At Dual-Socket Systems, Ampere’s 192-Core CPUs Stress ARM64 Linux Kernel
Ampere, a prominent player in this space, has recently launched its AmpereOne data center CPUs, boasting an impressive 192 cores.
The proposed solution involves implementing the “CPUMASK_OFFSTACK” method, a mechanism allowing Linux to override the default 256-core limit
Ampere’s cutting-edge CPUs stand out with the highest core count in the industry, surpassing even AMD’s latest Zen 4c EPYC CPUs, which cap at 128 cores.
This unprecedented core count places Ampere in uncharted territory, making it the first CPU manufacturer to grapple with the limitations of ARM64 Linux Kernel 256-core threshold
While the core limit predicament does not affect systems equipped with a single 192-core AmpereOne chip, it poses a significant challenge for data center servers housing two of these powerhouse chips in a dual-socket configuration.
Built on the ARMv8.6+ instruction set and leveraging TSMC’s cutting-edge 5nm node, these CPUs boast dual 128b Vector Units, 2MB of L2 cache per core, a 3 GHz clock speed, an eight-channel DDR5 memory controller, 128 PCIe Gen 5 lanes, and a TDP ranging from 200 to 350W
Despite Ampere’s proactive approach in submitting the patch to address the core limit challenge, achieving 512-core support might take some time