SuperComputers

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SuperComputers

• - Rohan Dhamnaskar

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Overview

• What is a Supercomputer
• Some Concepts
• Couple of examples.

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soo'p?r-k?m-pyoo't?r
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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.

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Measuring Performance

• FLOPS FLoating point Operations Per Second
• Usually 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.

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Parallel Processing Architechures
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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.

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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

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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

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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!!!

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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 ???

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Multiprocessor Architecture
CPU
Device
I/O Port
BUS
Memory
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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!!!

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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

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..Thank you
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Further Info.

• VirginiaTech Advanced Reasearch Computing Center.
  lt http//www.arc.vt.edu/arc/ gt
• San Diego Supercomputing Center.
  lt http//www.sdsc.edu/ gt
• AMD Multicore Technology. lt
  http//multicore.amd.com/ gt
• LINPACK. lt http//www.netlib.org/linpack/ gt
• Lecture Notes Parallel Computing. Dr. Lee.