EVMK2HX performance configuration

Brian Stupar

I'm currently using an EVMK2HX evaluation board to do some algorithm and performance prototyping. For my prototype I'm testing with a qsort of 512MB of TeraByte sort style data. So far I've run the algorithm on my desktop PC (Dell T5600 running Ubuntu 14.04), a single ARM core (boot Linux, scp my executable, execute from command line), and a single DSP core (download and run through CCS and JTAG). Before I evaluate the results I want to make sure that I have the Keystome set up to get the optimal performance, and that I'm not set up in a configuration that's intentionally running at less than 100%.

Ignoring the details of my specific algorithm, I'm seeing performance numbers similar to this for the same algorithm:

my PC - 3.9 sec

ARM - 8.1 sec

DSP - 19.5 sec

When I load CCS, and before I run the benchmark, I'm loading the

/opt/ti/mcsdk_bios_3_00_04_18/tools/program_evm/gel/xtcievmk2x.gel GEL file, then doing a Scripts | TI66X Functions | Global_Default_Setup

Is there something more that I need to do to ensure that I'm getting the best performance out of the EVM ?

Thanks,

Brian

over 9 years ago

0 Raja over 9 years ago

TI__Guru* 81335 points

Hi Brian,

ARM:

Are you following MCSDK UG to run linux in ARM? If yes, it is running SMP Linux kernel in ARM cores(4 Cores).

DSP:

In case of DSP. We do not have SMP BIOS support. You shall work with core frequencies and shall optimize the code to get the best performance out of it.

DSP Optimization:

Please refer below wiki and user guide which may help you to improve DSP performance.

http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php/TMS320C6000_DSP_Optimization_Workshop

http://www.ti.com/lit/sprabf2

http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php/Optimization_Techniques_for_the_TI_C6000_Compiler

http://www.ti.com/lit/spru187

Thank you.

0 Brian Stupar over 9 years ago in reply to Raja

Prodigy 130 points

For the ARM, yes I've followed the MCSDK UG and am running SDP Linux. For the DSP I used the sample "hello world" application that can be imported from CCS and just pasted my code into it.

If I run the DSP application without first executing the GEL file the performance is significantly slower than after running the GEL file (as expected). I guess my hope was that you had available a GEL file that set up all of the core frequencies to their optimum performance settings. It sounds like that isn't the case and that there is no "max performance" GEL file available.

So just as a confirmation, once I have a "final" application that I'm ready to program into the Flash for the DSP to boot and run, I'll need to manually - somewhere in my initialization code - do the equivalent of what the GEL file is doing in order to set up the core frequencies. Correct ?

Brian

0 Raja over 9 years ago in reply to Brian Stupar

TI__Guru* 81335 points

Hi Brian,

Yes. Your understanding is correct. If the K2H is booted with ARM SPI/NAND, the u-boot does the required initialization.

After booting SMP Linux in ARM Cores from u-boot, The MPM shall be used to download and run the DSP application. Please refer below wiki link to load and run the DSP cores from ARM.

http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php/MCSDK_UG_Chapter_Developing_System_Mgmt#Multiple_Processor_Manager

Thank you.

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EVMK2HX performance configuration