Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)
Date:      Mon, 13 Dec 2004 11:30:56 -0600
From:      Kirk Strauser <kirk@strauser.com>
To:        freebsd-alpha@freebsd.org
Subject:   Safe (but quick) GCC settings on a PC64 with 5.3?
Message-ID:  <200412131130.59807.kirk@strauser.com>

next in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
--nextPart4145941.ZGd3zhQGtU
Content-Type: text/plain;
  charset="us-ascii"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
Content-Disposition: inline

I just upgraded a little PC64 from FreeBSD 4.10 to 5.3 via the installer=20
ISO.  First, I'd like to send my gratitude and appreciation to everyone who=
=20
helped on the Alpha port; the upgrade was a piece of cake and worked=20
perfectly from the first boot.

Anyway, I'm planning to rebuild all of my ports to take advantage of GCC's=
=20
new optimizations (versus the old 2.95 version they'd been previously built=
=20
with) and the kernel to try to wring a little more performance out of this=
=20
small system whose dmesg starts with:

  Copyright (c) 1992-2004 The FreeBSD Project.
  Copyright (c) 1979, 1980, 1983, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994
          The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
  FreeBSD 5.3-STABLE #0: Sun Dec 12 22:31:54 CST 2004
      root@gopher.honeypot.net:/usr/obj/usr/src/sys/NEW_GOPHER
  EB64+
  Digital AlphaPC 64 274 MHz, 274MHz
  8192 byte page size, 1 processor.
  CPU: EV45 (21064A) major=3D6 minor=3D2
  OSF PAL rev: 0x100040002012d
  real memory  =3D 266346496 (254 MB)
  avail memory =3D 250544128 (238 MB)
  apecs0: <DECchip 21072 Core Logic chipset>

I currently have these in my /etc/make.conf:

  CPUTYPE=3Dev45
  CFLAGS=3D -O -pipe -mieee
  COPTFLAGS=3D -O -pipe

I have *no* desire to make an unstable system in an attempt to squeeze out=
=20
that last 0.2% of performance.  On the other hand, this box isn't exactly a=
=20
speed demon and every little bit can make a noticeable difference.  If I=20
can get an extra 10% at the cost of a lengthy recompile, I'll jump at the=20
chance.

I have much more experience with x86 and Sparc systems than Alpha, and I'm=
=20
not really sure what else I should or could have in there.  I've read the=20
"DEC Alpha Options" section of GCC manual, but I don't have the experience=
=20
to know whether things like '-mno-soft-float' are good or bad, or whether I=
=20
should be mucking around with '-mmemory-latency'.  This is where I could=20
really use a bit of guidance.

Many thanks!
=2D-=20
Kirk Strauser

--nextPart4145941.ZGd3zhQGtU
Content-Type: application/pgp-signature

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----

iD8DBQBBvdHT5sRg+Y0CpvERAqXTAKChccA36JoUYP+a+3OG+yOHBATWBgCcCBXr
H6ELapujR0rlRzcGAWtxt3s=
=un85
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

--nextPart4145941.ZGd3zhQGtU--



Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?200412131130.59807.kirk>