[an error occurred while processing this directive]

NERSC 3 Greenbook

Next: Massively Parallel Processing Supercomputers Up: Hardware Previous: Hardware

Parallel Vector Supercomputers

Parallel Vector Processor (PVP) supercomputers such as the CRI C-90 and J-90s are shared memory multiprocessors (SMPs) that are the computational workhorses of the current HPCAC facility. The C90 has a peak performance of approximately 1 Gflops per processor with 16 processors and 1 GB of memory. The J-90 Complex has a per processor peak performance of approximately 250 Mflops per processor, with 96 processors and 32 GB of memory. Thus the J-90 complex exceeds the C90 performance, at a fraction of the cost. However, any single-threaded simulation will perform at most a factor of four slower.

The current top-of-the-line PVP equipment available from the vendor community is represented by the Cray T-90 and the NEC SX-5. For instance, the Cray T-90 has a peak performance of close to 2 GFlops per processor for up to 32 processors. The future evolution of PVP systems planned at NERSC is to phase out the C-90 at the end of CY 1998, and to upgrade the J-90 line with improved processors as they become available, and depending on budget and demand. An upgrade of at least 25% of the J90 cluster is currently budgeted. Without improved PVP capability in NERSC's next procurement, this marks a transition for the facility in that they will no longer provide the highest-end vector processing hardware available, but instead will try to meet the demand with larger aggregate capability using slower but more cost-effective solutions.

NERSC 3 Greenbook

Next: Massively Parallel Processing Supercomputers Up: Hardware Previous: Hardware