Chinese fabless chip maker Loongson has launched its new 3D5000 processor for data center and cloud computing. my driver (opens in new tab) Loongson reported that the company’s 32-core homegrown chip claims to offer four times higher performance than rival Arm processors.
Starting in 2020, the 3D5000 continues to leverage LoongArch, Loongson’s homegrown Instruction Set Architecture (ISA). The chipmaker used to be a firm believer in his MIPS. However, Loongson ultimately built LoongArch from scratch with the sole purpose of not relying on foreign technology to develop its processors. LoongArch is a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) ISA, similar to MIPS or RISC-V.
The 3D5000 has 32 LA464 cores running at 2 GHz. The 32-core processor has 64MB of L3 cache, supports 8 channels of DDR4-3200 ECC memory, and up to 5 HyperTransport (HT) 3.0 interfaces. It also supports dynamic frequency and voltage adjustment. Officially, the 3D5000 has a TDP of 300W. However, traditional power consumption is around 150W, Loongson said. That’s about 5W per core.
The 3D5000 shows off a chiplet design as Loongson has glued two 16-core 3C5000 processors together. Loongson developed his 3C5000 server part to compete against AMD’s Zen and Zen+ architectures. The latest His 3D5000, whose dimensions are 75.4 x 58.5 x 7.1mm, can be plugged into a custom LGA4129 socket.
The processor supports 2P and 4P configurations. So Loongson launched his 7A2000 bridge chip that manages communication between the processor and other components. According to chip designers, the 7A2000 is up to 400% faster than the previous generation. Additionally, with the help of the 7A2000, it has the potential to scale up to 128 cores per motherboard.
According to figures provided by Loongson, the 3D5000 scores over 425 points on SPEC CPU 2006. This is a depreciated benchmark superseded by the new SPEC CPU 2017 version. Also, the 3D5000 gives his FP64 performance over 1 TFLOP. That’s up to four times more than regular Arm cores. On the other hand, the processor’s streaming performance with 8 channels of DDR4-3200 memory exceeds the 50GB mark.
Performance is not the 3D5000’s strong point, but security is excellent. The 32-core processor is said to have custom-made mechanisms to defend against vulnerabilities such as Meltdown and Specter. The chip also includes a Trusted Platform Module (TPM), making it agnostic to external solutions. In addition, MyDrivers reports that the 3D5000 also supports secret national algorithms with built-in security modules that deliver superior encryption and decryption efficiency of over 5 Gbps.
In addition to the 3D5000 and 7A2000, Loongson also announced the 2K050, their baseboard management controller (BMC). The 2K050 features his LA264 core at 500 MHz, integrated 2D GDP, 32-bit DDR3 support and output at 1080p (1920×1080) resolution at 60 Hz.
Loongson’s 3D5000 is no match for AMD’s EPYC Genoa or Intel’s Sapphire Rapids Xeon processors. It wasn’t about beating foreign competition, it wasn’t about promoting self-sufficiency. Unfortunately, due to ongoing U.S. sanctions, Chinese companies have no means of securing U.S.-made chip-making tools. Additionally, the US Department of Commerce recently blacklisted Loongson, which may have derailed some of the company’s plans.
