MATLAB: What, if anything, can be done to optimize performance for modern AMD CPU’s

acmlamdperformanceryzenthreadripper

I have a AMD Threadripper CPU. I've seen suggestions that AMD-based computers will benefit from changing the math library from Intel's MKL to the AMD Core Math Library (ACML) along with recommendations to change the BLAS.SPEC file. Any threads relating to this seem quite old and it appears that AMD might have changed the name of its math library.

Is it still possible to optimize the math library for AMD's CPUs? If so, what do I need to do?

Thanks!

Best Answer

I put together a detailed 'How To' explaining and solving the issue on Reddit. Just follow the steps.

You should read it if you want to understand the background.

EDIT: Before you start I have a short request for you that you could help me with and serve your own interest. Matlab will not implement this. If you think that Matlab should offer a permanent solution that serves all users independent of whether they use Intel or AMD CPUs, please make a feature request at Matlab to implement a nummeric library (e.g. OpenBLAS) that does not discriminate against non Intel CPUs. Mathworks will not make this change without people advocating for it. Thanks!

tl;dr

Solution 1 (Windows): Create a .bat file using e.g. "Notepad" with the following lines to start Matlab in AVX2 Mode.

@echo off

set MKL_DEBUG_CPU_TYPE=5

matlab.exe

Save as .txt and rename to .bat. If you double-click that file, Matlab will start the MKL in AVX2 Mode. If you start it the normal way, it will remain as always.

You can also download the .bat file from my highdrive if you trust me (which typically you should not as I am a random guy from the internet). If you delete the startup batch file provided in the download or the one you created yourself, its gone and your computer will be as it has been before.

(Optional Download: https://my.hidrive.com/lnk/EHAACFje )

Solution 2 (Windows): If you are happy with the results (which you surely will be :-)), you should make the setting permanent by entering MKL_DEBUG_CPU_TYPE=5 into the System Environment Variables. This has several advantages, one of them being that it applies to all instances of Matlab and not just the one opened using the .bat file.

Doing this will make the change permanent and available to ALL Programs using the MKL on your system until you delete the entry again.

LINUX: (Thanks to foreignrobot)

Simply type in a terminal:

export MKL_DEBUG_CPU_TYPE=5

and then run matlab from the same terminal.

For benchmarking, you can use this script:

https://www.reddit.com/r/matlab/comments/cdru43/update_performance_of_various_cpus_in_matrix/

To make it permanent in Linux edit your shell's configuration scripts (~/.bashrc for bash, ~/.zshrc for zsh etc) adding the line export MKL_DEBUG_CPU_TYPE=5. That'll apply in any newly opened shell and to apply it in an already open one simply do . ~/.bashrc or whatever your config script name is. (Thanks to lowpolybutt)

P.S.: In case you are on an older AMD FX CPU, you could test whether MKL_DEBUG_CPU_TYPE=4 works for you. This should enable AVX, but I haven't tested this.

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MATLAB: Does Matlab perform well on AMD Ryzen

AMD Ryzen/Threadripper CPUs perform excellent using Matlab since the 2020a Release, or if you perform a very simple tweak with the versions prior to 2020a.

Here is an example of several CPUs based on a matlab performance benchmark script you'll find in the link below.

As said, since Matlab 2020a, you'll have this performance out of the box. For Matlab versions prior to 2020a, please read the link below.

I put together a detailed 'How To' explaining how to do that and included two benchmarks here. Just follow the steps.

You should read it if you want to understand the background. If you ended up here because you are on an older Version on Matlab and have low performance with an AMD setup or you just want to apply the tweak, follow these steps: It will take less than a minute.

Solution 1 (Windows - no admin rights needed):

Create a .bat file with the following lines to start Matlab in AVX2 Mode

@echo off
set MKL_DEBUG_CPU_TYPE=5
matlab.exe

This is straight forward. You open Notepad, copy and paste the above three lines and save the file as Matlab-AVX2. Notepad will save the file as Matlab-AVX2.txt. Now replace the extension ".txt" with ".bat".

If you double-click that file, Matlab will start the MKL in AVX2 Mode. If you start it the normal way, it will remain as always.

You can also download the .bat file from my highdrive if you trust me (which you of course should not, as I am a random guy in the Internet). If you delete the startup batch file provided in the download or the one you created yourself, its gone and your computer will be as it has been before.

(Optional Download: https://my.hidrive.com/lnk/EHAACFje )

Solution 2 (Windows - admin rights needed): If you are happy with the results (which you will be :-)), you should make the setting permanent by entering MKL_DEBUG_CPU_TYPE=5 into the System Environment Variables. This has several advantages, one of them being that it applies to all instances of Matlab and not just the one opened using the .bat file.

You can do this either by editing the Environmental Variables as shown above, or by opening a command prompt (CMD) with admin rights and typing in:

setx /M MKL_DEBUG_CPU_TYPE 5

Doing this will make the change permanent and available to ALL Programs using the MKL on your system until you delete the entry again from the variables.