News ARM Server CPUs

Page 6 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

Gideon

Golden Member
Nov 27, 2007
1,608
3,573
136
With all the upcoming ARM servers (Let's not forget Nuvia, etc) it probably makes sense to have 1 thread from them all, instead of creating new ones for each announcement (if Not, I will rename it).

However:
Anandtech: Marwell Announces 3rd Gen Arm Server Thunder X3: 96 Cores/384 threads
ServeTheHome: Marvell ThunderX3 Arm Server CPU with 768 Threads in 2020

MarvellTX3_13_575px.jpg


Could be pretty impressive, though 25% Single Threaded performance gain seems a bit meh, compared to X2, which @2.5Ghz was ~50% slower than Xeon @ 3.8Ghz

But Their marketing slides sure show potential:

MarvellTX3_16_575px.jpg



MarvellTX3_15_575px.jpg
 
Last edited:

Doug S

Platinum Member
Feb 8, 2020
2,202
3,405
136
Seems like they're trying to market on having a large number of cores rather than actual performance. Halving the SLC when you add 60% more cores is not a good strategy for gaining performance, that's why it is only a 19% bump.

I have to wonder if going from 80 to 96 cores and taking SLC to 24 or 32 MB would have resulted in the same or better performance for less power?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Tlh97 and Hitman928

Hitman928

Diamond Member
Apr 15, 2012
5,180
7,631
136
Does ARM have any provision or designs for chiplet-based processors? maybe that is the core thing. Pure core-performance and efficiency is one thing, being able to produce more and sell them cheaper is another one. I say it's actually these "secondary" aspects that will become more and more important including packaging.

They are working with TSMC to work in this direction but I don't know where/when they plan to introduce it into their roadmap.

 

Thala

Golden Member
Nov 12, 2014
1,355
653
136
Seems like they're trying to market on having a large number of cores rather than actual performance. Halving the SLC when you add 60% more cores is not a good strategy for gaining performance, that's why it is only a 19% bump.

I have to wonder if going from 80 to 96 cores and taking SLC to 24 or 32 MB would have resulted in the same or better performance for less power?

I am sure they should have consulted you instead of running their in-house simulations when optimizing perf/area - or perhaps they just rolled a dice?
 

Doug S

Platinum Member
Feb 8, 2020
2,202
3,405
136
I am sure they should have consulted you instead of running their in-house simulations when optimizing perf/area - or perhaps they just rolled a dice?

If you think engineers always win out over marketing in product decisions then you must have been working in one of the rare companies where that's true.
 

Thala

Golden Member
Nov 12, 2014
1,355
653
136
If you think engineers always win out over marketing in product decisions then you must have been working in one of the rare companies where that's true.

If you really believe such drastic measures like reducing SLC in favor of cores are marketing driven - you must have been working for companies, which don't survive for long. This is not even a consumer facing product, where marketing has a bigger impact - and this holds even more for a start-up.
In any case, looks like they are successful in squeezing 19% more performance out of similar power and area budgets even if average performance per core goes down. And now comes you, not having touched any performance/area system simulation with a ten-foot pole and claim the opposite?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Tlh97 and scineram

DrMrLordX

Lifer
Apr 27, 2000
21,582
10,785
136
I'm still at least moderately interested in acquiring one of the low-end $800 Altra CPU/board combos. Has anyone seen a vendor selling those parts yet?

edit: the Q32-17 I think. Unless they've already updated the product stack?
 

Hitman928

Diamond Member
Apr 15, 2012
5,180
7,631
136
I'm still at least moderately interested in acquiring one of the low-end $800 Altra CPU/board combos. Has anyone seen a vendor selling those parts yet?

edit: the Q32-17 I think. Unless they've already updated the product stack?

I'm guessing the $800 is what the server vendor pays and unless you find one that somehow leaked out of the normal distribution channel or from a decommissioned server, you would have to buy a full blade solution to get access to an Altra CPU / board.
 

DrMrLordX

Lifer
Apr 27, 2000
21,582
10,785
136
I'm guessing the $800 is what the server vendor pays and unless you find one that somehow leaked out of the normal distribution channel or from a decommissioned server, you would have to buy a full blade solution to get access to an Altra CPU / board.

You may be right. But I haven't even seen anyone selling blades.
 

Hitman928

Diamond Member
Apr 15, 2012
5,180
7,631
136
You may be right. But I haven't even seen anyone selling blades.

I don't think they have the commercial volume for 'retail' sales. If you're really interested you'd have to contact one of their sales partners. I'd expect to pay quite a bit more than $800 though to get your hands on one.
 

DrMrLordX

Lifer
Apr 27, 2000
21,582
10,785
136
I don't think they have the commercial volume for 'retail' sales. If you're really interested you'd have to contact one of their sales partners. I'd expect to pay quite a bit more than $800 though to get your hands on one.

Yeah that's what I thought. They probably wouldn't be interested in small volume sales either.