Using Parallelism of the Intel® Math Kernel Library

Intel MKL is extensively parallelized. See Threaded Functions and Problems for lists of threaded functions and problems that can be threaded.

Intel MKL is thread-safe, which means that all Intel MKL functions (except the LAPACK deprecated routine ?lacon) work correctly during simultaneous execution by multiple threads. In particular, any chunk of threaded Intel MKL code provides access for multiple threads to the same shared data, while permitting only one thread at any given time to access a shared piece of data. Therefore, you can call Intel MKL from multiple threads and not worry about the function instances interfering with each other.

The library uses OpenMP* threading software, so you can use the environment variable OMP_NUM_THREADS to specify the number of threads or the equivalent OpenMP run-time function calls. Intel MKL also offers variables that are independent of OpenMP, such as MKL_NUM_THREADS, and equivalent Intel MKL functions for thread management. The Intel MKL variables are always inspected first, then the OpenMP variables are examined, and if neither is used, the OpenMP software chooses the default number of threads.

By default, Intel MKL uses the number of threads equal to the number of physical cores on the system.

To achieve higher performance, set the number of threads to the number of real processors or physical cores, as summarized in Techniques to Set the Number of Threads.

Optimization Notice
Intel® compilers, associated libraries and associated development tools may include or utilize options that optimize for instruction sets that are available in both Intel® and non-Intel microprocessors (for example SIMD instruction sets), but do not optimize equally for non-Intel microprocessors. In addition, certain compiler options for Intel compilers, including some that are not specific to Intel micro-architecture, are reserved for Intel microprocessors. For a detailed description of Intel compiler options, including the instruction sets and specific microprocessors they implicate, please refer to the "Intel® Compiler User and Reference Guides" under "Compiler Options". Many library routines that are part of Intel® compiler products are more highly optimized for Intel microprocessors than for other microprocessors. While the compilers and libraries in Intel® compiler products offer optimizations for both Intel and Intel-compatible microprocessors, depending on the options you select, your code and other factors, you likely will get extra performance on Intel microprocessors. Intel® compilers, associated libraries and associated development tools may or may not optimize to the same degree for non-Intel microprocessors for optimizations that are not unique to Intel microprocessors. These optimizations include Intel® Streaming SIMD Extensions 2 (Intel® SSE2), Intel® Streaming SIMD Extensions 3 (Intel® SSE3), and Supplemental Streaming SIMD Extensions 3 (Intel® SSSE3) instruction sets and other optimizations. Intel does not guarantee the availability, functionality, or effectiveness of any optimization on microprocessors not manufactured by Intel. Microprocessor-dependent optimizations in this product are intended for use with Intel microprocessors. While Intel believes our compilers and libraries are excellent choices to assist in obtaining the best performance on Intel® and non-Intel microprocessors, Intel recommends that you evaluate other compilers and libraries to determine which best meet your requirements. We hope to win your business by striving to offer the best performance of any compiler or library; please let us know if you find we do not. Notice revision #20110307

Optimization Notice

Intel® compilers, associated libraries and associated development tools may include or utilize options that optimize for instruction sets that are available in both Intel® and non-Intel microprocessors (for example SIMD instruction sets), but do not optimize equally for non-Intel microprocessors. In addition, certain compiler options for Intel compilers, including some that are not specific to Intel micro-architecture, are reserved for Intel microprocessors. For a detailed description of Intel compiler options, including the instruction sets and specific microprocessors they implicate, please refer to the "Intel® Compiler User and Reference Guides" under "Compiler Options". Many library routines that are part of Intel® compiler products are more highly optimized for Intel microprocessors than for other microprocessors. While the compilers and libraries in Intel® compiler products offer optimizations for both Intel and Intel-compatible microprocessors, depending on the options you select, your code and other factors, you likely will get extra performance on Intel microprocessors.

Intel® compilers, associated libraries and associated development tools may or may not optimize to the same degree for non-Intel microprocessors for optimizations that are not unique to Intel microprocessors. These optimizations include Intel® Streaming SIMD Extensions 2 (Intel® SSE2), Intel® Streaming SIMD Extensions 3 (Intel® SSE3), and Supplemental Streaming SIMD Extensions 3 (Intel® SSSE3) instruction sets and other optimizations. Intel does not guarantee the availability, functionality, or effectiveness of any optimization on microprocessors not manufactured by Intel. Microprocessor-dependent optimizations in this product are intended for use with Intel microprocessors.

While Intel believes our compilers and libraries are excellent choices to assist in obtaining the best performance on Intel® and non-Intel microprocessors, Intel recommends that you evaluate other compilers and libraries to determine which best meet your requirements. We hope to win your business by striving to offer the best performance of any compiler or library; please let us know if you find we do not.

Notice revision #20110307

Using Parallelism of the Intel® Math Kernel Library

See Also