Why omp version is slower than serial? - c++

Question

It's a follow-up question to this one
Now I have the code:
#include <iostream>
#include <cmath>
#include <omp.h>
#define max(a, b) (a)>(b)?(a):(b)
const int m = 2001;
const int n = 2000;
const int p = 4;
double v[m + 2][m + 2];
double x[m + 2];
double y[m + 2];
double _new[m + 2][m + 2];
double maxdiffA[p + 1];
int icol, jrow;
int main() {
omp_set_num_threads(p);
double h = 1.0 / (n + 1);
double start = omp_get_wtime();
#pragma omp parallel for private(icol) shared(x, y, v, _new)
for (icol = 0; icol <= n + 1; ++icol) {
x[icol] = y[icol] = icol * h;
_new[icol][0] = v[icol][0] = 6 - 2 * x[icol];
_new[n + 1][icol] = v[n + 1][icol] = 4 - 2 * y[icol];
_new[icol][n + 1] = v[icol][n + 1] = 3 - x[icol];
_new[0][icol] = v[0][icol] = 6 - 3 * y[icol];
}
const double eps = 0.01;
#pragma omp parallel private(icol, jrow) shared(_new, v, maxdiffA)
{
while (true) { //for [iters=1 to maxiters by 2]
#pragma omp single
for (int i = 0; i < p; i++) maxdiffA[i] = 0;
#pragma omp for
for (icol = 1; icol <= n; icol++)
for (jrow = 1; jrow <= n; jrow++)
_new[icol][jrow] =
(v[icol - 1][jrow] + v[icol + 1][jrow] + v[icol][jrow - 1] + v[icol][jrow + 1]) / 4;
#pragma omp for
for (icol = 1; icol <= n; icol++)
for (jrow = 1; jrow <= n; jrow++)
v[icol][jrow] = (_new[icol - 1][jrow] + _new[icol + 1][jrow] + _new[icol][jrow - 1] +
_new[icol][jrow + 1]) / 4;
#pragma omp for
for (icol = 1; icol <= n; icol++)
for (jrow = 1; jrow <= n; jrow++)
maxdiffA[omp_get_thread_num()] = max(maxdiffA[omp_get_thread_num()],
fabs(_new[icol][jrow] - v[icol][jrow]));
#pragma omp barrier
double maxdiff = 0.0;
for (int k = 0; k < p; ++k) {
maxdiff = max(maxdiff, maxdiffA[k]);
}
if (maxdiff < eps)
break;
#pragma omp barrier
//#pragma omp single
//std::cout << maxdiff << std::endl;
}
}
double end = omp_get_wtime();
printf("start = %.16lf\nend = %.16lf\ndiff = %.16lf\n", start, end, end - start);
return 0;
}
But why it works 2-3 times slower (32sec vs 18sec) than serial analog:
#include <iostream>
#include <cmath>
#include <omp.h>
#define max(a,b) (a)>(b)?(a):(b)
const int m = 2001;
const int n = 2000;
double v[m + 2][m + 2];
double x[m + 2];
double y[m + 2];
double _new[m + 2][m + 2];
int main() {
double h = 1.0 / (n + 1);
double start = omp_get_wtime();
for (int i = 0; i <= n + 1; ++i) {
x[i] = y[i] = i * h;
_new[i][0]=v[i][0] = 6 - 2 * x[i];
_new[n + 1][i]=v[n + 1][i] = 4 - 2 * y[i];
_new[i][n + 1]=v[i][n + 1] = 3 - x[i];
_new[0][i]=v[0][i] = 6 - 3 * y[i];
}
const double eps=0.01;
while(true){ //for [iters=1 to maxiters by 2]
double maxdiff=0.0;
for (int i=1;i<=n;i++)
for (int j=1;j<=n;j++)
_new[i][j]=(v[i-1][j]+v[i+1][j]+v[i][j-1]+v[i][j+1])/4;
for (int i=1;i<=n;i++)
for (int j=1;j<=n;j++)
v[i][j]=(_new[i-1][j]+_new[i+1][j]+_new[i][j-1]+_new[i][j+1])/4;
for (int i=1;i<=n;i++)
for (int j=1;j<=n;j++)
maxdiff=max(maxdiff, fabs(_new[i][j]-v[i][j]));
if(maxdiff<eps) break;
std::cout << maxdiff<<std::endl;
}
double end = omp_get_wtime();
printf("start = %.16lf\nend = %.16lf\ndiff = %.16lf\n", start, end, end - start);
return 0;
}
Also interesting that it works SAME TIME as version (I can post it here if you say so) which looks like so
while(true){ //106 iteratins here!!!
#pragma omp paralell for
for(...)
#pragma omp paralell for
for(...)
#pragma omp paralell for
for(...)
}
But I thought that what making omp code slow is spawning threads inside while loop 106 times... But no! Then probably threads simultaneously write to the same array cells.. But where does it happen? I don't see it could you show me please?
Maybe it's because too much barriers? But Lecturer told me to implement the code like so and "analyse it" Maybe the answer is "Jacobi algorithm isn't meant to run well in parallel"? Or it's just my lame coding?

Answer 1

So the root of evel was
max(maxdiffA[w],fabs(_new[icol][jrow] - v[icol][jrow]))
because it's
#define max(a, b) (a)>(b)?(a):(b)
It's probably creating TOO much branching ('if's ) Without this thing parallel version works 8 times faster and loading CPU 68% instead of 99%..
The starange thing: same "max" doesn't affect serioal version

Answer 2

I am writing to make you aware of a few situations. It is not short to write in a comment, so I decided to write as an answer.
every time a thread is made, it takes some time for its creation. if your program's running time in a single core is short, then the creation of threads will make this time longer for multi-core.
plus using a barrier makes all your threads wait for others, which could somehow be slowed down in cpu. this way, even if all threads finish the job very fast, that last one will make the total run time longer.
try to run your program with bigger sized arrays where time is around 2 minutes for single threading. then make your way to multi-core.
then try to wrap your main code in a normal loop to run it a few times and prints the timings for each. the first run of the loop might be slow because of loading libraries, but the next runs should be faster to prove the increasing speed.
if above suggestions do not give a result, then it means your coding needs more editing.
EDIT:
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