benchmark configs

This is a set of scripts and config files used for benchmarking. These configs are hardware-specific, so they likely can't be used to reproduce my test environment, but they at least serve as documentation.

The goal is to create an extremely low noise benchmarking environment to reduce noise in measurements (within about 1% variation).

Hardware

• AMD Ryzen 2700x downclocked to a fixed 3.20 GHz
• 16 GB RAM at 2133 MT/s
• SATA SSD

High-Level Notes

• Bare-bones Debian 12 without X11/Wayland
• Disable ASLR
• Disable CPU Boost, and fix clocks at 3.20 GHz
• Disable SMT (aka "Hyperthreading")
• Enable perf events for non-root users.
• Use cpuset to isolate 4 cores, one of the two CCX/chiplets, limiting variability in core-to-core and cache latency. Move kernel threads off too.
• Provide a /usr/local/bin/shield command to enter the cpuset shield (with sudo shield bash).

Other Configuration

Install Chrome and disable GPU rasterization so that headless operation works:

curl -O https://dl.google.com/linux/direct/google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb
sudo apt --fix-broken install
google-chrome --headless --disable-gpu --flag-switches-begin --disable-features=EnableGpuRasterization --flag-switches-end