about the lunatic fringe? Think about it.
Quoted 11 lines · Mark Watts
Quoted 6 lines
You recompile the kernel for SMP as well as P4. If the motherboard hasn't disabled HT capabilities, you will take full advantage of the processor under Linux. Whatever "full advantage" means, is not absolute, but whatever it is, will be used to its fullest. Basically, if the code is I/O bound, you'll not see any difference. If the code is compute-intensive, you will.
I discovered that you need the 'CPU Enumeration' part of ACPI to be enabled otherwise the kernel only sees physical processors, not sibling HT processors - shouldnt this be selected automatically when you select SMP ? -
Not if you have enabled full ACPI, or if you don't have any P4s. Some folks
don't want any ACPI in their kernel at all. 8^)
It's possible for 'CPU Enumeration Only' to be turned on auto-magically, but no one has written comprehensive enough logic into the config code, yet....
Signature · 3 lines
James Cleverdon
IBM xSeries Linux Solutions
{jamesclv(Unix, preferred), cleverdj(Notes)} at us dot ibm dot com