Lately there has been a discussion about if x86 can or cannot be more power efficient than ARM.
My null hypothesis is:
ARM is more efficient of x86 in the 1-10W power envelope, due to the lack of a power expensive decode step and missing legacy burden of an ISA not any more adapat to the modern world. This holds especially for the integer operations.
The goal is to measure the efficiency of a FULL system, so we will need to take account of radio, heat, memory, GPU and all the other specifications that are intimately related to the CPU architecture (so the display doesn't matter).
The efficiency should be computed at power socket level, over a series of benchmarks. My suggestion is to use Java Integers test in a Linux environment. Android would skew this comparison, has it has a software that is GREATLY optimized for ARM.
It would be better if the test could be done with the machines attached to an UPS in a 42 C (110 F) room.
The candidate platforms should be:
ARM:
- Samsung Origen
- ST Ericson Snowball
- FreeScale i.MX54
TI Omap is not available to the public in a power efficient envelope, you need to purchase huge volumes to access particular configurations, so for now I would leave it as it is.
x86
- AMD Brazos
- Intel Atom
We can only choose:
- Platforms that are commercially available at the moment of test
- Systems with a total peak power consumption of 25 W or less (radio included).
I have a Samsung Origen at home. We need to find as much people as possible with the other platforms.
We should also define a set of java benchmarks.
Anyone has any suggestion on the methodology, or feels willing to write a MethDoc or a Java Bench?
My null hypothesis is:
ARM is more efficient of x86 in the 1-10W power envelope, due to the lack of a power expensive decode step and missing legacy burden of an ISA not any more adapat to the modern world. This holds especially for the integer operations.
The goal is to measure the efficiency of a FULL system, so we will need to take account of radio, heat, memory, GPU and all the other specifications that are intimately related to the CPU architecture (so the display doesn't matter).
The efficiency should be computed at power socket level, over a series of benchmarks. My suggestion is to use Java Integers test in a Linux environment. Android would skew this comparison, has it has a software that is GREATLY optimized for ARM.
It would be better if the test could be done with the machines attached to an UPS in a 42 C (110 F) room.
The candidate platforms should be:
ARM:
- Samsung Origen
- ST Ericson Snowball
- FreeScale i.MX54
TI Omap is not available to the public in a power efficient envelope, you need to purchase huge volumes to access particular configurations, so for now I would leave it as it is.
x86
- AMD Brazos
- Intel Atom
We can only choose:
- Platforms that are commercially available at the moment of test
- Systems with a total peak power consumption of 25 W or less (radio included).
I have a Samsung Origen at home. We need to find as much people as possible with the other platforms.
We should also define a set of java benchmarks.
Anyone has any suggestion on the methodology, or feels willing to write a MethDoc or a Java Bench?