15. Using AVX-512 with DPDK

AVX-512 is not used by default in DPDK, but it can be selected at runtime by apps through the use of EAL API, and by the user with a commandline argument. DPDK has a setting for max SIMD bitwidth, which can be modified and will then limit the vector path taken by the code.

15.1. Using the API in apps

Apps can request DPDK uses AVX-512 at runtime, if it provides improved application performance. This can be done by modifying the EAL setting for max SIMD bitwidth to 512, as by default it is 256, which does not allow for AVX-512.

rte_vect_set_max_simd_bitwidth(RTE_VECT_SIMD_512);

This API should only be called once at initialization, before EAL init. For more information on the possible enum values to use as a parameter, go to Max SIMD bitwidth:

15.2. Using the command-line argument

The user can select to use AVX-512 at runtime, using the following argument to set the max bitwidth:

./app/dpdk-testpmd --force-max-simd-bitwidth=512

This will override any further changes to the max SIMD bitwidth in DPDK, which is useful for testing purposes.