Re: TSC Timecounter and multi-core/SMP

From: Derek Ragona <derek_at_computinginnovations.com>
Date: Tue, 15 Apr 2008 08:59:41 -0500
At 02:51 AM 4/15/2008, Jeff Roberson wrote:
>On Tue, 15 Apr 2008, gnn_at_freebsd.org wrote:
>
>>At Fri, 11 Apr 2008 08:34:29 -0400 (EDT),
>>Andrew Gallatin wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>gnn_at_freebsd.org writes:
>>> > Howdy,
>>> >
>>> > Is the TSC timecounter synchronized across multiple cores and/or
>>> > processors?  A quick search seems to indicate it's not but I'd like to
>>> > find a definitive reference on the TSC.
>>>
>>>There is a great comment in the OpenSolaris source code talking about
>>>TSCs and their behavior on SMP systems.  See
>>>http://cvs.opensolaris.org/source/xref/onnv/onnv-gate/usr/src/uts/i86pc/os/timestamp.c
>>
>>Actually this was a very helpful bit of reading.
>>
>>I also believe that at least per processor there is only 1 TSC, that
>>is, on a 2 or 4 core, all cores share the same TSC.
>
>I think we should confirm whether this is the case with earlier opterson. 
>I have seen two processors on the same die out of sync.
>
>Jeff

I have seen proposed new CPU designs will have the separate cores 
independently clocked.  It will be another extension of power management to 
enable cores to "sleep" if not needed, also to allow each core to run at 
different clocks to allow better heat and power management.

         -Derek


-- 
This message has been scanned for viruses and
dangerous content by MailScanner, and is
believed to be clean.
Received on Wed Apr 16 2008 - 06:03:40 UTC

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Wed May 19 2021 - 11:39:29 UTC