> Odd, only one PCI-E X16 and X8 slot? If it has three, and they are split between
> the processors, which one controls the third X16 slot?

The Talos II block diagram published yesterday reveals which slots/controllers are connected to which CPU (used PCIe lane quantity in brackets):

CPU0 (36 lanes used): PCIe (x16+x8), SAS/SATA (x8), Ethernet (x2), USB (x1), BMC (x1)
CPU1 (44 lanes used): PCIe (x16+x16+x8), OCuLink μPCIe (x4)

While the used Sforza module provides 48 PCIe lanes per chip, which in terms of figures would have allowed for CPU1's x8 slot to be connected to CPU0 instead, it can only connect to up to 6 PCIe endpoints. The connections to SAS/SATA, Ethernet, USB and BMC necessary for CPU0 add up to 4 endpoints, leaving endpoints for no more than 2 PCIe slots.
And as can be seen, OCuLink μPCIe won't be available in single-CPU configuration.

[ Edited by Andreas_Wolf 09.03.2018 - 23:55 ]

Greetings,

New here.

I have been looking at the Talos II and made the decision to get one early last week. I should have enough cash in my toy box to do so in two/three weeks.

I wound up here after too many hours of research on the Talos II and the POWER9 SO chip where I ran across the POWER4 (G5) and a link to MorphOS running on the G5 Mac.

I have had Amiga's since the A500 and up to the X1000. When it was decided not to port MorphOS to X1000 it was a big letdown for me as I really wanted to give it go. Perhaps for the best anyway as I'm really fed up with the PC architecture, no matter the CPU.

If there is interest in the Talos II here I would be happy to join in, however I think it might be a good idea to start a new thread.

I hope to have a good relationship and share thoughts with many.

Quote:

Cool, can you keep us informed about your purchase?

Can do.

At this time I'm looking at;

Dual Sforza CPU
LSI 8i SAS card
4 8GB RAM modules

I was thinking about the Microsemi SAS controller but after some email exchanges with Raptor it turns out that chip uses proprietary firmware/microcode and the LSI board has open drivers.

As for all the RAM. The system works best with each CPU having its own RAM. It could be 1 8GB module for each but according to Raptor the performance gain with 2 modules per CPU is amazing.

Since I won't be running any kind of server or tracking asteroids in other galaxies the 4 core CPUs should be more than enough for any desktop type usage.

Quote:

Dual CPUs, four cores each, four concurrent threads per core...32 threads? Yeah, that should be adequate. 😋

A little info from contact with Raptor.

The 2x8 pin PWR connectors are in parallel due to the Sforza lower power requirements. So I guess only one 8 wire connection is needed.

Also, the top two PCIe slots are controlled by CPU0.

I was also lurking around IBM and it looks like the POWER9 will also run 32bit Big Endian Linux. (?)

> the top two PCIe slots are controlled by CPU0.

Yes, see comment #68 :-)

> it looks like the POWER9 will also run 32bit Big Endian Linux.

Yes, that's what I assume as well. Potential target for MorphOS/PPC ;-)

> Yes, that's what I assume as well. Potential target for MorphOS/PPC

That would be cool, even under KVM to start with.

Update:

> OCuLink won't be available in single-CPU configuration.

Apparently, OCuLink won‘t be available at all:

"μPCIe connector [...] is incorrectly identified as OCuLink [...] due to errors that were discovered post-production in IBM OpenPOWER reference designs. While the physical connector is the same as OCuLink ports, the wiring is different, notably in the presence detect / clocking pins. As such, while an OCuLink peripheral is unlikely to be damaged by being plugged in to the μPCIe port, it will not function while attached."
https://wiki.raptorcs.com/w/images/e/e3/T2P9D01_users_guide_version_1_0.pdf (page 69)

Quote:

More then adequate!

Pricing of those Power9 cpu's is not excessive either imho.

Quote:

No, on a price/performance ratio basis a single Power 9 cpu system actually beats an X5000.

Quote:
I don't believe that will bother me at all. uPCIe has more possibilities for a desktop system IMO. Have to see what's what once they're in the street.

Addendum:

> "[...] due to errors that were discovered post-production in IBM OpenPOWER reference designs."

The Talos II board is based on the IBM Romulus board:

https://twitter.com/shenki/status/1028175347940909057
https://twitter.com/RaptorCompSys/status/1029629973043310592

"POWER9 2U or 4U Tower Reference System—eATX Design. Up to 2 P9 CPUs, 16 DD4, 3 PCIe Gen4 x16 FHFL (GPU Support), 1 PCIe Gen4 x8 FHFL, 1 PCIe Gen4 x8 FHHL Slot, 1 non standard PCIe Gen4 x4, 8 native storage drives, 4 USB 3.0, 2x 1GB Ethernet, Serial, VGA port, BMC Service Processor"
https://openpowerfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Hardware-Reveal-Flyerv2018-v1.pdf (page 6)

More info on Romulus:
https://lists.ozlabs.org/pipermail/openbmc/2016-October/005232.html
https://lists.ozlabs.org/pipermail/openbmc/2016-November/005626.html
https://github.com/open-power/romulus-xml
https://github.com/open-power/skiboot/commit/28e96ffaba8b
https://wiki.raptorcs.com/wiki/File:Romulus_fw_20180521.zip


Edit: added more links

[ Edited by Andreas_Wolf 04.10.2018 - 12:15 ]

https://wiki.raptorcs.com/wiki/Talos_II

[ Editiert durch polluks 27.03.2018 - 21:13 ]

> https://wiki.raptorcs.com/wiki/Talos_II

See comment #66 :-)

The Raptor Talos II Current Status has changed from 'Pre-order acceptance' to 'Full Production'.

Talos II

> Raptor Talos II Current Status has changed [...] to 'Full Production'.
> Talos II

Accompanying tweet:
https://twitter.com/RaptorCompSys/status/978815481254694912

here the Talos benchmark. .. happy reading

https://openbenchmarking.org/result/1803284-AR-TALOS2RAP51

Quote:

I can't open that right now (I'm on my phone) because that wasn't posted as an active link.

Good to know that the TalosII is in full production.
It proves that the PPC is NOT entirely dead.

Were there a cheaper single cpu design based on a standard ATX form factor I'd be pushing for continued development of MorphOS PPC.
After all, X86 used to represent the enemy, and Amiga has always marched to a different tune.


And with low endian byte order and a competitive cpu design, Power9 would bring us up go parity with the PC market without having to resort to the compromise of adopting their architecture.

And yes, I understand the economic arguements, but I'm willing to pay a little more for something unique. That's been my argument in favor of the X5000, and the TalosII has none of the compromises of the X5000 (and is only a little more expensive than the X5000, plus that cost could be reduced with a simplified design).

Guys, I LIKE PPCs, and I'm going go miss the distinction of running on alternative hardware when we move to X64.

Plus, it would be far easier to port to Power9 than it will be to move to X64.

So, to all those that want to drop PPC development after the X6r fork, I'll say this one more time. I'll follow you, but I'm retaining some PPC hardware because it shows what WE can do, outside of the PC industry.
And so liked the distinction of being different.

We were always outsiders, even if we originated everything that the mainstreamers adopted.

> https://openbenchmarking.org/result/1803284-AR-TALOS2RAP51

Compilation has been done with GCC 7.3.0. POWER9 (Power ISA 3.0) support was introduced with GCC 6 and enhanced with GCC 7. For whatever reason, "--with-cpu=power8" was used as GCC switch, needlessly decreasing performance.

Accompanying article:
https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Raptor-TALOS2-Initial-Tests

> with low endian byte order [...], Power9 would bring us up go parity with the PC
> market [...]. [...] it would be far easier to port to Power9 than it will be to move to X64.

Yes, especially with POWER9 used in big-endian mode :-)

Quote:



All I can say about the test is that it worked. A definite lack of information and like many benchmark tests they may not be 'tuned' to the POWER9 or the Talos2. That will take time.

Have to see real world performance anyway.

Long Live POWER.

About the 4th comment down at
https://twitter.com/RaptorCompSys/status/975910664924311553

> From what I gathered on IRC #talos-workstation, the quad-core has a TDP
> of 90W, the octa-core 190W TDP. Both of them can clock up to about 4 GHz

Now official:

4-core POWER9: 3.2 GHz base, 3.8 GHz turbo, 90W TDP
8-core POWER9: 3.45 GHz base, 3.8 GHz turbo, 160W TDP