Supercomputer Dictionary definition:
a very fast, powerful mainframe computer, used in advanced military and scientific applications.
For our sake: Computer SYSTEM designed to operate at
super high speeds which can perform complex calculations that would require greater than a year for a normal computer.
Measuring Performance
FLOPS: FLoating point Operations Per SecondUsually prefixed by an SI unit of magnitude
○ Megaflops, Gigaflops, Teraflops, Petaflops○ Usual 3GHz processor ~ 6 GFLOPS.
LINPACK: A Benchmark software library written in FORTRAN to compute a n x n systems of Linear Algebra. (MATH 129A!) The result is reported in MFLOPS.
Cluster Architecture Each Computer (Node)
is a complete Computer Connected to each other
via a high speed bus Job broken up into
blocks of data and executed independently.
Cheap and easy to produce.
SDSU Supercomputers - DataStar
IBM Power4+ based Performance: 15.6
teraflops (Overall) ~ 6.2 teraflops each
(4 separate cluster sets) Processors: 2528 IBM
p-Series (1.5 ~ 1.7 GHz) Memory: 7.3 TB Storage: 180 TB
SDSU Supercomputers - Intimidata
IBM BG/L eServer (Blue Gene System)
Performance: 17.2 teraflops (Overall)13.83 teraflops (LINPACK)
Processors: 6144 PowerPC (700 MHz / 2 processors per Node)
Memory: 1.5 TB Storage: 25 TB
Virginia Tech – System X 1110 Xserve G5 servers Performance: 12.25
teraflops (Overall)10 teraflops (LINPACK)
Processors: 2200 PowerPC (2.3 GHz / 2 processors per Node)
Memory: 4.3 TB Storage: 16 TB CHEAP!!!
Uses Supercomputers are mainly used to simulate:
DNA / Protein Structures (Biology / Bioinformatics)Molecular Dynamics (Chemistry)Fluid Dynamics and Turbulence (Physics)Earthquake and Seismic activity (Geology)Fourier Transforms and Algebraic Systems
(Mathematics)
Global warming patterns (Environmental Sciences)Virtual CAD/CAM Design (Engineering)Solar atmosphere and Supernova Dynamics (Astronomy)
NO COMPUTER SCIENCE ???
Multiprocessor Architecture
2 to 8 processors (cores) Communication via Memory and System
bus Large memory. (Memory Pool) Still Cheaper but lacks performance. Uses: Workstations, Application
Servers, Gaming!!!
AMD Phenom – Quad Core
Processor Speed: 2.3 GHz (2 MB L2 + 2 MB L3 on chip)
Processor – Processor Bandwidth: 27.2 GB/s
Front Side Bus: Upto1066MHz Uses : Gaming / Server