In April 2017, Loongson launched a new generation of chips representing the highest level of domestic production. Among them, Loongson 3A3000 and 3B3000 from the measured data, the comprehensive performance of this chip has exceeded the Intel Atom series and ARM series cpus. Ni Guangnan, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said its performance has reached the usable level, and there are no problems in daily use, office and business trips.
Longson three generation chip plan
According to Hu Weiwu, president of Longson Zhongke, the father of Longson, the current chip plan of Longson is divided into three generations:
The first generation of chips is called the \"floor\" CPU, and the planned implementation time is 2013-2014, representing the chips 3A1000, 3B1500, 2F, 2H. The general processing capacity of these chips is low, most of them meet the specific needs of the country, and the market is not recognized.
The second generation chip is known as the \"air\" CPU, and the planned implementation time is 2016-2017, representing the chip 3A3000, 3B3000, 2K1000, 7A. The main task at this stage is to seriously make a chip that can be sold, and the performance of this batch of Loongson cpus (single-core) is 3-5 times that of the first generation products, exceeding Atom, VIA and ARM. These chips are not top-notch in performance, but they can be used in a wide range of areas.
The first two generations of chip plans are now complete.
The third generation chip is called the CPU on the ceiling, and the planned implementation time is 2019-2020, representing the chip 3A3000\/4000, 3C5000, 2K2000, 7B. The CPU goal at this stage is to catch up with the full range of AMD. If that happens, it won't be that far from Intel's top-of-the-line Xeon chips. At this time, the performance of single-core chips will hit a physical ceiling, just like the current Intel, Intel touched the ceiling in 2010-2012. In this case, it is necessary to increase the number of cores to improve the overall computing performance.
Loongson and Intel: the gap in technology ecology
So Loongson's current best product: Loongson 3A3000 chip, and Intel CPU compared to how much difference?
First of all, technically speaking, according to the test done by Lei Feng network, in the case of GCC5.2 compiler, Intel I5 4460 SPEC2006 fixed-point score of 32 points at 3.2G main frequency; In the case of GCC4.4.7 compiler, the Loongson 3A3000 has a fixed-point score of 11 points at 1.5G main frequency. It is true that Intel has a certain advantage in the compiler, here for the sake of convenient comparison to ignore the differences brought by the compiler, on the fixed-point performance, the single-thread performance of the Loongson 3A3000 is about one-third of the Intel I5 4460.
What is the difference? Mainly in the main frequency, followed by the microstructure. The main frequency of the Loongson 3A3000 is only 1.5G, while the main frequency of the Intel I5 4460 is 3.2G, and if necessary, it can also be increased to 3.4G, obviously, in the main frequency of the Loongson 3A3000 is only less than half of the Intel I5 4460, and there is still a big gap with Intel such a giant.
Compared with the technical gap, the ecological gap of Windows Intel is more difficult to cross, since the launch of Windows 3.2 in 1995, the ecological construction of Wintel has been 30 years. Most consumers in the market are used to the way Wintel operates.
In our understanding, it seems that domestic technology is specially tailored for the party and government military enterprises, thus ignoring the market. The same was true in the early days of Loongson's development, but since three years ago, the government has abandoned its support for Loongson, and the latest chips are developed by Loongson Zhongke by selling chip money.
To this day, the development of Loongson is no longer synonymous with tailor-made chips for the party and government military enterprises, they realize the importance of the market, and now the downstream hardware and software R&D personnel based on Loongson CPU have reached tens of thousands of people. It is not easy for Longson to have the current ecology in a few years.
Loongson chasing Intel: road resistance and long
As the spokesperson of domestic chips, Loongson bears too many expectations, and the new generation of chips launched by Loongson not only satisfies the feelings of the people, but also has milestone significance. But Loongson still has a long way to go to catch up with Intel.