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New Ryzen Running Stable On Linux, Threadripper Builds Kernel In 36 Seconds (phoronix.com)
An anonymous reader writes: After AMD confirmed the a "performance marginality problem" affecting some Ryzen Linux users, RMAs are being issued and replacement Ryzen processors arriving for affected opensource fans. Phoronix has been able to confirm that the new Ryzen CPUs are running stable without the segmentation fault problem that would occur under very heavy workloads. They have also been able to test now the Ryzen Threadripper 1950X. The Threadripper 1950X on Linux is unaffected by any issues unless you count the lack of a thermal reporting driver. With the 32 threads under Linux they have been able to build the Linux kernel in just about a half minute.
AMD is using CPUs from week 25+ to fullfill RMAs. They have been doing additional testing in Customer Service on those CPUs -people are getting boxes that have been opened with handwritten notes relating to this testing.
It's *not known with certainty that ALL* week 25+ CPUs are good. AMD has made no official statement on that. They sent Phoronix a testing CPU just like they have been sending to their RMA customers.
Most stores and retail sellers are still selling pre-week 25 CPUs, so those may still be impacted.
I find it really interesting that Phoronix received a bunch of Threadripper and Epyc test hardware immediatly after they published AMDs PR-speak statement. And this article which has no concrete information is being used all over the internet to say that this is "fixed"
For those of us that have not actually built a kernel, is 36 seconds astonishingly fast? A little faster? A totally random number with no meaning whatsoever?
Maybe some of you that do build kernels every once in a while could share your times along with specs for your rig.
"Bloody stellar" I would call if they:
- Had an understanding of the root cause of the bug, and told the public what it was and how they solved it
- Told everyone how to distinguish affected CPUs from unaffected CPUs (without a multi-hour run of some test-script that not AMD, but desparate affected buyers implemented and made available)
- Recalled all the defective CPUs and replaced them with working ones, including CPUs sold as part of computers
What you describe is rather the bare minimum they owe customers going through lots of trouble due to a defect product they were sold.
Ryzen is generation ONE of a new architecture and it already slaughters Intel's entire x86 range, top to bottom. So Intel, in desperation, floods forums with FUD.
This lying dribbler, guruevi- trusts that you, the Slashdot reader, are clueless. AMD encryption instructions are much faster than Intel's. Hyperthreading gen 1 on AMD is much more efficient than Intel hyperthreading gen 8, and what the hell is 'encryption' and 'hyperthreading' 'compatibility' even supposed to mean. These are things measured in performance alone, not 'compatibility'.
As for these 'adavanced' features, Intel actually disables them on most chips it builds. Ryzen suffers far less from this cynical ploy.
Oh, and BTW, the first two gens on Intel's hyperthreading were so broken you had to switch off HT in the BIOS to ensure serious software would run correctly on your computer.
It gets worse. Lying dribblers like guruevi previously stated that Intel's R+D spend, and engineering 'expertise' meant it was impossible for any competitor to ever match Intel again. Yet the first gen Ryzen chips are MORE power efficient than all current Intel parts- a true humiliation for Intel. All Intel has left is so-called AVX instructions, an almost never used set of parallel maths processing units. Only problem is that they use so much power they throttle (slow down) greatly if you try to use them.
AMD makes its CPUs on Global Foundaries. Yet TSMC, the giant Taiwan fab company, is twice as power efficient that GF. This is how far Intel's chip production has fallen behind in state-of-the-art engineering. Behind GF and far far far behind TSMC. No, Intel is finally going the way of DEC and Sun and other over-rated dinosaurs in this biz. Once the margins collapse, Intel won't be able to afford to stay in the game.