Chinese language Loongson Claims Subsequent-Gen CPU Matches AMD’s Zen 3

Having launched its first 16-core CPU for servers earlier this week, Loongson is trying ahead to releasing a 32-core processor within the coming months and matching the efficiency of AMD’s Zen 3-based merchandise within the coming years.

Chinese language CPU developer Loongson formally launched and began to ship its first 16-core 3C5000 processor based mostly on its proprietary LoongArch instruction set structure earlier this week. At a convention the place the CPU was formally unveiled, the corporate additionally talked about its future endeavors, and so they look fairly formidable. Within the coming months, the corporate will reveal its 3D5000 CPU with 32 cores, which can mix two 3C5000 processors on a single piece of substrate. In distinction, its next-generation 6000-series processors could match the instruction per cycle (IPC) efficiency of AMD’s Zen 3 microarchitecture, experiences EET-China (opens in new tab).

Loongson’s current-generation 5000-series (quad-core 3A5000 and 16-core 3C5000/3C5000L) processors are on its LoongArch-based 64-bit superscalar LA464 cores. They’re suitable with the MIPS ISA (to take care of compatibility with functions written for Loongson’s previous-generation processors.) however can even execute code explicitly written for LoongArch. With 4 general-purpose ALUs, and two 256-bit vector operations items, the LA464 cores look promising. Nonetheless, as soon as the software program is recompiled to benefit from 2,000 proprietary LoongArch directions, they promise to shine.

Based mostly on the numbers demonstrated by Loongson at its convention, the quad-core 3A5000 processor working at 2.50 GHz can problem in style eight-core Armv8 implementations in addition to Intel’s tenth Era Core ‘Comet Lake’ processors by way of single-thread efficiency in UnixBench. Nevertheless, the chip falls behind in multi-thread execution pace for apparent causes. In the meantime, Loongson didn’t publish the efficiency of its 16-core 3C5000 CPU in an analogous situation however solely talked about that the processor operates at 2.0 – 2.20 GHz and delivers as much as 560 GFLOPS of uncooked efficiency at 130W.

For its next-generation Loongson 6000-series processors, the corporate plans to make use of its upcoming LA664 core to extend effectivity and increase IPC throughput, the corporate mentioned at its occasion, citing the outcomes of its simulations. In consequence, Loongson’s 16-core 3C6000 and 32-core 3D6000 processors due in 2023 ~ 2024 will have the ability to problem AMD’s Ryzen and EPYC CPUs based mostly on the Zen 3 microarchitecture by way of efficiency per cycle.

For Loongson, matching AMD Zen 3’s IPC in 2023 is an enormous deal for the reason that firm shall be in a position considerably to shut the hole with trendy chips from main builders. Nonetheless, matching directions per cycle alone will not be sufficient to achieve the precise efficiency of AMD’s CPUs. Maybe, Loongson’s 16-core 3C6000 and 32-core 3D6000 processors will have the ability to problem the real-world efficiency of AMD’s modern low-power EPYC processors in packages that may benefit from LoongArch’s improvements. Nonetheless, we’d not count on Loongson’s 2023 choices to be aggressive towards AMD’s 2021 CPUs.