

Try new Power8 CPU for free on RunAbove cloud: 176 threads! - baqs
http://labs.runabove.com/power8/

======
bonif
Quick benchmark, compared to this one Intel Xeon E5-1620v2 4c/8t 3,7 GHz+/3,9
GHz+ [0]

#Intel

sysbench --test=cpu --cpu-max-prime=100000 --num-threads=8 run execution time
(avg/stddev): 29.8777/0.01

#Power8

sysbench --test=cpu --cpu-max-prime=100000 run --num-threads=8 execution time
(avg/stddev): 9.5050/0.00

sysbench --test=cpu --cpu-max-prime=100000 run --num-threads=16 execution time
(avg/stddev): 4.7733/0.01

sysbench --test=cpu --cpu-max-prime=100000 run --num-threads=126 execution
time (avg/stddev): 2.6502/0.14

[0] [http://www.ovh.com/us/dedicated-
servers/infra/2014-EG-32.xml](http://www.ovh.com/us/dedicated-
servers/infra/2014-EG-32.xml)

~~~
Koahku
Pretty impressive

I wonder what the temps look like and how it would perform at 3D rendering and
video encoding.

~~~
bonif
I would be really interested for a database server, right now they offer a
single ssd (no RAID), this is a no-go for a production db.

~~~
nicolaslm
Not exactly, it says "Local RAID" on the Power8 lab page. So it's a RAID of
HDD.

~~~
bonif
yes, I forgot it is actually a single virtual machine running on a physical
server.

The main disk is /dev/vda2

------
Marat_Dukhan
Here is the /proc/cpuinfo:

    
    
        processor	: 0
        cpu		: POWER8E (raw), altivec supported
        clock		: 3026.000000MHz
        revision	: 2.1 (pvr 004b 0201)
    
        timebase	: 512000000
        platform	: pSeries
        model	: IBM pSeries (emulated by qemu)
        machine	: CHRP IBM pSeries (emulated by qemu)
    

The OS (Fedora 19) runs on Big-Endian ABI.

Python is available out-of-box.

Ruby, Java (OpenJDK) and Nginx are available from yum, Node.js and Mono are
not.

------
jtlebigot
Make sure to provision a huge screen if you ever plan to run htop. Or you
might not even be able to see the top of the process list...

~~~
lcedp
Or just Setup -> Meters -> CPUs bar -> Remove (However leave the CPU (average)
bar)

------
scott00
Can anybody explain the sorts of workloads for which the Power8 architecture
would be a cost-effective option?

~~~
StevenLeRoux
It's useful for hightly intensive workload that can't be distributed but that
can use multicore. Like SQL databases, video encoding, etc...

------
Torgo
Can you run Java with full JIT on Power8? What about nodejs? I know IBM did
some talks/slideshares of porting nodejs to power.

~~~
wmf
Yes, Java and Node work.

------
xSwag
I've just read their main website. Out bandwidth at $0.01 per GB? Has anybody
tried this? Looks too good to be true.

~~~
StevenLeRoux
Disclamer : working @ovh

> "Looks too good to be true"

It's not :) we built a brand new network to be able to offer this at scale.

~~~
xSwag
Brilliant, I can finally implement one of my bandwidth intensive ideas! Thanks
Steven!

~~~
StevenLeRoux
You're welcome ! feel free to feedback your impressions or remarks @runabove :
[https://twitter.com/runabove](https://twitter.com/runabove)

------
jonifico
Absolutely massive!

------
nicolaslm
Well, here is what htop looks like with 176 threads:
[https://community.runabove.com/kb/images/2014-10-06-power8/h...](https://community.runabove.com/kb/images/2014-10-06-power8/htop.png)

~~~
Beltiras
The creators of htop just need to get inventive on how to present the data.
One idea is to change it into a histogram of percentages (these many threads @
this level of use).

------
baqs
RunAbove recently released a $2.50/month VPS, but they have also a power8
offer. This seems like an exclusivity.

Anybody tried it already ?

~~~
o_erreip
FYI I am currently working there and can give you some proper benchmark
results running MySQL on power8:
[https://twitter.com/o_erreip/status/521411270411816962](https://twitter.com/o_erreip/status/521411270411816962)

We are trying to optimize it with Stewart Smith, who achieved 1 million req/s
on p8

