GEMPACK CPU speed comparison

You may wonder if your PC runs GEMPACK simulations as fast as other PCs. Or, you may be planning to buy a new PC, and wondering what CPU to choose for better performance. In either case the table below may be useful. It shows the time taken for a standard simulation for a number of CPU types.

For each CPU, 2 times are shown, with and without the environment variable OPENBLAS_CORETYPE set to Haswell. [We have found that setting OPENBLAS_CORETYPE=Haswell can sometimes reduce simulation times for EXE files generated with GEMPACK Releases 12 and 12.1. For more details see this page.]

Below the table are instructions for running the test on your own PC. If your CPU is not on the list below, we would be happy to know your results!

CPU	Time (seconds) with OPENBLAS_CORETYPE not set	Time (seconds) with OPENBLAS_CORETYPE =Haswell
Intel Core Ultra 7 165H	53	37
12th Gen Intel i9-12900KS	37	29
Intel i7-7700HQ	60	61
Intel i9-14900	34	26
Intel i9-9900	63	63

Test your own PC

To test the speed of your PC, download speedtest.zip and unzip it into a new folder. Open a command prompt in that folder. Close all other running programs (especially your browser) and if on a laptop, ensure it is plugged into the mains. Then, from the command prompt enter

speedtest.bat

and STAND BACK till the job is complete (up to 3 minutes). Results will be affected if you touch the keyboard or mouse. After a few minutes your screen display should end something like this:

  Gempack source corresponds to revision 1148.
  Fortran compiler = GF64   version 6.4.0 64 bit
With OPENBLAS_CORETYPE not set
  Total elapsed time is: 37 seconds.
With OPENBLAS_CORETYPE=Haswell
  Total elapsed time is: 29 seconds.
Name
12th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-12900KS

The same information will be stored in the file report.txt. If your CPU is not in the list above, please send your report.txt file to Mark Horridge so it can be added to the list.

If you are running a laptop, the report will have 2 additional lines, perhaps:

BatteryStatus
1

BatteryStatus
2

BatteryStatus=1 means your laptop is not plugged into the mains. Plug it in and run the test again! [Many laptops run slower when not plugged in, to conserve battery life.]

Try running speedtest.bat again -- you should get nearly the same times (+-1 second).

You may get better results by setting your Power Mode to 'Best Performance'. [Settings/Sytem/Power/Power Mode/Best Performance].

If you notice that the simulation is much quicker when the environment variable OPENBLAS_CORETYPE is set to Haswell, you might consider setting this environment variable permanently. For more details see this page.

Note: Speedtest.bat uses model.exe which has been created with GEMPACK Release 12.1.000, December 2019, source revision 1148.