Is the Intel Xeon Phi usable without a costly Intel Compiler?

Question

Does the Intel Xeon Phi coprocessor, to be usable as parallel platform, require a license of the Intel Composer XE compiler, or are there alternative compilers?

Goshawk

gcc will work for the Phi ( see for instance software.intel.com/en-us/articles/… ) but not very well - it doesn't support vectorization, for instance. ISPC ( ispc.github.com ) will work and is open, but you would have to use their fairly idiosyncratic SIMD extensions. – Outgo

Not quite a general-purpose compiler, but Intel's OpenCL SDK for Xeon Phi is free. – Roebuck

And not supporting vectorization for the Xeon Phi means dividing its peak performance (flops) by 16. – Primogenitor

@JonathanDursi, looks like GCC is getting MIC OpenMP support phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTgzNzk I'm wondering if I will be able to use the 512bit SIMD with GCC with the Xeon Phi? You can pick up the Xeon Phi for $200 right now phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTgzNjY – Damar

@Zboson - hey, cool! That opens up some possibilities. – Outgo

Answer 1

There are a few options I can list here to use/get the Intel compiler...gcc, as you know, is not equipped to vectorize code for this platform.

1. There is a non-commercial license of the Intel compiler for Linux* that provides the same Intel Xeon Phi coprocessor enabled Intel Development tools as a commercial/eval/academic license assuming the requesting individual fulfills the licensing requirements. http://software.intel.com/en-us/non-commercial-software-development.

2. For academic institutions who may need licenses in support of a class / training development, a 1-year free license may be obtained. You can find out more at http://software.intel.com/academic > Software Tools ('Request license' button)

3. A 30-day eval license can be obtained - if you go to the Intel compiler page, there are links to download a 30-day free trial (on the top right corner)

Lenee

Answer 2

look at this link, Intel site claims few compilers works with them but I still could not get anything to work, its a working process. Good luck

http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/intel-and-third-party-tools-and-libraries-available-with-support-for-intelr-xeon-phitm

Weiweibel