Musings in GEMM (General Matrix Multiplication)

Fooling around with flops/clock in the famous SGEMM - what could be more fun? GEMM generally does C += A * B where A, B and C are large-ish dense matrices of single (SGEMM) or double precision (DGEMM) floats.

Usage

The low-tech bash script build_sgemm.sh will try to build the test for a recognized host architectures - substitute the compiler for one of your choice. Macros of interest, passed with -D on the command line:

• ALT - implementation alternatives
  • -1 - scalar version
  • 0 - 16-element-wide version suitable for autovectorizers
  • 1 - 2x16-element-wide SSE2 (x86/amd64) version
  • 2 - 64-element-wide AVX256 (x86/amd64) version
  • 3 - 2x32-element-wide AVX256 (x86/amd64) version
  • 4 - 16-element-wide ASIMD2 (aarch64) version
  • 5 - 32-element-wide ASIMD2 (aarch64) version
  • 6 - 2x16-element-wide ASIMD2 (aarch64) version
  • 7 - 2x32-element-wide ASIMD2 (aarch64) version
  • 8 - 2x16-element-wide MSA (mips32/mips64) version
  • 9 - 2x32-element-wide AVX512 (x86/amd64) version
  • 10 - 2x64-element-wide AVX512 (x86/amd64) version
  • 11 - 64-element-wide SVE512 (aarch64) version
  • 12 - 2x64-element-wide SVE512 (aarch64) version
  • 13 - 4x64-element-wide SVE512 (aarch64) version
• PREFETCH - distance, in floats, to prefetch in the innermost loop (0 for no prefetch; unused in the scalar version)
• MATX_SIZE - dimension of the square matrices A, B & C
• REP_EXP - exponent of the number of repetitions of the test, ie. 1eEXP
• PRINT_MATX - print out C on the standard output (for debugging)

Tips

To tell what prefetch works best on a given CPU and matrix dimension, use something along the following (pick ALT wisely):

for i in {0..10} ; do ./build_sgemm.sh -DALT=1 -DPREFETCH=`echo "512 + 512 * $i" | bc` -DMATX_SIZE=512 -DREP_EXP=1 ; ./sgemm ; done

Results

Best results measured in SP flops/clock by the formula:

MATX_SIZE^3 * 2 * 10^REP_EXP / (CPU_freq * duration)

CPU (single thread only)	width of SIMD ALU	RAM GB/s	LLC visible per core	64x64	512x512	remarks 1
AMD C60 (Bobcat)	2-way	8.53	512 KB	1.94	1.47	g++ 4.8, ALT = 1, PREFETCH = 2560, SSE2 intrinsics, 1.33GHz
Intel Core2 T5600	4-way	5.33	2 MB	3.31	2.82	clang++ 3.4, ALT = 1, PREFETCH = 4096, SSE2 intrinsics, 1.83GHz
Intel Core2 P8600	4-way	8.53	3 MB 2	4.86	4.14	apple clang++ 8.1, ALT = 1, PREFETCH = 2048, SSE2 intrinsics, 2.40GHz
Intel E5-2687W (SNB)	8-way	25.6	20 MB 2	13.79	10.17	clang++ 3.6, ALT = 3, PREFETCH = 3584, AVX256 intrinsics, 3.1GHz
Intel E5-2687W (SNB)	8-way	25.6	20 MB 2	14.27	10.25	g++ 4.8, ALT = 3, PREFETCH = 3584, AVX256 intrinsics, 3.1GHz
Intel E3-1270v2 (IVB)	8-way	25.6	8 MB 2	13.40	11.05	clang++ 3.6, ALT = 3, PREFETCH = 3072, AVX256 intrinsics, 1.6GHz
Intel E3-1270v2 (IVB)	8-way	25.6	8 MB 2	14.01	11.22	g++ 4.8, ALT = 3, PREFETCH = 3072, AVX256 intrinsics, 1.6GHz
Intel i7-4770 (HSW)	8-way	25.6	8 MB 2	22.72	11.65	g++ 5.1, ALT = 3, PREFETCH = 2560, AVX256+FMA3 intrinsics, 3.9GHz
Xeon Silver 4208 (CSL)	8-way	42.7	11 MB 2	16.76	13.10	clang++ 7.0, ALT = 3, PREFETCH = 4608, AVX256+FMA3 intrinsics, 3.0GHz
Xeon Silver 4208 (CSL)	16-way	42.7	11 MB 2	30.28	16.50	clang++ 7.0, ALT = 9, PREFETCH = 2048, AVX512 intrinsics, 2.0GHz
Xeon W-2155 (SKL)	16-way	75.5	13.75 MB 2	50.00	16.62	clang++ 10.0, ALT = 10, PREFETCH = 2560, AVX512 intrinsics, 4.0GHz
AMD Ryzen 1700X (Zen)	4-way	37.5	16 MB 2	14.15	10.22	clang++ 3.8, ALT = 3, PREFETCH = 3072, AVX256 intrinsics, 3.4GHz
RK3368 (Cortex-A53)	2-way	6.4	512 KB 3	3.12	1.39	clang++ 3.6, ALT = 7, PREFETCH = 1536, ASIMD2 intrinsics, 1.51GHz
RK3399 (Cortex-A72)	4-way	12.8	1 MB	6.81	2.01	clang++ 7.0, ALT = 7, PREFETCH = 2560, ASIMD2 intrinsics, 1.8GHz 4
Allwinner A64 (Cortex-A53)	2-way	4.42	512 KB	3.18	1.38	clang++ 3.6, ALT = 6, PREFETCH = 2560, ASIMD2 intrinsics, 1.152GHz 5
MT8163A (Cortex-A53)	2-way	6.4	512 KB	3.09	1.65	clang++ 3.6, ALT = 7, PREFETCH = 1536, ASIMD2 intrinsics, 1.5GHz
MT8173C (Cortex-A53) A32	2-way	12.8	512 KB	1.62	1.01	clang++ 6.0, ALT = 6, PREFETCH = 2560, ASIMD intrinsics, 1.7GHz 6
MT8173C (Cortex-A53)	2-way	12.8	512 KB	2.68	1.44	clang++ 6.0, ALT = 6, PREFETCH = 2560, ASIMD2 intrinsics, 1.7GHz 5
MT8173C (Cortex-A72) A32	4-way	12.8	1 MB	3.23	1.81	clang++ 6.0, ALT = 7, PREFETCH = 2560, ASIMD intrinsics, 2.1GHz 6
MT8173C (Cortex-A72)	4-way	12.8	1 MB	6.82	2.30	clang++ 6.0, ALT = 7, PREFETCH = 2560, ASIMD2 intrinsics, 2.1GHz 4
Marvell A8040 (Cortex-A72)	4-way	12.8	1 MB	6.52	2.91	clang++ 3.5, ALT = 7, PREFETCH = 1536, ASIMD2 intrinsics, 1.3GHz 4
NXP LX2160A (Cortex-A72)	4-way	19.2	1 MB	6.70	4.08	clang++ 6.0, ALT = 7, PREFETCH = 1536, ASIMD2 intrinsics, 2.0GHz 4
AWS Graviton (Cortex-A72)	4-way	19.2	2 MB	6.81	4.12	clang++ 6.0, ALT = 7, PREFETCH = 1024, ASIMD2 intrinsics, 2.28GHz 4 7
Amlogic S922X (Cortex-A53)	2-way	10.56	256 KB	2.65	1.47	clang++ 6.0, ALT = 6, PREFETCH = 2560, ASIMD2 intrinsics, 1.896GHz 5
Amlogic S922X (Cortex-A73)	4-way	10.56	1 MB	5.20	2.21	clang++ 6.0, ALT = 6, PREFETCH = 2048, ASIMD2 intrinsics, 1.8GHz 5
Snapdragon 835 (Cortex-A73)	4-way	14.93	2 MB	5.93	3.07	clang++ 9.0, ALT = 7, PREFETCH = 2048, ASIMD2 intrinsics, 2.55GHz
Snapdragon 835 (Cortex-A73)	4-way	14.93	2 MB	5.43	3.92	clang++ 6.0, ALT = 6, PREFETCH = 2048, ASIMD2 intrinsics, 2.55GHz 5
Snapdragon SQ1 (Cortex-A76)	4-way	34.13	4 MB 2	15.29	6.79	clang++ 9.0, ALT = 7, PREFETCH = 1536, ASIMD2 intrinsics, 3.0GHz
Snapdragon SQ1 (Cortex-A76)	4-way	34.13	4 MB 2	15.27	6.87	clang++-18.0, ALT = 7, PREFETCH = 1536, ASIMD2 intrinsics, 3.0GHz
BCM2712 (Cortex-A76)	4-way	17.07	2 MB	15.33	8.26	clang++ 13.0, ALT = 7, PREFETCH = 4096, ASIMD2 intrinsics, 2.4GHz
NVIDIA Orin (Cortex-A78AE)	4-way	23	6 MB 2	15.73	11.19	clang++ 11.0, ALT = 7, PREFETCH = 4096, ASIMD2 intrinsics, 2.2GHz
NVIDIA armv8.2 (Carmel)	4-way	51.2	4 MB 2	13.49	6.90	clang++ 9.0, ALT = 7, PREFETCH = 3584, ASIMD2 intrinsics, 1.91GHz
Fujitsu armv8.2 (A64fx)	16-way	256	8 MB 2	13.86	13.33	g++ 10.2, ALT = 11, PREFETCH = 4096, SVE intrinsics, 2.2GHz 4
Fujitsu armv8.2 (A64fx)	16-way	256	8 MB 2	27.89	23.26	g++ 10.2, ALT = 12, PREFETCH = 4096, SVE intrinsics, 2.2GHz 4
Fujitsu armv8.2 (A64fx)	16-way	256	8 MB 2	13.32	13.46	armclang++ 20.3, ALT = 11, PREFETCH = 3584, SVE intrinsics, 2.2GHz 4
Fujitsu armv8.2 (A64fx)	16-way	256	8 MB 2	28.20	26.28	armclang++ 20.3, ALT = 12, PREFETCH = 4608, SVE intrinsics, 2.2GHz 4
Fujitsu armv8.2 (A64fx)	16-way	256	8 MB 2	39.64	36.17	armclang++ 20.3, ALT = 13, PREFETCH = 3072, SVE intrinsics, 2.2GHz
Apple armv8.4 (Firestorm)	4-way	58	12 MB 2	30.97	22.32	apple clang++ 12.0, ALT = 7, PREFETCH = 3072, ASIMD2 intrinsics, 3.2GHz 8
Baikal-T1 (MIPS P5600)	4-way	6.4	1 MB	3.85	2.00	g++ 7.3, ALT = 8, PREFETCH = 4096, MSA intrinsics, 1.2GHz 9
Baikal-T1 (MIPS P5600)	4-way	6.4	1 MB	3.74	2.09	g++ 7.3, ALT = 8, PREFETCH = 4096, MSA intrinsics, 1.2GHz 9 10

Footnotes

1. Prefetch applies only to 512x512 and is tuned for the given core clock; 64x64 is not prefetched. ↩

2. The entirety of 512x512 matrices fit in LLC; LLC runs in the clock domain of the cores on SNB & IVB, but in its own clock domain on HSW. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰

3. Amount of shared L2 in the 'big' cluster. ↩

4. Non-native compiler tuning -mtune=cortex-a57. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹

5. Small dataset (64x64) uses ALT=7, big dataset (512x512) uses ALT=6. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

6. Target arch set to 32-bit A32. ↩ ↩²

7. Core part of AWS EC2 instance. ↩

8. Prefetch makes little difference. ↩

9. Large variance in the 512x512 times -- best result listed. ↩ ↩²

10. Non-native compiler tuning -mtune=mips32r5. ↩