Assessing Cavium's ThunderX2: The Arm Server Dream Realized At Last
by Johan De Gelas on May 23, 2018 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
- Arm
- Enterprise
- SoCs
- Enterprise CPUs
- ARMv8
- Cavium
- ThunderX
- ThunderX2
What We Can Conclude: So Far
Wrapping things up, our SPECInt analyses show that the ThunderX2 cores still has some weaknesses. Our first impression is that branch intensive code – especially in combination with regular L3-cache misses (high DRAM latency) – run quite a bit slower. So there will be corner cases where the ThunderX2 is not the best choice.
However, other than some niche markets, we are pretty confident that the ThunderX2 will be a solid performer. For example, the performance measurements done by our colleagues at the University of Bristol confirm our suspicion that memory intensive HPC workloads such as OpenFoam (CFD) and NAMD.run really well on the ThunderX2
From the early server software testing we have done so far, we can only be pleasantly surprised. The performance-per-dollar of the ThunderX2 in both Java Server (SPECJbb) and Big Data processing is – right now – by far the best in the server market. We have to retest AMD's EPYC server CPU and a Gold version of the current generation (Skylake) Xeon to be absolutely sure, but delivering 80-90% of the performance of the 8176 at one fourth of the cost is going to very hard to beat.
As an added benefit to Cavium and the ThunderX2, here in 2018 the Arm Linux ecosystem is now mature; specialized Linux kernels and other tools are no longer necessary. You just install Ubuntu Server, Red Hat, or Suse, and you can automate your deployments and software installation from the standard repositories. That is a massive improvement compared to what we experienced back when the ThunderX was launched. Back in 2016, simply installing from the regular Ubuntu repositories could cause problems.
So all in all, the ThunderX2 is a very potent contender. It might even be more dangerous to AMD's EPYC than to Intel's Skylake Xeon thanks to the fact that both Cavium and AMD are competing for much of the same pool of customers considering switching away from Intel. This is because the customers who have invested in expensive enterprise software (Oracle, SAP) are less sensitive to cost on the hardware side, so they are much less likely to change to a new hardware platform. And those people have been investing the past 5 years in Intel as it was the only option.
That in turn means that those who are more agile and cost sensitive, such as hosting and cloud providers, will now be able to choose an Arm server CPU alternative with an excellent performance-per-dollar ratio. And with HP, Cray, Pengiun computing, Gigabyte, Foxconn, and Inventec all offering systems based upon the ThunderX2, there isn't a shortage of quality vendors.
In short, the ThunderX2 is the first SoC that is able to compete with Intel and AMD in the general purpose server CPU market. And that is a pleasant surprise: at last, an Arm server solution that delivers!
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imaheadcase - Wednesday, May 23, 2018 - link
I really think Anandtech needs to branch into different websites. Its very strange and unappealing to certain users to have business/consumer/random reviews/phone info all bunched together.Ever since anand actually left it really did venture into more a business/insider based website with random stuff thrown in. It is in no way a bad thing, its just like this review for instance would not appeal to %95 of readers normally. Everyone likes technology naturally that comes to this website, but its a fine line between talking about high end server components that are out of reach to people who just read the article on the mini-itx gaming motherboard. lol
Andrei Frumusanu - Wednesday, May 23, 2018 - link
You're always free to skip articles, nobody's forcing you to read it.boeush - Wednesday, May 23, 2018 - link
I guess he'd prefer the site content to be grouped in some manner roughly mirroring market segmentation. For instance: consumer, professional, enterprise, exotic/HPC. As opposed to jumbling everything together. Personally, I don't mind - but then, I'm not known for obsessive-compulsive organizing, either :)BurntMyBacon - Thursday, May 24, 2018 - link
Given the large differences in tech, focus, needs, and trends, I wouldn't mind breaking out Phones and perhaps servers into their own sections. I think there is more than enough overlap to keep consumer and professional desktop/laptop/workstation together, but that is entirely up to how deeply you want to divide things up. On the other hand, you'll want all of it to show up on the front page in some form, or it'll look like the site doesn't have much activity. Perhaps separate pipelines for each category could work. That all said, I don't really mind just skipping over articles that don't interest me. :)imaheadcase - Thursday, May 24, 2018 - link
Please, that is just lazy excuse. Even news websites have catagory based on the news you interested in. Anandtech literally had a review of a gaming motherboard then a high end server thing, and newz feed gets filled with phone and other news.name99 - Thursday, May 24, 2018 - link
God, you must REALLY hate Twitter then...I argue with Andrei a lot, but every so often he writes a sentence like "You're always free to skip articles, nobody's forcing you to read it" that makes me want to clap him on the back and say "yes, YOU get it" :-)
Threska - Sunday, May 27, 2018 - link
Taken to it's logical extreme the front page could be a dumping ground cesspool and the retort would be "you don't have to wade through any of it" which sounds witty but doesn't solve anything, but over time would lead to the predictable outcome of people leaving.imaheadcase - Sunday, May 27, 2018 - link
I do hate twitter, but because it has no valid purpose other than to get customer service done faster with companies because it reflects more on them because public venue. Its mostly just a rant inducing place, or a place that is basically just texting anyways since everyone just wants you to send a DM.The whole idea of saying "you are free to skip it" is kinda silly thing to say on the internet now. Especially since more and more you can filter things according to what you want. Not only that, but with the tight competition with views from tech websites its in best interest to have more options.
Even the layout of website never changed. I mean have you ever been to website without a adblocker on? They don't even advertise tech related stuff on it. Its just stupid clickbait stuff.
Keep in mind, this is not a complaint about articles itself, its just how they are posted. I love this site, been coming to it ever since i built first pc when i was a kid. But its focus is all over the place now vs years ago out what its posting. I'm half thinking one day i will see a review of electronic toothbrush then next day new CPU.
GreenReaper - Monday, June 4, 2018 - link
I'd be fine with that, as long as it was the best darn toothbrush in town!Threska - Sunday, May 27, 2018 - link
Accessing through RSS might be a better solution especially with a good reader. Just needs accurate tags to match.