On Nov 20, 2014, at 8:17 AM, Braun, Michael wrote: > I run R on a recent Mac Pro (Ivy Bridge architecture), and before that, on a > 2010-version (Nehalem architecture). For the last few years I have been > installing R by compiling from source. The reason is that I noticed in the > etc/Makeconf file that the precompiled binary is compiled with the > -mtune=core2 option. I had thought that since my system uses a processor > with a more recent architecture and instruction set, that I would be leaving > performance on the table by using the binary. > > My self-compiled R has worked well for me, for the most part. But sometimes > little things pop-up, like difficulty using R Studio, an occasional > permissions problem related to the Intel BLAS, etc. And there is a time > investment in installing R this way. So even though I want to exploit as > much of the computing power on my desktop that I can, now I am questioning > whether self-compiling R is worth the effort. > > My questions are these: > > 1. Am I correct that the R binary for Mac is tuned to Core2 architecture? > 2. In theory, should tuning the compiler for Sandy Bridge (SSE4.2, AVX > instructions, etc) generate a faster R? > 3. Has anyone tested the theory in Item 2? > 4. Is the reason for setting -mtune=core2 to support older machines? If so, > are enough people still using pre-Nehalem 64-bit Macs to justify this?
I use an early 2008 MacPro (Lion, so to go to Yosemite, currently with R's SL branch) and a 2009 MacbookPro (Yosemite). (After consulting Wikipedia's pages on Mac processors I'm not sure that pre- and post-Nehalem is sufficiently clear for all platforms that your question can be answered with clarity. It also appears to me that all Macbooks were core2 even now, and if so I think you would get a lot of complaints by making them incompatible with the base version of R. If I'm reading those pages correctly my 15 inch MBP from 2009 is Lynnfield.) > 5. What would trigger a decision to start tuning the R binary for a more > advanced processor? > 6. What are some other implications of either self-compiling or using the > precompiled binary that I might need to consider? > > tl;dr: My Mac Pro has a Ivy Bridge processor. Is it worthwhile to compile R > myself, instead of using the binary? > > Thanks, > > Michael > > > -------------------------- > Michael Braun > Associate Professor of Marketing > Cox School of Business > Southern Methodist University > Dallas, TX 75275 > [email protected] > > _______________________________________________ > R-SIG-Mac mailing list > [email protected] > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-sig-mac David Winsemius Alameda, CA, USA _______________________________________________ R-SIG-Mac mailing list [email protected] https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-sig-mac
