Intel Turbo Boost

Abstract: Power states in power-scalable systems are managed to maximize performance and reduce energy waste. Power-scalable processor capabilities (e.g., Intel Turbo Boost) embrace a "faster is better" approach to power management. While these technologies can vastly improve performance and energy efficiency, there is a growing body of evidence that "faster is not always better". For example, in some I/O intensive benchmarks, we observe up to 47% performance loss when running codes at faster (higher power) frequencies versus slower (lower power) frequencies. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work to systematically and accurately pinpoint the root cause of these types of slowdowns. The lack of such studies is likely due to three challenges we overcome in this work: 1) high runtime system variance, 2) bottleneck isolation across user- and system-space boundaries, and 3) non-determinism in parallel codes. Our analytical model-driven approach isolates resource contention as the root cause of slowdowns at higher processor speeds and suggests solutions we test empirically. We propose and evaluate the use of a power-aware that can increase performance more than 3-fold over the default Linux kernel while maintaining comparable reliability in the I/O subsystem. Our work motivates the need for more studies that potentially reconsider the "faster is better" design paradigm.

Abstract: In this paper we take a look at what the Intel Xeon Processor 7500 family, code namedNehalem-EX, brings to high performance computing. We compare two families of Intel Xeonbased systems (Intel Xeon 7500 and Intel Xeon 5600) and present a performance evolutionof 16 node clusters based on these CPUs. We compare CPU generations utilizing dual socketplatforms and a cluster across a number of HPC benchmarks and focused on differentperformance field and aspect. We will evaluate also technologies and features like Intels HyperThreading Technology (HT) and Intel Turbo Boost Technology (Turbo Mode) and theperformance implication of these technologies for HPC.

Abstract: In last years the use of multicore processors has been increased. This tendency to develop processors with several cores obeys to look for better performance in parallel programs with a lower consumption of energy. Currently, the analysis of performance of speedup and energy consumption has taken a key role for applications executed in multicore systems. For this reason, it is important to analyze the performance based on new characteristics of modern processors, such as Intel’s turbo boost technology. This technology allows to increase the frequency of Intel multicore processors. In this work, we present an extension of Amdahl’s law to analyze the performance of parallel programs running in multicore processors with Intel turbo boost technology. We conclude that for cases when the sequential portion of a program is small, it is possible to overcome the upper limit of the traditional Amdahl’s law. Furthermore, we show that for parallel programs running with turbo boost the performance is better compare to programs running in processors that does not have this technology on.

Abstract: Browser fingerprinting is getting popular in cutting edge Web developers. It typically uses the header information, such as user-agent and plugins. However, the header information can easily be modified or altered by configuration or a browser's extensions. Unlike the header information, hardware information is difficult to be changed, and is regarded as valuable information in browser fingerprinting. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a method that infers the presence or absence of a CPU extension called Advanced Encryption Standard New Instructions (AES-NI) and Intel Turbo Boost Technology (Turbo Boost). Theoretic analysis and experimental results indicate that this method is efficient and feasible for browser fingerprinting.