After 15 years of Intel-based processors for its Linux-powered computers, Linus Torvalds switched to an AMD Threadripper 3970x-based “frankenbox” to build the world’s most important operating system, Linux. Now, months later, Torvalds is happy about the move and writes he is “very happy with AMD” these days.
This is because Torvalds explained in a Real World Technologies discussion forum, you get more money for AMD processors. But what about Intel’s expensive Xeon processors? Torvalds honestly said: “I used to look at the Xeon CPUs, and I could never really make the math work. The math of Intel was basically that you get the CPU twice the price for five times. So for my personal workstations end up using Intel consumer processors. “
As for AMD, on the other hand, “The AMD Threadripper prices are much closer to ‘twice the price for twice the CPU’. Yes, you end up paying more for the equipment (MB and cooling), but it’s just as good “So yes, it does end up being more expensive, but if your CPU power is what you want and need, the cost is pretty much what you get.”
Of course, AMD has its own server CPU line, the Epyc processor family, and, as Torvalds admitted, ‘You do pay more for that privilege, but at least AMD is not trying to bully you and limit their non-server parts. So you also get ECC for Threadripper (and regular Ryzen), even if it is not necessarily ‘officially verified’. “
ECC? It stands for correcting memory of the error. ECC can detect memory chips when a memory error occurs. There has long been an assumption that memory errors are very uncommon. Torvalds, who knows a thing or two about memory, strongly agrees.
Torvalds grins: ‘The’ modern DRAM is so reliable that it does not require an ECC ‘has always been a bedtime story for children who have been put on their heads a little too many times. “
“We have dozens of strange random options that could never be explained,” Torvalds added. It was “probably due to bad memory. And if it causes a core of the core, I can guarantee that there are several orders of magnitude more cases where it caused just a little flip that was never so critical.”
Today, ECC memory is difficult to find and expensive if you do. Torvalds blames Intel for this sad state of affairs. “Intel is detrimental to the entire industry and users because of their bad and wrong policies [with regards to] ECC. Serious. ‘
Torvalds adds that it’s not just his thinking. ‘And if you do not believe me, just look at several generations of rowing hammers [A memory security attack], where every time Intel and memory manufacturers worried about how it would be fixed next time. Narrator: “No, it was not.”
The main cause, according to Torvalds, was entirely about Intel’s’ deceived and backward policy of ‘consumers do not need ECC’, which made the market for ECC memory disappear. “
The memory manufacturers also come in for their reasonable share of the debt. “The memory producers claim it’s due to economy and lower power. And they’re lying. Let me point out again the hammer on how these problems have been around for generations, but fortunately these f * ckers have broken hardware to consumers. sells and claims it was an ‘attack’, while it’s always’ we’re cutting corners’. ‘Yet Torvalds puts most of the responsibility on’ Intel has pushed shit to consumers. ‘
This is not a new problem. Torvalds reminds us that you can literally complain about this for decades now. I do not want to say ‘I was right’. I want to fix it, and I want ECC. “AMD, which unofficially supports ECC memory,” did it. Intel did not. “
Torvalds returned to CPUs after memory issues: ‘I am personally very satisfied with AMD these days. I absolutely despised their terrible bulldozer cores, but I think they had a home business with their Ryzen range and their chiplet. approach. Not only because they have fixed their cores, but also because their chiplets have made it so much easier to do the scale they do and offer near the model ‘twice the cores for twice the price’. “
Would Torvalds consider going back to Intel chip workstations? It would not only be no, but hell no. Torvalds concluded: ‘Intel with their HEDT and Xeon chips that require different boutique silicone (and therefore the excessive pricing) is dead to me unless they seriously fix it. I have been complaining about their ECC policy here on this forum for about two decades by now. Good little satisfaction – because once Intel stopped offering the best deals, there was absolutely no benefit to staying with them. ‘
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