Build times on ARM

I recently got a tegra TK1 and was curious how fast it was compared to
my previous arm "build machine": the original arm Samsung chromebook.

I timed running ninja to build just llvm in Release+Asserts using
clang as the host compiler.

chromebook:
real 84m30.939s
user 163m50.145s
sys 4m0.100s

TK1:
real 34m7.376s
user 132m44.417s
sys 3m3.543s

A really nice improvement :slight_smile:

Does anyone know of a even faster ARM dev board?

Cheers,
Rafael

Depends what you mean by dev board. Doing a -j48 on a Cavium ThunderX is pretty darn fast.

I suspect if someone gets a native linux running in an NVIDIA Shield TV that it will be decent and low cost.

Both of the above are Aarch64. If those don't scratch the itch then Qualcomm has something in the pipeline.. and finally stayed tuned for Q4 this year.. could be exciting.

/* I'm curious for how fast a jailbroken iPad air 2 would be */

Hi Rafael,

That's as fast as ARMv7 will ever get, I believe. I'm using Chromebook
2's quad-A15+2GB and it's about the same speed. Qualcomm's IFC6410 are
meant to be as fast as Chr2s, but the kernel is currently not
scheduling frequency due to power management failure.

On the AArch64 side, Chris is right that the options are far better!
Cavium's offering may be fast, but are not available yet. And when
they do, they're going to be *very* expensive.

Junos are fast-ish, AMDs are faster but the APMs are the fastest
boards you can buy today, and you can run on AArch32 mode and build
ARMv7 binaries with it. Though, you'll have to shell out a couple
thousand dollars for it.

If this is for personal use, I'd stick to either the Chromebook2 or
the Snapdragon (or the NVidia). If you need a bit more oomph and
stability, APMs are the ones to go.

cheers,
--renato

Ref:

IFC 6410 - ARMv7 Quad-Krait 2GB
http://www.inforcecomputing.com/products/single-board-computers/6410-single-board-computer-sbc
Available, $150
(*) Kernel needs fixing, hopefully soon (months)

Chromebook2 - ARMv7 Quad-Exynos5 2GB
http://www.samsung.com/us/computer/chrome-os-devices/XE503C32-K01US
Available, $380

ARM Juno - AArch64 Hexa-A53/A57 up-to 8GB
http://www.arm.com/products/tools/development-boards/versatile-express/juno-arm-development-platform.php
Hard to get, $100s to $1000s

APM X-Gene - AArch64 Octa-A57, lots of RAM
https://www.apm.com/products/data-center/x-gene-family/x-gene/
Hard to get, $100s to $1000s

AMD Seattle - AArch64 Quad~Octa, lots of RAM

Not available, likely many $1000s

Cavium Thunder-X - AArch64 48/96 cores, lots of RAM

Not available, likely many many $1000s

Does anyone know of a even faster ARM dev board?

Hi Rafael,

That's as fast as ARMv7 will ever get, I believe. I'm using Chromebook
2's quad-A15+2GB and it's about the same speed. Qualcomm's IFC6410 are
meant to be as fast as Chr2s, but the kernel is currently not
scheduling frequency due to power management failure.

On the AArch64 side, Chris is right that the options are far better!
Cavium's offering may be fast, but are not available yet. And when
they do, they're going to be *very* expensive.

Sorry, but I don't believe this is true. It's my understanding that
most ARM partners plan to price their chips and server competitively
against market leader (Intel). So unless you think Intel servers are
*very* expensive, then it's not fair to make that statement - unless
you have specific pricing information.

While not publicly available - Early access partners and potential
customers do have systems. (Now and more being delivered soon) -
Developer kits almost always cost more unless the manufacturer
subsidizes or sells as a loss leader.

Junos are fast-ish, AMDs are faster but the APMs are the fastest
boards you can buy today, and you can run on AArch32 mode and build
ARMv7 binaries with it. Though, you'll have to shell out a couple
thousand dollars for it.

APM's are fastest at what? Single core performance, memory bandwidth,
total socket performance, floating point.. I agree they are a
respectable chip, but when only a tiny amount of ARMv8 chips can be
purchased today - it's like saying fastest of 1 out of 2. If you
factor into chips which are available to developers - then they are
not the fastest in most areas. It's not meant to be though - look at
how much power they consume. I don't mean to take this discussion the
wrong way. I just get itchy when statements are made without
supporting evidence. I have 1st hand access to all mentioned systems
and if it wasn't for NDA's - I'd disclose details.

If this is for personal use, I'd stick to either the Chromebook2 or
the Snapdragon (or the NVidia). If you need a bit more oomph and
stability, APMs are the ones to go.

Personally I'd hold out for the NVIDIA Shield tv to get ported or
other parts targeting the higher side of server market. With the
Shield tv you also get a GPU that could be fun to play with...

cheers,
--renato

Ref:

IFC 6410 - ARMv7 Quad-Krait 2GB
http://www.inforcecomputing.com/products/single-board-computers/6410-single-board-computer-sbc
Available, $150
(*) Kernel needs fixing, hopefully soon (months)

Chromebook2 - ARMv7 Quad-Exynos5 2GB
http://www.samsung.com/us/computer/chrome-os-devices/XE503C32-K01US
Available, $380

ARM Juno - AArch64 Hexa-A53/A57 up-to 8GB
http://www.arm.com/products/tools/development-boards/versatile-express/juno-arm-development-platform.php
Hard to get, $100s to $1000s

APM X-Gene - AArch64 Octa-A57, lots of RAM
https://www.apm.com/products/data-center/x-gene-family/x-gene/
Hard to get, $100s to $1000s

AMD Seattle - AArch64 Quad~Octa, lots of RAM
http://www.amd.com/en-us/press-releases/Pages/64-bit-developer-kit-2014jul30.aspx
Not available, likely many $1000s

Cavium Thunder-X - AArch64 48/96 cores, lots of RAM
Marvell Technology, Inc. | Essential technology, done right
Not available, likely many many $1000s

I wouldn't speculate pricing without 1st hand details. Lets be honest.
On the ARMv8 side - NVIDIA Sheild tv (sorry to repeat this), Nexus 9??
and Apple iOS devices are the only ones I know which are probably easy
to get your hands on. Everything else is pretty much given to
developers and partners 1st. (APM's may fall into a gray area..)