News Russian CPU Tested Against Intel and Huawei Processors, Fails to Impress

[Admin]

Russian manufacturer Baikal Electronics compares the Baikal-S server processor to the Huawei Kunpeng 920 and Intel Xeon Gold 6230.

Russian CPU Tested Against Intel and Huawei Processors, Fails to Impress : Read more

 

[wakuwaku]

If you are going to write an article about ARM, it would be nice if you at least do some research before rushing out an article.

The Baikal-S features 48 Arm Cortex-A75 cores on a 16nm process node with a 2-GHz base clock and 2.5-GHz boost clock. The Kunpeng 920, specifically the 920-4826 model number, wields 48 Armv8 cores with a 2.6-clock speed.

The Kunpeng 920-4826 has 48 TaiShan v110 cores. ARMv8 is the ISA or instruction set, not the name of the core. On the other hand, Cortex-A75 is the name of the core. Technically you are wrong here too as the ISA for the Taishan v110 is specifically ARMv8.2, which btw, is the same ISA the Cortex-A75 uses.

 

[thisisaname]

Wonder how it compares with China's homegrown CPU?

 

[usertests]

You're looking at 48x Cortex-A75, or 28x Neoverse-N2 (Cortex-A710 equivalent) for the follow-up with no deviation from ARM. If a system fell into your lap for free, it could make for a nice server.

 

[Co BIY]

For most purposes half or less of the performance of an Intel equivalent chips will be more than adequate.

 

[peachpuff]

There's nothing Russian about an arm cpu, they're not fabbing it, they didn't come up with it's design, they don't deserve any credit.

 

[nrdwka]

To be fair, Intel souffered the same issue when they compared own server cpu to amd epic until recent model, at least. 😂

 

[digitalgriffin]

For most purposes half or less of the performance of an Intel equivalent chips will be more than adequate.

Performance per watt is what figures largely into tco. Some servers last 10 or more years. If it takes twice as many cores to do the same work you are racking up quite the electricity build. You pay for that increased CPU count 3 ways: electricity to make it run. Air-conditioning to cool it off, and larger footprint.

Plus for someone like me who uses build machines, single thread performance is crucial to clearing out the build queue.

 

[bit_user]

According to representatives, the company has already commenced its work on the Baikal-S2, a next-generation 6nm chip with 28 Arm Neoverse-N2 cores

I'm surprised sanctions aren't blocking access to either the Neoverse N2 IP or the manufacturing capability for it. I guess they're using Samsung, because I think TSMC isn't accepting fab contracts from Russia.

 

[bit_user]

For most purposes half or less of the performance of an Intel equivalent chips will be more than adequate.

Yes, more relevant questions might be its max memory capacity and how many PCIe lanes (and what speed) it has.

 

[InvalidError]

Cue the "Putin Inside" logo!

 

[SunMaster]

Weird concept. A russian, fabless, company using arm design. How is this a 'russian cpu'?

 

[bit_user]

Weird concept. A russian, fabless, company using arm design. How is this a 'russian cpu'?

This has come up a few times and it's a good question. It would be nice to know if they've done any special customizations or have any non-ARM IP in the chip. Have they disclosed any such details?

ARM supplies IP building blocks, but they don't require all of the IP in the chip be from them. You could design your own interconnect fabric, have your own memory controller (which might implement a custom encryption algorithm), have your own security processor, or have your own fixed-function blocks of one sort or another.

Even if a customer is only using IP from ARM, they at least have the benefit of choosing from a menu of which and how many cores, how much cache, how many memory channels, how many PCIe lanes, etc. So, there's value in being able to tailor the chip to meet your specific needs.

 

[InvalidError]

ARM supplies IP building blocks, but they don't require all of the IP in the chip be from them. You could design your own interconnect fabric, have your own memory controller (which might implement a custom encryption algorithm), have your own security processor, or have your own fixed-function blocks of one sort or another.

Since few major things happen in Russia without Putin having his thumbs on the scales, I'd expect a semi-custom Russian SoC to have some sort of "Putin New Instructions" built in either to make his secret services more secure or help them break into things.

 

[peachpuff]

Cue the "Putin Inside" logo!

Not so deep! I'm a nuclear superpower...

 

[Co BIY]

Performance per watt is what figures largely into tco. Some servers last 10 or more years. If it takes twice as many cores to do the same work you are racking up quite the electricity build. You pay for that increased CPU count 3 ways: electricity to make it run. Air-conditioning to cool it off, and larger footprint.

I'm not sure electrical efficiency is a relevant design criteria for a Russian CPU design. TCO is probably also irrelevant.

 

[digitalgriffin]

I'm not sure electrical efficiency is a relevant design criteria for a Russian CPU design. TCO is probably also irrelevant.

And this is why the Soviet Union lost the cold war. (Inefficiency) I mean you use what you have. But to be honest it certainly is not a relevant solution to anyone but the Russians who have been hit by severe import restrictions.

 

[Co BIY]

And this is why the Soviet Union lost the cold war. (Inefficiency) I mean you use what you have. But to be honest it certainly is not a relevant solution to anyone but the Russians who have been hit by severe import restrictions.

The Soviet system had the entire nation (and subject nations) running on moronic and evil ideas at it's core , and with those brutally enforced . That was a lot more than "inefficiency".

Russia is not the only country to pursue autarkic goals especially with "essential" technologies. Basically the same program that the USA, China, Japan and Europe are pursuing with regard to microelectronics. Russia does seem a lot more likely to completely fail in it's efforts because it completely lacks the strengths of the others pursuing the same goals. (Their one comparative strength - Cheap and abundant energy. )

 

[hnrich]

Russian manufacturer Baikal Electronics compares the Baikal-S server processor to the Huawei Kunpeng 920 and Intel Xeon Gold 6230.

Russian CPU Tested Against Intel and Huawei Processors, Fails to Impress : Read more

Considering the budget they are probably working under, it is pretty impressive. I'm guessing they wouldn't have 1/10th the market cap of Intel or AMD