Gentoo Archives: gentoo-user

From: Volker Armin Hemmann <volkerarmin@××××××××××.com>
To: gentoo-user@l.g.o
Cc: Grant <emailgrant@×××××.com>
Subject: Re: [gentoo-user] Dual or Quad CPU complications?
Date: Sat, 15 Dec 2012 17:58:57
Message-Id: 2026398.C7IXBk4F5F@localhost
In Reply to: Re: [gentoo-user] Dual or Quad CPU complications? by Grant
1 Am Freitag, 14. Dezember 2012, 01:44:26 schrieb Grant:
2 > > > So if I have 2 physical CPU's with 4 cores each and I enable SMP, I'm
3 >
4 > using
5 >
6 > > > 8 cores? Can NUMA be either enabled or disabled when using more than
7 >
8 > one
9 >
10 > > > physical CPU, or is it required?
11 > >
12 > > NUMA is a hardware architecture. It's how you access memory on a
13 > > hardware level: NUMA = Non Uniform Memory Access vs a UMA architecture
14 > > of typical (old/legacy) SMP systems (UMA = Uniform Memory Access).
15 > >
16 > > In a UMA system, all the memory belongs to all the sockets. In a NUMA
17 > > system, each socket has it's "own" local memory. In modern (x86-64)
18 > > processors, each socket has it's own memory controller so each socket
19 > > controls its own local memory. If one socket runs out of memory it can
20 > > ask another socket to lend him some memory. In a UMA system, no socket
21 > > has to ask since memory is global and belongs to all sockets so if one
22 > > socket uses up all the memory ... the rest "starve". In NUMA, there's
23 > > more control over who uses what (be it cores or RAM).
24 > >
25 > > If you have a modern dual or quad (or higher #) socket system ...
26 > > you've got NUMA architecture and you can't get rid of it, it's
27 > > hardware, not software.
28 >
29 > So I must enable CONFIG_NUMA for more than one physical CPU, and disable it
30 > for only one physical CPU?
31
32 you never need numa for one cpu. Ok?
33
34 And even if you have several, you will probably never need it.
35
36 --
37 #163933