Pthread runs slower as the thread grows

Question

I am starting to program in parallel, and I tried to write a parallel program with the pthread library. I ran the program on an 8-processor computer. The problem is that when I increase NumProcs, each thread slows down, although their tasks are always the same. Can someone help me figure out what's going on? `

#define MAX_NUMP 16
using namespace std;
int NumProcs;

pthread_mutex_t   SyncLock; /* mutex */
pthread_cond_t    SyncCV; /* condition variable */
int               SyncCount; /* number of processors at the barrier so far */

pthread_mutex_t   ThreadLock; /* mutex */

// used only in solaris. use clock_gettime in linux
//hrtime_t          StartTime;
//hrtime_t          EndTime;  

struct timespec StartTime;
struct timespec EndTime;

void Barrier()
{
  int ret;

  pthread_mutex_lock(&SyncLock); /* Get the thread lock */
  SyncCount++;
  if(SyncCount == NumProcs) {
    ret = pthread_cond_broadcast(&SyncCV);
    assert(ret == 0);
  } else {
    ret = pthread_cond_wait(&SyncCV, &SyncLock); 
    assert(ret == 0);
  }
  pthread_mutex_unlock(&SyncLock);
}


/* The function which is called once the thread is allocated */
void* ThreadLoop(void* tmp)
{
  /* each thread has a private version of local variables */
  long threadId = (long) tmp; 
  int ret;
  int startTime, endTime;
  int count=0;
  /* ********************** Thread Synchronization*********************** */
  Barrier();

  /* ********************** Execute Job ********************************* */
  startTime = clock();
  for(int i=0;i<65536;i++)
    for(int j=0;j<1024;j++)
        count++;
  endTime = clock();
  printf("threadid:%ld, time:%d\n",threadId,endTime-startTime);
}


int main(int argc, char** argv)
{
  pthread_t*     threads;
  pthread_attr_t attr;
  int            ret;
  int            dx;

  if(argc != 2) {
    fprintf(stderr, "USAGE: %s <numProcesors>\n", argv[0]);
    exit(-1);
  }
  assert(argc == 2);
  NumProcs = atoi(argv[1]);
  assert(NumProcs > 0 && NumProcs <= MAX_NUMP);

  /* Initialize array of thread structures */
  threads = (pthread_t *) malloc(sizeof(pthread_t) * NumProcs);
  assert(threads != NULL);

  /* Initialize thread attribute */
  pthread_attr_init(&attr);
  pthread_attr_setscope(&attr, PTHREAD_SCOPE_SYSTEM); // sys manages contention

  /* Initialize mutexs */
  ret = pthread_mutex_init(&SyncLock, NULL);
  assert(ret == 0);
  ret = pthread_mutex_init(&ThreadLock, NULL);
  assert(ret == 0);

  /* Init condition variable */
  ret = pthread_cond_init(&SyncCV, NULL);
  assert(ret == 0);
  SyncCount = 0;

  Count = 0;

  /* get high resolution timer, timer is expressed in nanoseconds, relative
   * to some arbitrary time.. so to get delta time must call gethrtime at
   * the end of operation and subtract the two times.
   */
  //StartTime = gethrtime();
  ret = clock_gettime(CLOCK_MONOTONIC, &StartTime);

  for(dx=0; dx < NumProcs; dx++) {
    /* ************************************************************
     * pthread_create takes 4 parameters
     *  p1: threads(output)
     *  p2: thread attribute
     *  p3: start routine, where new thread begins
     *  p4: arguments to the thread
     * ************************************************************ */
    ret = pthread_create(&threads[dx], &attr, ThreadLoop, (void*) dx);
    assert(ret == 0);

  }

  /* Wait for each of the threads to terminate */
  for(dx=0; dx < NumProcs; dx++) {
    ret = pthread_join(threads[dx], NULL);
    assert(ret == 0);
  }

  //EndTime = gethrtime();
  ret = clock_gettime(CLOCK_MONOTONIC, &EndTime);

  printf("Time = %ld nanoseconds\n", EndTime.tv_nsec - StartTime.tv_nsec);

  pthread_mutex_destroy(&ThreadLock);

  pthread_mutex_destroy(&SyncLock);
  pthread_cond_destroy(&SyncCV);
  pthread_attr_destroy(&attr);

  return 0;
}

Answer 1

Your observation is expected.

The main factors that usually affect this situation (worker rotating in local computing):

• Nb_threads / nb_available_machine_cores ratio
• Affinity of each thread

- 1, .

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pthread_setaffinity, .

Answer 2

( O3), ThreadLoop() :

1) "count", , .

2) "count", .

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"volatile int count" O1 .

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