Intel Scalable Processors- Xeon gold 'F' type-omnipath

[BrainEater]

I have finally dived into the big boys pool.
My supermicro X11DPi-NT is paid for and on the way.....I've saved up about half of $$ for the 2 xeon 6144's I want.
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As I stand on the deck stinging from the fir$t dive, contemplating the second dive, I have questions.
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The x11 mobo that I have coming , has Host Fabric Interface all built in, for the 'F' series processors.I can connect the HFI sideband connectors right onto the mobo.

Question 1 :
Does an HFI connection to the motherboard increase performance of the local machine , or is this strictly for farm connections ?

Question 2 : Right now I'm just trying to get into socket P on the cheap....the 6144 is a 'non-F-type' processor , but as the LGA3647 platform matures , I might consider an 'F' type.....
Does anyone think the HFI 'omnipath' can be used for anything other than farm connections ?

Info links :

https://www.supermicro.com/products/motherboard/Xeon/C620/X11DPi-NT.cfm

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/processors/xeon/scalable/gold-processors.html

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I know this is all new stuff , I appreciate any insight.

 

[Shintai]

Omni Path is for "out of server" connectivity. Else UPI is used. So unless you are going to connect multiple servers via OPA switches its not useful for you at all.

 

[BrainEater]

That's what I thought.'Farm' connections for HPC.
If you look at the specs of 'F' type processors , they only have 2 UPI links......standard Xeon golds have 3.
Now the real questions begin !


I have to assume that 3rd UPI link provides the 'omnipath' link.

Do you think that's a naked UPI link ?
Or is it translated to 100 Gb Ethernet ?(or something else)

I'm reading whitepapers as fast as I can, but I'm waaaaay behind now.
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Back to question 1 from the top.
The manual for the x11dpi-nt has a section about installing F-type processors.It shows 2 different methods.
It shows sideband connectors into a OPA card , and it shows sideband connectors plugged into the motherboard.

It does say in the manual "connect sideband interface cable to motherboard for better performance"

Is that just BS ? , can the 2 (internal) processors use that 3rd UPI link ?

I'm just going through some of the omnipath architecture stuff .....I'm waaaay over my head.
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That's never stopped me before tho !

 

[Shintai]

This may explain it for you.

 

[BrainEater]

Yep , I saw that slide in my travels.

Thanks !
It's what I thought originally when I read the x11 manual....the onboard connectors are a bypass.
Ah well.
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I'd love to(win the lottery)and play around with this HPC stuff.

I might organize and drop some of the omnipath stuff I've gone through here.