AMD RDNA2 system optimization

AMD RDNA2 system optimization#

Applies to Linux and Windows

2024-07-16

5 min read time

System settings#

This chapter reviews system settings that are required to configure the system for ROCm virtualization on RDNA2-based AMD Radeon™ PRO GPUs. Installing ROCm on Bare Metal follows the routine ROCm installation procedure.

To enable ROCm virtualization on V620, one has to setup Single Root I/O Virtualization (SR-IOV) in the BIOS via setting found in the following (System BIOS settings). A tested configuration can be followed in (Operating system settings).

Attention

SR-IOV is supported on V620 and unsupported on W6800.

System BIOS settings#

Table 4 Settings for the system BIOS in an ASrock platform.#

Advanced / North Bridge Configuration

IOMMU

Enabled

Input-output Memory Management Unit

Advanced / North Bridge Configuration

ACS Enable

Enabled

Access Control Service

Advanced / PCIe/PCI/PnP Configuration

SR-IOV Support

Enabled

Single Root I/O Virtualization

Advanced / ACPI settings

PCI AER Support

Enabled

Advanced Error Reporting

To set up the host, update SBIOS to version 1.2a.

Operating system settings#

Table 5 System Configuration Prerequisites#

Server

SMC 4124 [AS -4124GS-TNR]

Host OS

Ubuntu 20.04.3 LTS

Host Kernel

5.4.0-97-generic

CPU

AMD EPYC 7552 48-Core Processor

GPU

RDNA2 V620 (D603GLXE)

SBIOS

Version SMC_r_1.2a

VBIOS

113-D603GLXE-077

Guest OS 1

Ubuntu 20.04.5 LTS

Guest OS 2

RHEL 9.0

GIM Driver

gim-dkms_1.0.0.1234577_all

VM CPU Cores

32

VM RAM

64 GB

Install the following Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) Hypervisor packages:

sudo apt-get -y install qemu-kvm qemu-utils  bridge-utils virt-manager  gir1.2-spiceclientgtk*  gir1.2-spice-client-gtk* libvirt-daemon-system dnsmasq-base
sudo virsh net-start default /*to enable Virtual network by default

Enable input-output memory management unit (IOMMU) in GRUB settings by adding the following line to /etc/default/grub:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash amd_iommu=on" for AMD CPU

Update grub and reboot

sudo update=grub
sudo reboot

Install the GPU-IOV Module (GIM, where IOV is I/O Virtualization) driver and follow the steps below.z

sudo dpkg -i <gim_driver>
sudo reboot
# Load Host Driver to Create 1VF
sudo modprobe gim vf_num=1
# Note: If GIM driver loaded successfully, we could see "gim info:(gim_init:213) *****Running GIM*****" in dmesg
lspci -d 1002:

Which should output something like:

01:00.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Device 1478
02:00.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Device 1479
03:00.0 Display controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Device 73a1
03:02.0 Display controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Device 73ae → VF

Guest OS installation#

First, assign GPU virtual function (VF) to VM using the following steps.

  1. Shut down the VM.

  2. Run virt-manager

  3. In the Virtual Machine Manager GUI, select the VM and click Open.

    Virtual Machine Manager

  4. In the VM GUI, go to Show Virtual Hardware Details > Add Hardware to configure hardware.

    Show virtual hardware details

  5. Go to Add Hardware > PCI Host Device > VF and click Finish.

    VF Selection

Then start the VM.

Finally install ROCm on the virtual machine (VM). For detailed instructions, refer to the Linux install guide.

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