The Lenovo ThinkStation P900 Workstation Review: Design 101
by Ian Cutress on May 6, 2015 7:00 AM ESTProfessional Performance: Linux
Linux-Bench: link
Built around several freely available benchmarks for Linux, Linux-Bench is a project spearheaded by Patrick at ServeTheHome to streamline about a dozen of these tests in a single neat package run via a set of three commands using an Ubuntu 11.04 LiveCD. These tests include fluid dynamics used by NASA, ray-tracing, OpenSSL, molecular modeling, and a scalable data structure server for web deployments. We run Linux-Bench and have chosen to report a select few of the tests that rely on CPU and DRAM speed.
C-Ray: link
C-Ray is a simple ray-tracing program that focuses almost exclusively on processor performance rather than DRAM access. The test in Linux-Bench renders a heavy complex scene offering a large scalable scenario.
C-Ray doesn't have to deal with inter-CPU transfers or DRAM snooping, resulting in a good score.
NAMD, Scalable Molecular Dynamics: link
Developed by the Theoretical and Computational Biophysics Group at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, NAMD is a set of parallel molecular dynamics codes for extreme parallelization up to and beyond 200,000 cores. The reference paper detailing NAMD has over 4000 citations, and our testing runs a small simulation where the calculation steps per unit time is the output vector.
The NAMD libraries are designed to minimise any cross-CPU talking in order to extract performance out of an Intel system. As a result, we get a great result.
NPB, Fluid Dynamics: link
Aside from LINPACK, there are many other ways to benchmark supercomputers in terms of how effective they are for various types of mathematical processes. The NAS Parallel Benchmarks (NPB) are a set of small programs originally designed for NASA to test their supercomputers in terms of fluid dynamics simulations, useful for airflow reactions and design.
NPB gives a rather low score, based on millions of operations per second and per thread. As a result, a 40 thread system would easily outperform here, but the results are an indication of efficiency per thread.
Redis: link
Many of the online applications rely on key-value caches and data structure servers to operate. Redis is an open-source, scalable web technology with a b developer base, but also relies heavily on memory bandwidth as well as CPU performance.
Redis prefers single socket systems almost exclusively, and as a result despite having DDR4-2133 in the P900, the cross-talking for the database takes a hit in the result.
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mapesdhs - Wednesday, May 6, 2015 - link
Not sure what ads you're referring to; are you using Adblock Plus? I use A.P. and the viewing is just fine. Who doesn't use Adblock or something similar these days? :)vFunct - Wednesday, May 6, 2015 - link
Most people don't use AdBlock because they're unnecessary add ons to a web browser.The less add-ons you have, the faster your web experience.
pablo906 - Wednesday, May 6, 2015 - link
If you think that browsing the web without adblock and noscript is faster I've got a bridge in Brooklyn for sale.MobiusPizza - Wednesday, May 6, 2015 - link
I agree on the annoying Seasonic ad on the left. I use Adblock Plus but I whitelisted Anandtech just to show my support. Anandtech gets ad revenue from my visit even if I don't click on it (sites get revenue based on views not clicks), adblock will deny them of the revenue.centhar - Thursday, May 7, 2015 - link
I could care less as I block every site I can. If I want to research and/or buy something, I know where to look. I hate ads and logos on everything.Flunk - Wednesday, May 6, 2015 - link
You'll find that more and more people are ignoring ads now. The company I work for keeps tabs on it and the number of non-adblock users is shrinking fast.GTVic - Wednesday, May 6, 2015 - link
Or Firefox plus NoScript. Keeps you safe from Javascript attacks and cuts out most of the advertising.bigboxes - Wednesday, May 6, 2015 - link
FF + AdBlock Plus = winShadowmaster625 - Wednesday, May 6, 2015 - link
What is the point in buying a 2P system when there is obviously a huge bottleneck between the two processors resulting in reduced performance, especially when compared to a 1P system with the same TDP?BillyONeal - Wednesday, May 6, 2015 - link
What 1P system are you aware of that had a 300+ W TDP for the processor?