✧✦Catherine✦✧Feb 24

so i got a steam deck (i wanted one for a while & the threat of them running out of DRAM because of AI demand is looming)

it's... it's really nice. someone actually gave a shit while designing this PC hardware and software. rare and pleasant

Show thread✧✦Catherine✦✧Feb 24
i'm going to install Vivado on it
Show thread✧✦Catherine✦✧Feb 24
you think i was joking
Show thread✧✦Catherine✦✧
it needed some convincing but it runs!
Feb 24 at 4:31pmWeb
Show thread✧✦Catherine✦✧Feb 24
now for the real test of steam deck's utility: how fast can it pnr
Show thread✧✦Catherine✦✧Feb 24
despite having only 88 GB/s of memory bandwidth (https://glauca.space/@r/116126575467566538) it seems to be... okay? oddly it appears much slower to do synthesis than pnr on their or1200 demo project, which is not the way it usually goes
Show thread/usr/local/goth @ homeFeb 24

@whitequark the thing I love about my steam deck is they're like "hey there's a full ass desktop environment and it's Linux so your hardware do what you want"

I respect that design choice

Show thread✧✦Catherine✦✧Feb 24
@ladytel yeah it's excellent
Show threadKrutonium://Feb 24

@whitequark FWIW: The memory is slightly underclocked by default; You can speed it up quite a bit with some firmware tweaking, which amounts to loading an alternative GUI to change the CMOS settings.

IIRC it runs slower because some early on models of the Deck were unstable at the higher clocks and they never adjusted it back up.

Show thread✧✦Catherine✦✧Feb 24
@krutonium ty, how do i do that?
Show threadKrutonium://Feb 25

@whitequark https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamDeck/comments/1144w09/guide_for_ram_overclock/

Your Mileage may Vary, if you mess it up you're on your own.

Worst case scenario you should be able to fix it by clearing the CMOS though, unless you go wild with voltage settings or somthing.

Show threadRFeb 24

@whitequark according to one benchmark, it has some strange CPU memory bandwidth issues ( https://chipsandcheese.com/p/van-gogh-amds-steam-deck-apu )

but overall still performs quite well for the "ultra-mobile" (do they still use that term?) device class. doesn't throttle for no reason, for one

Van Gogh, AMD’s Steam Deck APU

Zen 2’s launch was a defining moment for AMD.

Chips and Cheese
Show threadNicolas DandrimontFeb 24
@whitequark don't forget the FPS (Flipflops Per Second) overlay
Show threadPxl PhileFeb 24
@whitequark I have no idea what pnr means besides Place'n'Route. What's the meaning in your case?
Show thread✧✦Catherine✦✧Feb 24
@ppxl exactly that
Show threadPxl PhileFeb 24

@whitequark ooooooooh now I got it. 🤦🏾‍♂️🤦🏾‍♂️🤦🏾‍♂️

I thought of doing hardware preparation like solder screening, not computational multi objective NP hard calculations. I am obviously not smart

Show thread✧✦Catherine✦✧Feb 24
do you think this is the first bitstream synthesized on a steam deck?
Show threadRFeb 24

@whitequark no we did quite a few already (might be the first with vivado tho)

hey it's faster than qemu on M1

Show threadlomnFeb 24
@whitequark I know it's not hehe.
A friend uses he's as a laptop and installed he's work toolchain for the sake of it. Told me that was unusable though.
I also installed ghidra on the same device for a ctf where that was the only computer I could get re was eye stressing to say the least...
Show threadTony Garnock-JonesFeb 24
@whitequark The first bitsteam (I can't help myself, it started when I had a kid, I'm so sorry)
Show thread✧✦Catherine✦✧Feb 24
@tonyg amazing
Show threadComplexity of systems 🏳️‍⚧️Feb 24
@whitequark probably at worst you're probably within the first dozen (unless there was some internal dev version of the steam deck that had an FPGA built in for some reason)
Show threadjuliusFeb 24
@whitequark Downloading Vivado via Steam must be a huge improvement. Do they have DLCs?