SPEC Offers New Tools and Reduced Academic Pricing for SPEC CPU 2017 Benchmark Suite

The Standard Performance Evaluation Corp. (SPEC) reports a new update to the SPEC CPU 2017 benchmark suite, version 1.1.9, which includes tools for RISC-V-based Linux systems. SPEC also announced reduced academic pricing for the SPEC CPU benchmark suite. SPEC CPU benchmarks are used to evaluate compute-intensive performance across a range of hardware systems.

SPEC CPU benchmark Version 1.1.9 updates include:

• New toolset for RISC-V 64-bit Linux systems. This initial support for RISC-V by SPEC CPU includes important limitations, including no support for “reportable” runs. For details, click here.
• New version of the sysinfo tool used by SPEC CPU 2017, which gathers more data from the operating system regarding process limits and various levels of firmware, including microcode versions where applicable, process limits, and selected information from operating system files.
• Incorporates the latest version of the PTDaemon tool, version 1.10.0, from the SPECpower Committee. These updates keep SPEC CPU 2017 compliant with the PTDaemon tool and all approved power meters.
• Updated documentation included with the download.

“The initial support in SPEC CPU 2017 suite version 1.1.9 for RISC-V systems running Linux enables the benchmarks to run on more types of devices than ever before,” says James Bucek, CPU committee chair at SPEC. “The new version can automatically collect more system configuration details and supports more power measurement devices, making it easier for users to gain greater insight into the performance of their systems.”

Effective immediately, the new Academic license price for the SPEC CPU 2017 benchmark suite is $50. Institutions that purchase a single license for the benchmark suite may provide access to everyone within the institution who needs it, including professors, students and staff. Pricing for non-profits remains $250. Pricing for commercial enterprises remains $1,000.

“New SPEC CPU pricing will enable even more of the academic community to utilize the industry-standard benchmark for comparisons of processor, memory, and compiler performance and energy efficiency,” says SPEC President David Reiner. “SPEC values the academic and research communities, deeply appreciates their contributions to SPEC, and strives to make SPEC benchmarks useful and accessible to academics to further their critical research activities.”

Starting February 28, 2023, all SPEC CPU 2017 benchmark suite submissions to the SPEC website must use Version 1.1.9. Since none of the updates in Version 1.1.9 affects benchmark performance, any reportable runs gathered using this new version will be comparable to any other SPEC CPU 2017 results currently published on spec.org.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.