Re: [Discuss-gnuradio] Recommended PC Hardware for Performance
Martin DvH wrote: > On Tue, 2009-05-19 at 08:26 -0400, Tom Lutz wrote: > > > gnuradio depends heavily on floating point performance and memory > bandwidth. > It makes good use of multiple cores. > > So if you can afford it use a quad-core processor with a high memory > bandwidth. > ( i7 quad or a quad core AMD phenom II ) > > > I'm currently using a QX9770 overclocked to 3.6GHz, but with somewhat sluggish (for that processor) memory. I'm hoping to get a memory upgrade soon. I run *large* FFTs for SETI analysis, and that requires lots of memory, and increasing certain system parameters (SHMMAX). The "Next Generation" of my standard hardware platform will be a Core i7 920, overclocked as much as reasonable, with fast memory (6GB to 12GB). I'm doing multi radio astronomy and SETI analyses in parallel on data streams that may be arriving as fast as 16M samples per second. More CPU Igor, more CPU! Can't wait until Intel starts pushing hard on the new bus (QPI??), and brings out processors with more than 4 CPUs. -- Marcus Leech Principal Investigator, Shirleys Bay Radio Astronomy Consortium http://www.sbrac.org ___ Discuss-gnuradio mailing list Discuss-gnuradio@gnu.org http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss-gnuradio
Re: [Discuss-gnuradio] Recommended PC Hardware for Performance
On Tue, 2009-05-19 at 08:26 -0400, Tom Lutz wrote: > This may be a somewhat banal question, but what would be the optimal > hardware/software configuration needed to leverage the power of > gnuradio? > > Core i7 versus Core2 Duo versus Other (maybe cell)? gnuradio depends heavily on floating point performance and memory bandwidth. It makes good use of multiple cores. So if you can afford it use a quad-core processor with a high memory bandwidth. ( i7 quad or a quad core AMD phenom II ) > 64-bit Linux versus 32? Definitively 64 bit. I haven't measured it recently but I have seen people report that going from 32 to 64 bit linux gave a very significant performance boost with gnuradio. > Any hardware acceleration/DSP cards? Work is being done on a Cell and a GPGPU port (run processing on videocard) of gnuradio. I myself am working on the gpgpu port. At the moment this is done using CUDA which is a nvidia-only technology. As soon as OpenCL is available this will be rewritten in OpenCL. OpenCL is a cross-platform technology for doing massive parallel calculations on different hardware on different OSes (Windows, Linux, MacosX). Nvidia has a beta version for Nvidia cards for linux, windows. ATI is working on a version for their cards. There will be a IBM Cell version. The next release of MacosX will have support for it (And will also make use of it within the OS) When running on the videocard the memory bandwidth of the videocard is the main performance differentiator between cards. (The biggest bottleneck is the transfer of the data over the PCI-express bus and the call-overhead but this is about the same for all PCI-express videocards) Don't expect the GPGPU port to be production ready within the next year or two though. So unless you want to want to help with this port you don't have to be picky which videocard to choose. If you do want to help with the GPGPU port I would suggest a nvidia GTX 200 series card for best performance (Nvidia GTX 285 if you can affort the financial and power budget) I myself use a nvidia 9600 GT which is not that fast, but gives a good impression if rewriting gnuradio for running on the GPU will give a speed improvement on average machines. > Amount/type of RAM? Fast, faster fastest. Amount is not that critical. 2 GB or more should do for most Gnuradio work on Linux. > While running some flow graphs on an older machine, I found that I had > designed one of my low pass filters too tightly. The large number of > taps in the FIR consumed all the processing power available, and > starved the USRP for data. This is exactly why I started the GPGPU port. You can sometimes have better results when you use the gr_fft filter in stead of the gr_fir filter. It depends on your decimation factor if this has better or worse performance. low decimation factor: use FFT high decimation factor: use FIR If in doubt: benchmark > > Is there a way to notify the user when a flow graph begins to fail or > fails intermittently? > I don't know any. Anybody else knows a trick for this? Greetings, Martin > Thanks! > Tom > > > ___ > Discuss-gnuradio mailing list > Discuss-gnuradio@gnu.org > http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss-gnuradio > ___ Discuss-gnuradio mailing list Discuss-gnuradio@gnu.org http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss-gnuradio
Re: [Discuss-gnuradio] Recommended PC Hardware for Performance
Awesome! Thanks for the info. I don't think I'm using the fft filters, so I'll give that a shot. Tom On Tue, May 19, 2009 at 12:05 PM, Eric Blossom wrote: > On Tue, May 19, 2009 at 08:26:18AM -0400, Tom Lutz wrote: >> This may be a somewhat banal question, but what would be the optimal >> hardware/software configuration needed to leverage the power of >> gnuradio? >> >> Core i7 versus Core2 Duo versus Other (maybe cell)? > > Core i7 should have higher memory bandwidth. > >> 64-bit Linux versus 32? > > 64-bit. > >> Any hardware acceleration/DSP cards? > > No. > >> Amount/type of RAM? > > 2GB+ > >> While running some flow graphs on an older machine, I found that I had >> designed one of my low pass filters too tightly. The large number of >> taps in the FIR consumed all the processing power available, and >> starved the USRP for data. > > If you're not using gr.fft_fir_filter_*, you may want to try it. > >> Is there a way to notify the user when a flow graph begins to fail or >> fails intermittently? > > You could periodically check the value of u.noverruns() > > Eric > ___ Discuss-gnuradio mailing list Discuss-gnuradio@gnu.org http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss-gnuradio
Re: [Discuss-gnuradio] Recommended PC Hardware for Performance
On Tue, May 19, 2009 at 08:26:18AM -0400, Tom Lutz wrote: > This may be a somewhat banal question, but what would be the optimal > hardware/software configuration needed to leverage the power of > gnuradio? > > Core i7 versus Core2 Duo versus Other (maybe cell)? Core i7 should have higher memory bandwidth. > 64-bit Linux versus 32? 64-bit. > Any hardware acceleration/DSP cards? No. > Amount/type of RAM? 2GB+ > While running some flow graphs on an older machine, I found that I had > designed one of my low pass filters too tightly. The large number of > taps in the FIR consumed all the processing power available, and > starved the USRP for data. If you're not using gr.fft_fir_filter_*, you may want to try it. > Is there a way to notify the user when a flow graph begins to fail or > fails intermittently? You could periodically check the value of u.noverruns() Eric ___ Discuss-gnuradio mailing list Discuss-gnuradio@gnu.org http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss-gnuradio
[Discuss-gnuradio] Recommended PC Hardware for Performance
This may be a somewhat banal question, but what would be the optimal hardware/software configuration needed to leverage the power of gnuradio? Core i7 versus Core2 Duo versus Other (maybe cell)? 64-bit Linux versus 32? Any hardware acceleration/DSP cards? Amount/type of RAM? While running some flow graphs on an older machine, I found that I had designed one of my low pass filters too tightly. The large number of taps in the FIR consumed all the processing power available, and starved the USRP for data. Is there a way to notify the user when a flow graph begins to fail or fails intermittently? Thanks! Tom ___ Discuss-gnuradio mailing list Discuss-gnuradio@gnu.org http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss-gnuradio
Re: [Discuss-gnuradio] Recommended PC?
On Fri, Aug 18, 2006 at 04:57:47PM -0700, Bob Collins wrote: > I am just starting out with Gnu Radio and want to purchase and/or > build a PC that will cause me the fewest extraneous problems. I figure > that those of you using Gnu Radio may have opinions on the matter but > I was unable to find anything in the archives. > > For the RF-IF, I plan on getting Matt Ettus's USRP. (By the way, I > design with FPGAs.) Good, we can use more of those ;) > Now for the questions: > > 1) Laptop or Desktop: I would prefer to use a laptop but not if it > adds to the pain. I use both. For traveling, demos, etc I run on my laptop. I have two that I'm very happy with: An older IBM X31 (1.4 GHz Pentium M) and a newer Lenovo (nee IBM) X60 (a 1.8 GHz Core Duo). I've got 2GB of RAM in the X60. I'm running Mandriva on the X31, SuSE on the X60. Regarding desktops, I use a dual Opteron 248 running SuSE, but also have a P4 and a dual Athlon that I test on sometimes. > 2) Processor: 32bit or 64bit, AMD or Intel --- any land mines here? > The FAQ talks about speed (1 to 2+ GHz); is this outdated? I love the 64-bit AMD's. Very fast, twice as many registers, support the underdog that's building better processors, etc. I haven't yet tested on one of the EM64T's. The 3 GHz P4's also fly. The only way to go wrong is to get one with a crippled cache. Do _not_ get a Celeron! > 3) USB interface: to minimize the bottleneck, the motherboard or USB > PCI card must not constrain the bandwidth further. Pretty much all of the builtin USB controllers I've seen lately work fine. > 4) Linux distribution: I am currently using Ubuntu but is another > choice going to cause fewer problems? Ubuntu is perfect. There are lots of satisfied users on the list. > 5) Anything else I missed? Don't think so. Regarding speed, I generally buy the fastest thing available that's just below the knee in the curve where the pricing goes nuts. > Thanks, > > -- > Bob Collins > Sunnyvale CA USA Eric ___ Discuss-gnuradio mailing list Discuss-gnuradio@gnu.org http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss-gnuradio
Re: [Discuss-gnuradio] Recommended PC?
On Saturday 19 August 2006 09:27, Bob Collins wrote: > I am just starting out with Gnu Radio and want to purchase and/or > build a PC that will cause me the fewest extraneous problems. I figure > that those of you using Gnu Radio may have opinions on the matter but > I was unable to find anything in the archives. > > For the RF-IF, I plan on getting Matt Ettus's USRP. (By the way, I > design with FPGAs.) > > Now for the questions: > > 1) Laptop or Desktop: I would prefer to use a laptop but not if it > adds to the pain. A Dell Inspiron 9400 laptop with a 2GHz Centrino Duo which works fine here. cheerio Berndt pgp9OJ0RnbdAq.pgp Description: PGP signature ___ Discuss-gnuradio mailing list Discuss-gnuradio@gnu.org http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss-gnuradio
[Discuss-gnuradio] Recommended PC?
I am just starting out with Gnu Radio and want to purchase and/or build a PC that will cause me the fewest extraneous problems. I figure that those of you using Gnu Radio may have opinions on the matter but I was unable to find anything in the archives. For the RF-IF, I plan on getting Matt Ettus's USRP. (By the way, I design with FPGAs.) Now for the questions: 1) Laptop or Desktop: I would prefer to use a laptop but not if it adds to the pain. 2) Processor: 32bit or 64bit, AMD or Intel --- any land mines here? The FAQ talks about speed (1 to 2+ GHz); is this outdated? 3) USB interface: to minimize the bottleneck, the motherboard or USB PCI card must not constrain the bandwidth further. 4) Linux distribution: I am currently using Ubuntu but is another choice going to cause fewer problems? 5) Anything else I missed? Thanks, -- Bob Collins Sunnyvale CA USA ___ Discuss-gnuradio mailing list Discuss-gnuradio@gnu.org http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss-gnuradio
