AMD Zen L1 Data Cache only 32K

Seems like the limited AMD Zen processor's level 1 data cache of 32 kilobyte
could make it a bit of a flop !

Ouch !

This will at the very least half the processor's effectiveness maybe even
worse.

It depends a bit on how fast the L2 and L3 is... but probably at least twice
as slow so that won't help much.

So this 8 core processor would be a 4 core processor in reality or even
worse, like a dual core.

In comparision AMD X2 3800+ dual core bought in 2006 has 64 kilobyte data
cache (and instruction cache).

Bye,
Skybuck.

Skybuck Flying wrote:
Seems like the limited AMD Zen processor's level 1 data cache of 32
kilobyte could make it a bit of a flop !

Ouch !

This will at the very least half the processor's effectiveness maybe
even worse.

It depends a bit on how fast the L2 and L3 is... but probably at least
twice as slow so that won't help much.

So this 8 core processor would be a 4 core processor in reality or even
worse, like a dual core.

In comparision AMD X2 3800+ dual core bought in 2006 has 64 kilobyte
data cache (and instruction cache).

Bye,
Skybuck.

Historical precedent:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CPU_cache

"The original Pentium 4 processor had a
four-way set associative L1 data cache of 8 KB in size..."

And the Wikipedia article describes some of the
thought processes that go into cache design.

Paul

On Friday, September 2, 2016 at 7:49:52 PM UTC+8, Skybuck Flying wrote:
Seems like the limited AMD Zen processor's level 1 data cache of 32 kilobyte
could make it a bit of a flop !

Ouch !

This will at the very least half the processor's effectiveness maybe even
worse.

It depends a bit on how fast the L2 and L3 is... but probably at least twice
as slow so that won't help much.


You could go back to a Duron then what had 128 kB L1!
I am more interested in L2/L3 latency, which was a weakness in the Phenom
and Bulldozer families.
I hope some more benchmarks will trickle out. Companies like Asus/Gigabyte/Tyan
must have had sample CPUs for a while.