Phenom II X6

[Angrychile]

I have it. A simple question, will it work well with gentoo? And the not so simple question: what to I do to get the best...the best out of it. Saving $100 dollars or so by not getting windows 7 is what I'm trying to do for now.

I know I've written a two line OP for something that might be a bit more that I can swallow, but I have it now and I'm not planning on returning it. As you can guess, this will be my second system to set-up ever, with very new hardware, I might add, and I'll be around here a bit this week. But, I'm willing to wade through all the muck, plus, this'll be a learning experience for me.

Thanks guys.

PS, if any of you remember me, of course, this isn't for my laptop

[adramalech707]

http://www.linux-magazine.com/Online/Ne ... pectations

idk if this will help much but i think u have to wait some...before they come out with kernel code optimized for ur processor....i think it has to do with being too new...etc...this article link i posted was from may idk if they have fixed them or not

Architecture code and Memory subsystem

Various memory compaction options (core, tunable configuration as well as triggers for Proc and Sysfs) allow the kernel to de-fragment the working memory to create large, coherent areas of free memory if required. Modern CPUs with large memory pages (for instance 2-MByte pages instead of 4-KByte pages) can use such areas to reduce the processor's management overhead, which improves performance especially in the fields of virtualisation and large databases. Further background information about the memory de-fragmentation function can be found in in an article on LWN.net.

Linux 2.6.35 also fully supports a feature called Turbo Core that allows some of the six-core processors AMD introduced several weeks ago to increase the frequency of individual cores when at least three of the cores are sleeping. Procfs enables users to detect the existence of Turbo Core CPUs; the frequency enhancement feature can be disabled via Sysfs if required. These measures will soon conclude the saga about Turbo Core performance issues, after stable kernel versions 2.6.32.13, 2.6.33.4 and 2.6.34 already introduced corrections which at least allowed AMD's six-core processors to reach nominal speeds.

as long as u build with a ~amd64 system...you should be okay...though....with what i have read from the 2.6.35 kernel release...u need to build a custom kernel the arch. code in the kernel might not have like a k11 support....or w/e they call the x6 cpus....

[cach0rr0]

The performance should be more than acceptable, and improve as proc-specific instructions are added (within reason)

What's the key focus of your question, moreso one of performance, or one of how painful configuration/setup is going to be? Because for the latter, more than anything it depends on your mobo, what sort of peripheral devices you intend to add, etc. For the former, code has to catch up to hardware, not going to be immediate, but at the same time it's going to be far far from a 'dog' as they put it.

[Angrychile]

moreso of performance. I'm not too worried about how difficult it is, I was just...anticipating it would take more longer replies than my OP. Just disregard the "more than I can bite" bit...

Well, anyway, can you guys point me in the direction for building the custom kernel? (I'm assuming I have to use something other than make menuconfig...? or is that what you meant...). Also, what is K11

And yes, I saw that article, but it was from earlier this year. And amd64 will be fine? Haven't read what you quote from...

kernel-2.6.35 supports it? great. Just in time!

And you didn't let me down guys, thanks a lot! Yeah, I was thinking it might not have all the optimizations, but it still should be very, very good.

Just to put this in context, it's the AMD Phenom II X6 1090T

[Angrychile]

Yeah, and I forgot to see that the kernel-2.6.35 is actually masked for AMD 64. Darn me.

[adramalech707]

here is the k10 soon k11 thing i was talking about...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMD_K10

then what u do is when u have installed grub and build base system...

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emerge -av gentoo-sources

i like to use ACCEPT_KEYWORD="~amd64"

as one of my USE flags.... then you

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 cd /usr/src/linux && make menuconfig 

by now i hope u know ur hardware very well...u need to go through each option and meticulously and make sure u don't need it....

like u don't need the intel arch code for your amd pc...and don't need lvm or raid if u don't use lvm or raid etc...also make sure to be specific about your drivers for sound card and make sure if u use binary driver for nvida/ati card then plz don't enable dri from the kernel....nor framebuffer stuff i think...

okay now u do is u hit esc all the way back out and it says save .config and hit save....just leave it as default .config....

then run:

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 make && make modules_install 

then you do this:

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 cp arch/X86_64/boot/BzImage /boot/kernel-2.6.XX-gentoo-rX 

<---then u replaces the X with your version number and release number

then you go into /boot/grub/menu.lst and you modify your gentoo grub configuration as such...

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title Gentoo linux
root(hdX,X)
kernel-2.6.XX-gentoo-rX root=/dev/sdaX

**YOU WONT NEED INITRD FOR CUSTOM KERNEL**

again replace the X with the numbers of where grub is installed you might not need to modify root if you have grub installed and linux already installed if that is the case just delete the INITRD line and modify the kernel line to whatever your named your bzimage when you cp it to the /boot directory...

when you are done with all the modify of grub don't emerge -C until you have the newer kernel working and be able to boot it... if it crashes please tell us what is wrong if u have issues with custom build or problem with an option please tell...

because what will happen is depclean will want to remove the old version of your kernel and use only the new version the issue is that yes you can still use your old kernel but you wont be able to fix your new one if it errors if u dont' have the old one...

once it is all stable...go back into grub delete the genkernel configurations and delete the initrd and genkernel files out of /boot if you don't ever want to use your old genkernel...this is once your new custom kernel is stable...

then you are good...

almost forgot it is neccesary to add symlink use flag because it will uncomplicate your kernel...and what it does is it makes the symlink of the kernel into the directory /usr/src/linux to make sure the linux directory which will show in light blue is symbolicly linked to the correct kernel do a ls -la and it will show linux directory with a <--- to kernel file name of which one it has....[/b]

if you don't use symlink flag when u install gentoo-sources you have to move symbolic linux directory link from the old kernel to the new one you just installed....

here is a link to the acutal guide from the install handbook you should look at if u get stuck with doing the above things...

http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/handbook/h ... art1_chap7

[Angrychile]

Thank you, that was very helpful bro. You r[/gwn]ock!

[robak]

how about some benchmarks?

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emerge =gentoo-sources-2.6.35
cd /usr/src/linux-2.6.35-gentoo
make defconfig
make clean
time make -j8 bzImage 

or try playing around a little with jobs numbers to get the fastest run
here my time for a Core2Quad Q9550 (4x2.83GHz) with six jobs

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real    2m20.146s
user    7m36.138s
sys     0m52.892s

[d2_racing]

Hi, the best benchmark is really this :

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# time emerge -eav @system

If you are under 50 minutes, then you have a pretty good box

[Angrychile]

I'd guess, haha

[d2_racing]

There was a thread a while ago about that bench, a lot of users posted their result there

[alexbuell]

Question is; how long does it takes you to build OpenOffice 3.2.0 with all six cores running? If it's less than 45 mins, you're onto a winner!

[Angrychile]

Well, I can tell you it is fast. I'm running Kde-4 on it now, everything works flawlessly so far, much to the contrast my old, dying gateway book. Mind you, I got up to kde4 in less than three days from the time I put in my live usb while balancing this setting up this system with classes and social stuffs.

Typically, emerging takes a few seconds. The QuakeIII engine(the source) took....45 seconds or less? Having -j7 is killer, and the SATA 3.0 ports able to go at 6GB/s helps it a a quite bit more. Actually, let me do it right now...

Okay, I used "time emerge quake3". real was about 20 seconds or so, user was a little over a minute. So yeah, it's fast. I did it in one of the ttys, so I can't copy it exactly here...

All for $1000 flat, it's all a real good deal! Now I just have to wait till 2.6.35 is unmasked and god know's how fast it'll be...

EDIT: I'll try the openoffice deal tomorrow. Unfortunate thing is I have a damned 750 MB bandwidth cap in my current location, and I already used a bit of it for today, the thirteen packages weigh out at 500MB or so, so I'll have to wait

[Angrychile]

Okay, I just did openoffice with new use flags python and java (just forgot them) and the total lead to 20 or so packages, I think some had to be downloaded. Time gave 42 minutes, so it's still much better than my laptop, that's for sure.

[adramalech707]

wow that ain't bad at all.....wait till they probably get better arch code in the kernel version 2.6.38 or so...u will really be flying....

usually if it is a U or N output with the file you will have to fetch and compile them all....idk if they meant the entire fetch + build time as a way to measure how ur cpu is doing but you can surely know that is alot faster than i probably could get...

i only have raid 0, i7 860 @3.0ghz, and 4gb cosair dominators running at 6-6-6-18-2T @ 2000mhz...

[alexbuell]

Okay, I just did openoffice with new use flags python and java (just forgot them) and the total lead to 20 or so packages, I think some had to be downloaded. Time gave 42 minutes, so it's still much better than my laptop, that's for sure.

Excellent, now I'm sold on getting myself a X6. Already savin' up the pennies.

I'd set it up so it can upgrade my laptop and keep my stuff synchronized with it for those away from home occasions.

Send in the cores!

[KAMIKAZE_]

Got 1090T, works great here.
But... is it possible to use TurboCore feature? It runs great in Windows (set it to 3.8GHz), but in Linux I'm only getting 3.6GHz (normal max. freq. I've set)

[alexbuell]

Got 1090T, works great here.
But... is it possible to use TurboCore feature? It runs great in Windows (set it to 3.8GHz), but in Linux I'm only getting 3.6GHz (normal max. freq. I've set)

If you're over clocking it, DO NOT enable TurboCore. It can lead to premature processor failure. Do your research first.

[adramalech707]

i would only EVER overclock a custom built desktop through the bios settings...and even then manually....i have seen ppl get unforeseen errors in using automated configs and profiles not ocing to what u want on say memory making oc unstable because the profile you used had the ill-correct timings not open enough for big ocing...

[KAMIKAZE_]

Got 1090T, works great here.
But... is it possible to use TurboCore feature? It runs great in Windows (set it to 3.8GHz), but in Linux I'm only getting 3.6GHz (normal max. freq. I've set)

If you're over clocking it, DO NOT enable TurboCore. It can lead to premature processor failure. Do your research first.

Hm? I'm able to run at constant 3.9GHz, so why there could be a problem to run at constant 3.6GHz with TurboCore up to 3.8GHz?

[KAMIKAZE_]

i would only EVER overclock a custom built desktop through the bios settings...and even then manually....i have seen ppl get unforeseen errors in using automated configs and profiles not ocing to what u want on say memory making oc unstable because the profile you used had the ill-correct timings not open enough for big ocing...

TurboCore settings are already in BIOS

[alexbuell]

Got 1090T, works great here.
But... is it possible to use TurboCore feature? It runs great in Windows (set it to 3.8GHz), but in Linux I'm only getting 3.6GHz (normal max. freq. I've set)

If you're over clocking it, DO NOT enable TurboCore. It can lead to premature processor failure. Do your research first.

Hm? I'm able to run at constant 3.9GHz, so why there could be a problem to run at constant 3.6GHz with TurboCore up to 3.8GHz?

TurboCore is tied to the clock multiplier. Just overclocking it will push TurboCore even higher, not recommended.

I'd just disable TurboCore and overclock it, it'll work out even better.

[KAMIKAZE_]

overclock it, it'll work out even better.

cpufreq doesn't downscale cpu frequence on idle at all. In case if I'm setting freq. more than 3.6GHz

[Atha]

Hey guys,
since I've the same AMD Phenom II X6 1090T…

Isn't the overclocking setting and the Turbo Core setting dependant on the BIOS? So it all comes down to a good mainboard, right?

There have always been big differences on how mainboards/BIOSes implement processor/chipset/architecture features.

I have a MSI 890FXA-GD70 mainboard, and if I recon right, I can set the Turbo Core frequency steps, like 200 MHz each step, and the max frequency I want, like 3.6 GHz, manually to suit my needs. (Within certain limits off course.) Overclocking with Turbo Core shouldn't be a problem then.

But I don't do overclocking. I like it cool and quiet (which is also activated in the BIOS BTW).

For my purposes it's fast enough at its nominal 3.2 GHz (or 3.6 GHz with Turbo Core/only 3 cores active).

Cheers,
A.

[Chiitoo]

Would be interesting to see some benchmarks like from bashmark though it is old, could probably still work well while comparing similar/identical CPUs.
I have a feeling my 1090T is not running as well as it could though it is mostly apparent while multi-tasking, having several games on for example (under winxP I had awesome sluggishness where with a dual-core Athlon I did not) as well as windozer7 crashing with bluescreens all over... suspecting PSU or MOBO though they're all new.

My quick tests with bashmark can be seen [post=6461893]here[/post].


What comes to normal use, it works OK, but what comes to peak performance under Linux, I have nothing to personally compare it to as it is the first time I have been running one for so long.