> > Rob Clark wrote: > > It would be great to use the GPU for ZFS or to offload some of the OS load > > ... > > http://developer.nvidia.com/object/nexus.html > > > > If SunStudio had some GPU support and ... > >
> asura wrote: > Forgive if I'm mistaken, but I don't think the CPU is the bottleneck > when it comes to ZFS. It is on my system, with many drives and higher level correction the performance stinks. Using a '300 would be overkill if I only used it for a single task; but one thing at a time, I'm not asking for a full port overnight, else I'd ask that OpenSolaris ran on my cell phone. > asura wrote: > Secondly, and more importantly for SS to generate > PTX would probably be quite an effort not to mention So lets get started ... > bfriesen wrote: > GPUs are great for some things but it is difficult to imagine a GPU > being of assistance in the zfs implementation due to way too much > latency, http://www.nvidia.com/content/PDF/fermi_white_papers/NVIDIA_Fermi_Compute_Architecture_Whitepaper.pdf They claim to have addressed most of the 2nd generation complaints. These (cards) are no longer "Video Graphics Adapters" (where the ancient term "VGA" comes from) that have been hacked to use the onboard GPU to solve simple equations. The newest cards can chose between 'shared memory' or 'cache memory' configurations on the fly. With many 10's of thousands of threads and context switching under 25 microseconds these cards are no slouch. These cards are expected to be under a $1000 in the next few years. If you write lousy code that takes poor advantage of the card you may get a speed up of 2 or 3 times. That seems a fair return on your money, time, and effort. If you write wonderful code that is especially designed to take advantage of the way the card operates _some_ (FEW) programs were able to run up to 1000 times faster on the last (2nd) generation; the new (300 series) cards are some 2 to over 10 times faster (depending on what you are doing). If the entire Operating System ran on the Graphics Card then you could run your programs on your computer with a lot lower latency than you are worried about ... While we _do_ want the Operating System to run / work / operate well, that "purpose" of the Computer is not to run the Operating System but to run the "Application". It is only us "OS Geeks" who get more enjoyment out of a 'New OS' than someone else might get out of high frame rates in Maya. So that is one solution ... Thanks for reading my post, Rob -- This message posted from opensolaris.org
