Bitmain Sophon sc1 User manual

Sophon SC1

User Guide

V1.2

Version Update Content Release Date

V1.0 - 2017/10/25

V1.0 1. Add

Software package

download link 2017/11/28

CONTENT

1. Overview ..................................................................................................................................4

1.1 Introduction..............................................................................................................................4

1.2 Minimum System Requirements .............................................................................................4

2. Installation ...............................................................................................................................5

2.1 Hardware Installing..................................................................................................................5

2.2 Software Installing...................................................................................................................6

2.2.1 Software Package............................................................................................................6

2.2.2 How to install....................................................................................................................6

2.2.3 Example ...........................................................................................................................7

1. Overview

1.1 Introduction

Sophon SC1 is the latest deep learning accelerated card, an advanced fan-cooled module that

combines the BM1680 into a compact, easy to integrate package. It is designed for the inference of

multiple deep learning applications, allows users to calmly deal with the large-scale data.

There is one BM1680 on Sophon SC1, which contains 64 NPU, each NPU contains the following

configuration:

The single-precision peak performance of SC1 is 2TFlops/s, and SC1+ card which equipped with

two units of BM1680 reach the single-precision peak performance to 4TFlops/s.

Sophon SC1 card is equipped with 16GB of DDR4 memory, bandwidth up to 83.2GB/s. With the

provided SDK from Bitmain, you can further simplify the buffer management of DL workload to

achieve better load balancing.

Each Sophon SC1 card has a PCIE3.0x8 interface, can access large-capacity system DRAM

memory, to achieve bidirectional data exchange and streaming between the card and the system.

Sophon SC1 card max power consumption is 85W, Sophon SC1+ card max power consumption is

150W, the actual power consumption was dynamic according to the workload. For the convenience

of deployment, the card were carried out with active cooling design, to ensure that it can operate

stably in the range of 0 ℃~ 50 ℃ambient temperature.

1.2 Minimum System Requirements

Motherboard

PCI Express® or PCI Express 3.0-compliant motherboard with one dual-width x16 graphics

slot.

System Power Supply

Minimum 400W or greater system power supply with one 6-pin PCI Express supplementary

power connectors.

64 single precision (FP32) EU operation core

512KB SRAM (program visible)

Operation System

Ubuntu 14.04/16.04

FreeBSD x86

Linux，32-bit or 64-bit

System Memory

4GB system memory (6GB recommended)

Internet connection for driver installation

350MB of available hard disk space

2. Installation

2.1 Hardware Installing

Because there are so many different computer systems on the market, the procedure to install the

SC1 accelerator card can vary from system to system. Use the following instructions as a guideline

and consult the documentation of your computer system for any further information on your individual

system.

Discharge your body’s static electricity by touching a grounded surface before touching the

accelerator card. A grounded surface is the computer chassis, or some other surface you know to

be grounded. Use the following procedure to install the SC1 accelerator card into your computer

system.

2.1.1 Turn off your computer/server and monitor and disconnect the power cord. Depending on

your computer system, you may need to disconnect the cables on the back of your system.

Mark those cables so you can make sure reconnecting them properly.

2.1.2 Open your computer by removing the cover/side panel. Refer to your computer

documentation from the original manufacturer for assistance.

2.1.3 Keep components (such as screws and brackets) when installing the SC1 card.

2.1.4 Remove two adjacent slot covers if you do not have an accelerator card installed.

Note: The SC1 is double-slot and will require removing two slot covers.

2.1.5 Plug the SC1 accelerator card into the Primary PCI Express x16 slot on your motherboard.

This is usually the slot closest to the CPU but may be the second or third slot. Look for the

slot labeled ×16, which is likely the only PCI Express slot with a retention lever on the end

of the slot or the one closest to the CPU

2.1.6 Connect the 6-pin power connector from the power supply to the power connector on the

SC1 card. Note that the connector and socket on the SC1 card have a unique shape, only

one direction is allowed.

2.1.7 Reinstall the cover on your computer and reconnect any cables that you removed before

the installation.

2.2 Software Installing

2.2.1 Software Package

Software package includes driver, firmware, libbmdnn, other related libs, documents and tools:

Driver Linux driver for SC1.

Firmware

Binary image, which will be loaded to SC1 when necessary.

Libbmdnn

lib file of bmdnn, which will be linked during runtime.

Other libs

Other supporting libs, such as caffe, maybe different in different releases.

Document User guide, readme and other documents.

Tools Install scripts, and sample test applications.

2.2.2 How to Install

You could get the package from below address:

http://ivs.bitmain.io （file name: bm1680_debs_V1.21.tar.gz）

And it can be installed following these steps.

Unpacked the package by using cmds:

tar-xyzf bmdnn_runtime_1.2_1-23.tar.gz

And here are the files when package is unpacked:

lwang@lwang-04:~/bmdnn_runtime$ ls

bmdnn-bkms_1.2.1023_all.deb caffe_1.2.1023-1_amd64.deb readme

bmdnn-firmware_1.2.1023-1_amd64.deb install.sh

BMDNN_User_Guide.pdf libbmdnn_1.2.1023-1_amd64.deb

Install packages by running script “install.sh” like this:

./Install.sh

Bmdnn

Package

driver fw libbmdnn other libs doc & tools

Like this:

lwang@lwang-04:~/bmdnn_runtime$ ./install.sh

Type “y” as guided and the installation will be done like this:

Bmdnn:

Running module version sanity check.

Original module

No original module exists within this kernel

Installation

Installing to /lib/modules/4.10.0-28-generic/updates/dkms

depmod….

DKMS:install completed.

Setting up bmdnn-firmware(1.2.1023-1)…

Setting up caffe(1.2.1023-1)…

Setting up libbmdnn(1.2.1023-1)…

lwang@lwang-04:~/bmdnn_runtime$

Now package has been installed successfully.

2.2.3 Example

There are several test applications in the package. As demo, these tests can be easily used, you

can type a command like this from any path:

test_md_scalar

This application will run. It will load firmware to SC1 when necessary. And the calculation result will

be shown at last.

Available sample applications may be within following list:

Test Name note

1 test_conv_forwar

2 test_fc_backward

3 test_fc_forward

4 test_img_sum

5 test_md_cmp

6 test_md_linear

7 test_md_scalar

8 test_md_sfu

9 test_md_sum

10 test_pooling_forward

11 test_relu_layer

12 test_sigmoid

13 test_softmax

14 test_softmax_loss

15 test_tanh

Note: this list may be different in different packages.

Table of contents

BITMAIN Sophon SC1 User manual

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