https://wiki.expertiza.ncsu.edu/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=Mewilbor 2026-06-03T03:22:47Z User contributions MediaWiki 1.41.0 https://wiki.expertiza.ncsu.edu/index.php?title=CSC/ECE_506_Spring_2012/1a_mw&diff=57972 2012-02-05T18:39:47Z

<p>Mewilbor: </p> <hr /> <div>&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Comparisons Between Supercomputers&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Supercomputers] are extremely capable computers, able to solve complex tasks in a relatively small amount of time. Their ability to massively outperform typical home and office computers is made possible normally either by an abundance of processor cores or smaller computers working in conjunction together. Supercomputers are generally specialized computers that tend to be very expensive, not available for general-purpose use and are used in computations where large amounts of numerical processing is required. They are used in scientific, military, graphics applications and for other number or data intensive computations &lt;ref&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref&gt;http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/supercomputer.html Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;For the history, development and current state of supercomputing, including a top 10 list, please see [http://expertiza.csc.ncsu.edu/wiki/index.php/CSC/ECE_506_Spring_2012/1a_ry our fellow student's wiki article on Supercomputers].<br /> <br /> = Benchmarking Supercomputers =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Supercomputers are generally compared qualitatively using floating point operations per second, or [http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html FLOPS]. Using standard prefixes, higher levels of FLOPS can be specified as the computing power of supercomputers increases. For example, KiloFLOPS for thousands of FLOPS and MegaFLOPS for millions of FLOPS &lt;ref&gt;http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html Doran, Kevin (April 2011) Comparing the performance of supercomputers&lt;/ref&gt;. Often you'll see just the first letter of the prefix with FLOPS. For example, for GigaFLOPS or billions of FLOPS, you'll see [http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s GFLOPS] &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s Definition of GFLOPS&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;A software package called [http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK] is a standard approach to testing or benchmarking supercomputers by solving a dense system of linear equations using the Gauss method. &lt;ref&gt;http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK defined&lt;/ref&gt;. However, LINPACK benchmarking software is not only used to benchmark supercomputers, it can also be used to benchmark a typical user computer &lt;ref&gt;http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?197835-IntelBurnTest-The-new-stress-testing-program Intel Benchmark Software&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Finding Supercomputer Comparison Data =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Starting in 1993, [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] began collecting performance data on computers and update their list every six months &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_top500 What is the TOP500&lt;/ref&gt;. This appears to be an excellent online source of information that collects benchmark data submitted by users of computers and readily provides performance statistics by Vendor, Application, Architecture and nine (9) other areas &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot;&gt;http://i.top500.org/stats TOP500 Stats&lt;/ref&gt;. This article, in order to be vendor neutral, is providing the comparison by architecture. However, there are many ways to compare supercomputers and the user interface at [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] makes these comparisons easy to do.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Comparison of Supercomputers by Architecture =<br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-architecture.png|right|350px|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;Traditional supercomputers of today are composed of three (3) types of parallel processing architectures. These architectures are Cluster, Massively Parallel Processing or MPP, and Constellation &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;. A non-traditional, or disruptive approach, to supercomputers is [http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing Grid Computing]&lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The graphic generated at [http://www.TOP500.org/ TOP500.org] shows the distribution of supercomputers by architecture. The Massively Parallel Processing section of the graph makes up 17.8% of the total number of current supercomputers. The bulk of supercomputers is made up of clustered systems, which Constellation architectures make up a fraction of a percent of supercomputers. Each architecture is further discussed, below.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Cluster ==<br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-cluster-count.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats|right|350px|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;A [http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/cluster-computing Cluster] is a group of computers connected together that appear as a single system to the outside world and provide load balancing and resource sharing &lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/cluster-computing Definition of Cluster Computing&lt;/ref&gt;. Invented by Digital Equipment Corporation in the 1980's, clusters of computers form the largest number of supercomputers available today &lt;ref&gt;http://books.google.com/books?id=Hd_JlxD7x3oC&amp;pg=PA90&amp;lpg=PA90&amp;dq=what+is+a+constellation+in+parallel+computing?&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=Rf9nxSqOgL&amp;sig=-xleas5wXvNpvkgYYxguvP1tSLA&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=aDcnT-XRNqHX0QHymbjrAg&amp;ved=0CGMQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&amp;q=what%20is%20a%20constellation%20in%20parallel%20computing%3F&amp;f=false Applied Parallel Computing&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] data as of November 2011 shows that Cluster computing makes up the largest subset of supercomputers at eight-two percent (82%). The chart to the right shows the growth of cluster supercomputer systems with the oldest data on the right. Teh number of clustered supercomputer systems grew rapidly during the 21st century and started leveling off after about 7.5 years.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The total processing power of the top 500 cluster supercomputers is reported at 50,192.82 TFLOPS and the trend for growth of cluster based supercomputers has leveled off&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Massively Parallel Processing, MPP ==<br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-mpp-count.png|right|350px|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci214085,00.html Massively Parallel Processing] or MPP supercomputers are made up of hundreds of computing nodes and process data in a coordinated fashion &lt;ref name=&quot;ttmppdef&quot;&gt;http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci214085,00.html&lt;/ref&gt;. Each node of the MPP generally has its own memory and operating system and can be made up of nodes that have multiple processors and/or multiple cores &lt;ref name=&quot;ttmppdef&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://i.TOP500.org/stats TOP500.org/stats] for the MPP architecture of supercomputers shows that as of November 2011, MPP makes up approximately 17.8% of all supercomputers reported. A graph of the growth and subsequent decline of the MPP architecture from data displayed at [http://i.TOP500.org/stats TOP500.org/stats] is shown on the right. MPP supercomputer systems grew from the early 90's until the early part of the 21st century and have since declined in total number.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The total processing power of the top 500 MPP supercomputers is 23,823.97 TFLOPS. The trend of MPP supercomputers, like cluster based supercomputers, has leveled off&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Constellation ==<br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-constellation-count.png|right|350px|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;A [http://www.mimuw.edu.pl/~mbiskup/presentations/Parallel%20Computing.pdf Constellation] is a cluster of supercomputers &lt;ref&gt;http://www.mimuw.edu.pl/~mbiskup/presentations/Parallel%20Computing.pdf&lt;/ref&gt;. [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] shows only one constellation supercomputer as of November 2011. The graph shows rapid growth and decline in the first 5 years of the 21st century.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;This author's speculation about the decline of constellations is based on several factors: Multiple processor and/or multiple core computers have been getting faster and less expensive. Combine these less expensive computers into very large clusters and you can get computing power that rivals a constellation. Alternatively, more and more computers have symmetric multiprocessing, SMP, and the concept of constellations and clusters is converging.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The total processing power of the constellation supercomputer is: 52.84 TFLOPS&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Grid Computing ==<br /> [[File:20120130-grid-computing-graph.png|right|350px|Image from http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;Grid Computing is defined as applying many networked computers to solving a single problem simultaneously&lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing&lt;/ref&gt;. It is also defined as a network of computers used by a single company or organization to solve a problem&lt;ref&gt;http://boinc.berkeley.edu/trac/wiki/DesktopGrid&lt;/ref&gt;. Yet another definition as implemented by GridRepublic.org creates a supercomputing grid by using volunteer computers from across the globe&lt;ref&gt;http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=about&lt;/ref&gt;. All of these definitions have something in common, and that is using parallel processing to attack a problem that can be broken up into many pieces.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The graph generated by data at [www.GridRepublic.Org GridRepublic.org] shows the average processing power of this supercomputer created by volunteers from around the world.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The GridRepublic.org statistics is for 55 applications running using a total of 10,979,114 GFLOPS or 10,979.114 TFLOPS&lt;ref name=&quot;grstats&quot;&gt;http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=stats&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Advantages &amp; Disadvantages of Supercomputers =<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;An excellent way to compare the advantages and disadvantages of supercomputers is to use a table. Although this list is not exhaustive, it generally sums up the advantages as being the ability solve large number crunching problems quickly but at a high cost due to the specialty of the hardware, the physical scale of the system and power requirements.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;table border = 1&gt;<br /> {|class=&quot;wikitable&quot;<br /> !Advantage<br /> !Disadvantage<br /> |-<br /> |Ability to process large amounts of data. Examples include atmospheric modeling and oceanic modeling. Processing large matrices and weapons simulation&lt;ref name=&quot;paulmurphy&quot;&gt;http://www.zdnet.com/blog/murphy/uses-for-supercomputers/746 Murphy, Paul (December 2006) Uses for supercomputers&lt;/ref&gt;.<br /> |Limited scope of applications, or in general, they're not general purpose computers. Supercomputers are usually engaged in scientific, military or mathematical applications&lt;ref name=&quot;paulmurphy&quot; /&gt;.<br /> |-<br /> |The ability to process large amounts of data quickly and in parallel, when compared to the ability of low end commercial systems or user computers&lt;ref&gt;http://nickeger.blogspot.com/2011/11/supercomputers-advantages-and.html Eger, Nick (November 2011) Supercomputer advantages adn disadvantages&lt;/ref&gt;.<br /> |Cost, power and cooling. Commercial supercomputers costs hundreds of millions of dollars. They have on-going energy and cooling requirements that are expensive&lt;ref name=&quot;robertharris&quot;&gt;http://www.zdnet.com/blog/storage/build-an-8-ps3-supercomputer/220?tag=rbxccnbzd1 Harris, Robert (October 2007) Build an 8 PS3 supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;.<br /> |-<br /> &lt;/table&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;Although these are advantages and disadvantages of the traditional supercomputer, there is movement towards the consumerization of supercomputers which could result in supercomputers being affordable to the average person&lt;ref name=&quot;robertharris&quot; /&gt;.<br /> <br /> = Summary of the Comparison of Supercomputers =<br /> <br /> Cluster supercomputers account for about twice as much processing in TFLOPS as MPP based supercomputers. The statistics tracked by [http://www.GridRepublic.org GridRepublic.org] for 55 applications shows that grid computing is using about the same amount of processing power as the fastest individual supercomputer listed on the [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] list of supercomputers. The fastest computer listed is the<br /> RIKEN located at the Advanced Institute for Computational Science (AICS) in Japan, which is a K computer, SPARC64 VIIIfx 2.0GHz, and Tofu interconnect that operates at 10510.00 TFLOPS&lt;ref&gt;http://www.top500.org/list/2011/11/100&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;Grid Computing as an alternative to individually defined supercomputers seems to be growing and the expense of operating it is fully distributed across the volunteers that are apart of it. However, with any system where you don't have complete control of its parts, you can't rely on all of those parts being there all the time.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = References =<br /> <br /> &lt;references /&gt;</div>

Mewilbor https://wiki.expertiza.ncsu.edu/index.php?title=CSC/ECE_506_Spring_2012/1a_mw&diff=57971 2012-02-05T18:36:59Z

<p>Mewilbor: /* Summary of the Comparison of Supercomputers */</p> <hr /> <div>&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Comparisons Between Supercomputers&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Supercomputers] are extremely capable computers, able to solve complex tasks in a relatively small amount of time. Their ability to massively outperform typical home and office computers is made possible normally either by an abundance of processor cores or smaller computers working in conjunction together. Supercomputers are generally specialized computers that tend to be very expensive, not available for general-purpose use and are used in computations where large amounts of numerical processing is required. They are used in scientific, military, graphics applications and for other number or data intensive computations &lt;ref&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref&gt;http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/supercomputer.html Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Benchmarking Supercomputers =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Supercomputers are generally compared qualitatively using floating point operations per second, or [http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html FLOPS]. Using standard prefixes, higher levels of FLOPS can be specified as the computing power of supercomputers increases. For example, KiloFLOPS for thousands of FLOPS and MegaFLOPS for millions of FLOPS &lt;ref&gt;http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html Doran, Kevin (April 2011) Comparing the performance of supercomputers&lt;/ref&gt;. Often you'll see just the first letter of the prefix with FLOPS. For example, for GigaFLOPS or billions of FLOPS, you'll see [http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s GFLOPS] &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s Definition of GFLOPS&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;A software package called [http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK] is a standard approach to testing or benchmarking supercomputers by solving a dense system of linear equations using the Gauss method. &lt;ref&gt;http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK defined&lt;/ref&gt;. However, LINPACK benchmarking software is not only used to benchmark supercomputers, it can also be used to benchmark a typical user computer &lt;ref&gt;http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?197835-IntelBurnTest-The-new-stress-testing-program Intel Benchmark Software&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Finding Supercomputer Comparison Data =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Starting in 1993, [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] began collecting performance data on computers and update their list every six months &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_top500 What is the TOP500&lt;/ref&gt;. This appears to be an excellent online source of information that collects benchmark data submitted by users of computers and readily provides performance statistics by Vendor, Application, Architecture and nine (9) other areas &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot;&gt;http://i.top500.org/stats TOP500 Stats&lt;/ref&gt;. This article, in order to be vendor neutral, is providing the comparison by architecture. However, there are many ways to compare supercomputers and the user interface at [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] makes these comparisons easy to do.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Comparison of Supercomputers by Architecture =<br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-architecture.png|right|350px|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;Traditional supercomputers of today are composed of three (3) types of parallel processing architectures. These architectures are Cluster, Massively Parallel Processing or MPP, and Constellation &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;. A non-traditional, or disruptive approach, to supercomputers is [http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing Grid Computing]&lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The graphic generated at [http://www.TOP500.org/ TOP500.org] shows the distribution of supercomputers by architecture. The Massively Parallel Processing section of the graph makes up 17.8% of the total number of current supercomputers. The bulk of supercomputers is made up of clustered systems, which Constellation architectures make up a fraction of a percent of supercomputers. Each architecture is further discussed, below.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Cluster ==<br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-cluster-count.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats|right|350px|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;A [http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/cluster-computing Cluster] is a group of computers connected together that appear as a single system to the outside world and provide load balancing and resource sharing &lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/cluster-computing Definition of Cluster Computing&lt;/ref&gt;. Invented by Digital Equipment Corporation in the 1980's, clusters of computers form the largest number of supercomputers available today &lt;ref&gt;http://books.google.com/books?id=Hd_JlxD7x3oC&amp;pg=PA90&amp;lpg=PA90&amp;dq=what+is+a+constellation+in+parallel+computing?&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=Rf9nxSqOgL&amp;sig=-xleas5wXvNpvkgYYxguvP1tSLA&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=aDcnT-XRNqHX0QHymbjrAg&amp;ved=0CGMQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&amp;q=what%20is%20a%20constellation%20in%20parallel%20computing%3F&amp;f=false Applied Parallel Computing&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] data as of November 2011 shows that Cluster computing makes up the largest subset of supercomputers at eight-two percent (82%). The chart to the right shows the growth of cluster supercomputer systems with the oldest data on the right. Teh number of clustered supercomputer systems grew rapidly during the 21st century and started leveling off after about 7.5 years.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The total processing power of the top 500 cluster supercomputers is reported at 50,192.82 TFLOPS and the trend for growth of cluster based supercomputers has leveled off&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Massively Parallel Processing, MPP ==<br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-mpp-count.png|right|350px|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci214085,00.html Massively Parallel Processing] or MPP supercomputers are made up of hundreds of computing nodes and process data in a coordinated fashion &lt;ref name=&quot;ttmppdef&quot;&gt;http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci214085,00.html&lt;/ref&gt;. Each node of the MPP generally has its own memory and operating system and can be made up of nodes that have multiple processors and/or multiple cores &lt;ref name=&quot;ttmppdef&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://i.TOP500.org/stats TOP500.org/stats] for the MPP architecture of supercomputers shows that as of November 2011, MPP makes up approximately 17.8% of all supercomputers reported. A graph of the growth and subsequent decline of the MPP architecture from data displayed at [http://i.TOP500.org/stats TOP500.org/stats] is shown on the right. MPP supercomputer systems grew from the early 90's until the early part of the 21st century and have since declined in total number.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The total processing power of the top 500 MPP supercomputers is 23,823.97 TFLOPS. The trend of MPP supercomputers, like cluster based supercomputers, has leveled off&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Constellation ==<br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-constellation-count.png|right|350px|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;A [http://www.mimuw.edu.pl/~mbiskup/presentations/Parallel%20Computing.pdf Constellation] is a cluster of supercomputers &lt;ref&gt;http://www.mimuw.edu.pl/~mbiskup/presentations/Parallel%20Computing.pdf&lt;/ref&gt;. [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] shows only one constellation supercomputer as of November 2011. The graph shows rapid growth and decline in the first 5 years of the 21st century.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;This author's speculation about the decline of constellations is based on several factors: Multiple processor and/or multiple core computers have been getting faster and less expensive. Combine these less expensive computers into very large clusters and you can get computing power that rivals a constellation. Alternatively, more and more computers have symmetric multiprocessing, SMP, and the concept of constellations and clusters is converging.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The total processing power of the constellation supercomputer is: 52.84 TFLOPS&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Grid Computing ==<br /> [[File:20120130-grid-computing-graph.png|right|350px|Image from http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;Grid Computing is defined as applying many networked computers to solving a single problem simultaneously&lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing&lt;/ref&gt;. It is also defined as a network of computers used by a single company or organization to solve a problem&lt;ref&gt;http://boinc.berkeley.edu/trac/wiki/DesktopGrid&lt;/ref&gt;. Yet another definition as implemented by GridRepublic.org creates a supercomputing grid by using volunteer computers from across the globe&lt;ref&gt;http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=about&lt;/ref&gt;. All of these definitions have something in common, and that is using parallel processing to attack a problem that can be broken up into many pieces.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The graph generated by data at [www.GridRepublic.Org GridRepublic.org] shows the average processing power of this supercomputer created by volunteers from around the world.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The GridRepublic.org statistics is for 55 applications running using a total of 10,979,114 GFLOPS or 10,979.114 TFLOPS&lt;ref name=&quot;grstats&quot;&gt;http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=stats&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Advantages &amp; Disadvantages of Supercomputers =<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;An excellent way to compare the advantages and disadvantages of supercomputers is to use a table. Although this list is not exhaustive, it generally sums up the advantages as being the ability solve large number crunching problems quickly but at a high cost due to the specialty of the hardware, the physical scale of the system and power requirements.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;table border = 1&gt;<br /> {|class=&quot;wikitable&quot;<br /> !Advantage<br /> !Disadvantage<br /> |-<br /> |Ability to process large amounts of data. Examples include atmospheric modeling and oceanic modeling. Processing large matrices and weapons simulation&lt;ref name=&quot;paulmurphy&quot;&gt;http://www.zdnet.com/blog/murphy/uses-for-supercomputers/746 Murphy, Paul (December 2006) Uses for supercomputers&lt;/ref&gt;.<br /> |Limited scope of applications, or in general, they're not general purpose computers. Supercomputers are usually engaged in scientific, military or mathematical applications&lt;ref name=&quot;paulmurphy&quot; /&gt;.<br /> |-<br /> |The ability to process large amounts of data quickly and in parallel, when compared to the ability of low end commercial systems or user computers&lt;ref&gt;http://nickeger.blogspot.com/2011/11/supercomputers-advantages-and.html Eger, Nick (November 2011) Supercomputer advantages adn disadvantages&lt;/ref&gt;.<br /> |Cost, power and cooling. Commercial supercomputers costs hundreds of millions of dollars. They have on-going energy and cooling requirements that are expensive&lt;ref name=&quot;robertharris&quot;&gt;http://www.zdnet.com/blog/storage/build-an-8-ps3-supercomputer/220?tag=rbxccnbzd1 Harris, Robert (October 2007) Build an 8 PS3 supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;.<br /> |-<br /> &lt;/table&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;Although these are advantages and disadvantages of the traditional supercomputer, there is movement towards the consumerization of supercomputers which could result in supercomputers being affordable to the average person&lt;ref name=&quot;robertharris&quot; /&gt;.<br /> <br /> = Summary of the Comparison of Supercomputers =<br /> <br /> Cluster supercomputers account for about twice as much processing in TFLOPS as MPP based supercomputers. The statistics tracked by [http://www.GridRepublic.org GridRepublic.org] for 55 applications shows that grid computing is using about the same amount of processing power as the fastest individual supercomputer listed on the [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] list of supercomputers. The fastest computer listed is the<br /> RIKEN located at the Advanced Institute for Computational Science (AICS) in Japan, which is a K computer, SPARC64 VIIIfx 2.0GHz, and Tofu interconnect that operates at 10510.00 TFLOPS&lt;ref&gt;http://www.top500.org/list/2011/11/100&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;Grid Computing as an alternative to individually defined supercomputers seems to be growing and the expense of operating it is fully distributed across the volunteers that are apart of it. However, with any system where you don't have complete control of its parts, you can't rely on all of those parts being there all the time.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = References =<br /> <br /> &lt;references /&gt;</div>

Mewilbor https://wiki.expertiza.ncsu.edu/index.php?title=CSC/ECE_506_Spring_2012/1a_mw&diff=57970 2012-02-05T18:36:40Z

<p>Mewilbor: /* Summary of the Comparison of Supercomputers */</p> <hr /> <div>&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Comparisons Between Supercomputers&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Supercomputers] are extremely capable computers, able to solve complex tasks in a relatively small amount of time. Their ability to massively outperform typical home and office computers is made possible normally either by an abundance of processor cores or smaller computers working in conjunction together. Supercomputers are generally specialized computers that tend to be very expensive, not available for general-purpose use and are used in computations where large amounts of numerical processing is required. They are used in scientific, military, graphics applications and for other number or data intensive computations &lt;ref&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref&gt;http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/supercomputer.html Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Benchmarking Supercomputers =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Supercomputers are generally compared qualitatively using floating point operations per second, or [http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html FLOPS]. Using standard prefixes, higher levels of FLOPS can be specified as the computing power of supercomputers increases. For example, KiloFLOPS for thousands of FLOPS and MegaFLOPS for millions of FLOPS &lt;ref&gt;http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html Doran, Kevin (April 2011) Comparing the performance of supercomputers&lt;/ref&gt;. Often you'll see just the first letter of the prefix with FLOPS. For example, for GigaFLOPS or billions of FLOPS, you'll see [http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s GFLOPS] &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s Definition of GFLOPS&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;A software package called [http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK] is a standard approach to testing or benchmarking supercomputers by solving a dense system of linear equations using the Gauss method. &lt;ref&gt;http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK defined&lt;/ref&gt;. However, LINPACK benchmarking software is not only used to benchmark supercomputers, it can also be used to benchmark a typical user computer &lt;ref&gt;http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?197835-IntelBurnTest-The-new-stress-testing-program Intel Benchmark Software&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Finding Supercomputer Comparison Data =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Starting in 1993, [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] began collecting performance data on computers and update their list every six months &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_top500 What is the TOP500&lt;/ref&gt;. This appears to be an excellent online source of information that collects benchmark data submitted by users of computers and readily provides performance statistics by Vendor, Application, Architecture and nine (9) other areas &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot;&gt;http://i.top500.org/stats TOP500 Stats&lt;/ref&gt;. This article, in order to be vendor neutral, is providing the comparison by architecture. However, there are many ways to compare supercomputers and the user interface at [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] makes these comparisons easy to do.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Comparison of Supercomputers by Architecture =<br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-architecture.png|right|350px|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;Traditional supercomputers of today are composed of three (3) types of parallel processing architectures. These architectures are Cluster, Massively Parallel Processing or MPP, and Constellation &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;. A non-traditional, or disruptive approach, to supercomputers is [http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing Grid Computing]&lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The graphic generated at [http://www.TOP500.org/ TOP500.org] shows the distribution of supercomputers by architecture. The Massively Parallel Processing section of the graph makes up 17.8% of the total number of current supercomputers. The bulk of supercomputers is made up of clustered systems, which Constellation architectures make up a fraction of a percent of supercomputers. Each architecture is further discussed, below.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Cluster ==<br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-cluster-count.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats|right|350px|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;A [http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/cluster-computing Cluster] is a group of computers connected together that appear as a single system to the outside world and provide load balancing and resource sharing &lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/cluster-computing Definition of Cluster Computing&lt;/ref&gt;. Invented by Digital Equipment Corporation in the 1980's, clusters of computers form the largest number of supercomputers available today &lt;ref&gt;http://books.google.com/books?id=Hd_JlxD7x3oC&amp;pg=PA90&amp;lpg=PA90&amp;dq=what+is+a+constellation+in+parallel+computing?&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=Rf9nxSqOgL&amp;sig=-xleas5wXvNpvkgYYxguvP1tSLA&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=aDcnT-XRNqHX0QHymbjrAg&amp;ved=0CGMQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&amp;q=what%20is%20a%20constellation%20in%20parallel%20computing%3F&amp;f=false Applied Parallel Computing&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] data as of November 2011 shows that Cluster computing makes up the largest subset of supercomputers at eight-two percent (82%). The chart to the right shows the growth of cluster supercomputer systems with the oldest data on the right. Teh number of clustered supercomputer systems grew rapidly during the 21st century and started leveling off after about 7.5 years.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The total processing power of the top 500 cluster supercomputers is reported at 50,192.82 TFLOPS and the trend for growth of cluster based supercomputers has leveled off&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Massively Parallel Processing, MPP ==<br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-mpp-count.png|right|350px|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci214085,00.html Massively Parallel Processing] or MPP supercomputers are made up of hundreds of computing nodes and process data in a coordinated fashion &lt;ref name=&quot;ttmppdef&quot;&gt;http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci214085,00.html&lt;/ref&gt;. Each node of the MPP generally has its own memory and operating system and can be made up of nodes that have multiple processors and/or multiple cores &lt;ref name=&quot;ttmppdef&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://i.TOP500.org/stats TOP500.org/stats] for the MPP architecture of supercomputers shows that as of November 2011, MPP makes up approximately 17.8% of all supercomputers reported. A graph of the growth and subsequent decline of the MPP architecture from data displayed at [http://i.TOP500.org/stats TOP500.org/stats] is shown on the right. MPP supercomputer systems grew from the early 90's until the early part of the 21st century and have since declined in total number.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The total processing power of the top 500 MPP supercomputers is 23,823.97 TFLOPS. The trend of MPP supercomputers, like cluster based supercomputers, has leveled off&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Constellation ==<br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-constellation-count.png|right|350px|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;A [http://www.mimuw.edu.pl/~mbiskup/presentations/Parallel%20Computing.pdf Constellation] is a cluster of supercomputers &lt;ref&gt;http://www.mimuw.edu.pl/~mbiskup/presentations/Parallel%20Computing.pdf&lt;/ref&gt;. [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] shows only one constellation supercomputer as of November 2011. The graph shows rapid growth and decline in the first 5 years of the 21st century.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;This author's speculation about the decline of constellations is based on several factors: Multiple processor and/or multiple core computers have been getting faster and less expensive. Combine these less expensive computers into very large clusters and you can get computing power that rivals a constellation. Alternatively, more and more computers have symmetric multiprocessing, SMP, and the concept of constellations and clusters is converging.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The total processing power of the constellation supercomputer is: 52.84 TFLOPS&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Grid Computing ==<br /> [[File:20120130-grid-computing-graph.png|right|350px|Image from http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;Grid Computing is defined as applying many networked computers to solving a single problem simultaneously&lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing&lt;/ref&gt;. It is also defined as a network of computers used by a single company or organization to solve a problem&lt;ref&gt;http://boinc.berkeley.edu/trac/wiki/DesktopGrid&lt;/ref&gt;. Yet another definition as implemented by GridRepublic.org creates a supercomputing grid by using volunteer computers from across the globe&lt;ref&gt;http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=about&lt;/ref&gt;. All of these definitions have something in common, and that is using parallel processing to attack a problem that can be broken up into many pieces.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The graph generated by data at [www.GridRepublic.Org GridRepublic.org] shows the average processing power of this supercomputer created by volunteers from around the world.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The GridRepublic.org statistics is for 55 applications running using a total of 10,979,114 GFLOPS or 10,979.114 TFLOPS&lt;ref name=&quot;grstats&quot;&gt;http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=stats&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Advantages &amp; Disadvantages of Supercomputers =<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;An excellent way to compare the advantages and disadvantages of supercomputers is to use a table. Although this list is not exhaustive, it generally sums up the advantages as being the ability solve large number crunching problems quickly but at a high cost due to the specialty of the hardware, the physical scale of the system and power requirements.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;table border = 1&gt;<br /> {|class=&quot;wikitable&quot;<br /> !Advantage<br /> !Disadvantage<br /> |-<br /> |Ability to process large amounts of data. Examples include atmospheric modeling and oceanic modeling. Processing large matrices and weapons simulation&lt;ref name=&quot;paulmurphy&quot;&gt;http://www.zdnet.com/blog/murphy/uses-for-supercomputers/746 Murphy, Paul (December 2006) Uses for supercomputers&lt;/ref&gt;.<br /> |Limited scope of applications, or in general, they're not general purpose computers. Supercomputers are usually engaged in scientific, military or mathematical applications&lt;ref name=&quot;paulmurphy&quot; /&gt;.<br /> |-<br /> |The ability to process large amounts of data quickly and in parallel, when compared to the ability of low end commercial systems or user computers&lt;ref&gt;http://nickeger.blogspot.com/2011/11/supercomputers-advantages-and.html Eger, Nick (November 2011) Supercomputer advantages adn disadvantages&lt;/ref&gt;.<br /> |Cost, power and cooling. Commercial supercomputers costs hundreds of millions of dollars. They have on-going energy and cooling requirements that are expensive&lt;ref name=&quot;robertharris&quot;&gt;http://www.zdnet.com/blog/storage/build-an-8-ps3-supercomputer/220?tag=rbxccnbzd1 Harris, Robert (October 2007) Build an 8 PS3 supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;.<br /> |-<br /> &lt;/table&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;Although these are advantages and disadvantages of the traditional supercomputer, there is movement towards the consumerization of supercomputers which could result in supercomputers being affordable to the average person&lt;ref name=&quot;robertharris&quot; /&gt;.<br /> <br /> = Summary of the Comparison of Supercomputers =<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;Cluster supercomputers account for about twice as much processing in TFLOPS as MPP based supercomputers. The statistics tracked by [http://www.GridRepublic.org GridRepublic.org] for 55 applications shows that grid computing is using about the same amount of processing power as the fastest individual supercomputer listed on the [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] list of supercomputers. The fastest computer listed is the<br /> RIKEN located at the Advanced Institute for Computational Science (AICS) in Japan, which is a K computer, SPARC64 VIIIfx 2.0GHz, and Tofu interconnect that operates at 10510.00 TFLOPS&lt;ref&gt;http://www.top500.org/list/2011/11/100&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;Grid Computing as an alternative to individually defined supercomputers seems to be growing and the expense of operating it is fully distributed across the volunteers that are apart of it. However, with any system where you don't have complete control of its parts, you can't rely on all of those parts being there all the time.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = References =<br /> <br /> &lt;references /&gt;</div>

Mewilbor https://wiki.expertiza.ncsu.edu/index.php?title=CSC/ECE_506_Spring_2012/1a_mw&diff=57969 2012-02-05T18:36:03Z

<p>Mewilbor: added a basic advantages/disadvantages section</p> <hr /> <div>&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Comparisons Between Supercomputers&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Supercomputers] are extremely capable computers, able to solve complex tasks in a relatively small amount of time. Their ability to massively outperform typical home and office computers is made possible normally either by an abundance of processor cores or smaller computers working in conjunction together. Supercomputers are generally specialized computers that tend to be very expensive, not available for general-purpose use and are used in computations where large amounts of numerical processing is required. They are used in scientific, military, graphics applications and for other number or data intensive computations &lt;ref&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref&gt;http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/supercomputer.html Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Benchmarking Supercomputers =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Supercomputers are generally compared qualitatively using floating point operations per second, or [http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html FLOPS]. Using standard prefixes, higher levels of FLOPS can be specified as the computing power of supercomputers increases. For example, KiloFLOPS for thousands of FLOPS and MegaFLOPS for millions of FLOPS &lt;ref&gt;http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html Doran, Kevin (April 2011) Comparing the performance of supercomputers&lt;/ref&gt;. Often you'll see just the first letter of the prefix with FLOPS. For example, for GigaFLOPS or billions of FLOPS, you'll see [http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s GFLOPS] &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s Definition of GFLOPS&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;A software package called [http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK] is a standard approach to testing or benchmarking supercomputers by solving a dense system of linear equations using the Gauss method. &lt;ref&gt;http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK defined&lt;/ref&gt;. However, LINPACK benchmarking software is not only used to benchmark supercomputers, it can also be used to benchmark a typical user computer &lt;ref&gt;http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?197835-IntelBurnTest-The-new-stress-testing-program Intel Benchmark Software&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Finding Supercomputer Comparison Data =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Starting in 1993, [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] began collecting performance data on computers and update their list every six months &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_top500 What is the TOP500&lt;/ref&gt;. This appears to be an excellent online source of information that collects benchmark data submitted by users of computers and readily provides performance statistics by Vendor, Application, Architecture and nine (9) other areas &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot;&gt;http://i.top500.org/stats TOP500 Stats&lt;/ref&gt;. This article, in order to be vendor neutral, is providing the comparison by architecture. However, there are many ways to compare supercomputers and the user interface at [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] makes these comparisons easy to do.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Comparison of Supercomputers by Architecture =<br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-architecture.png|right|350px|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;Traditional supercomputers of today are composed of three (3) types of parallel processing architectures. These architectures are Cluster, Massively Parallel Processing or MPP, and Constellation &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;. A non-traditional, or disruptive approach, to supercomputers is [http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing Grid Computing]&lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The graphic generated at [http://www.TOP500.org/ TOP500.org] shows the distribution of supercomputers by architecture. The Massively Parallel Processing section of the graph makes up 17.8% of the total number of current supercomputers. The bulk of supercomputers is made up of clustered systems, which Constellation architectures make up a fraction of a percent of supercomputers. Each architecture is further discussed, below.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Cluster ==<br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-cluster-count.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats|right|350px|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;A [http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/cluster-computing Cluster] is a group of computers connected together that appear as a single system to the outside world and provide load balancing and resource sharing &lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/cluster-computing Definition of Cluster Computing&lt;/ref&gt;. Invented by Digital Equipment Corporation in the 1980's, clusters of computers form the largest number of supercomputers available today &lt;ref&gt;http://books.google.com/books?id=Hd_JlxD7x3oC&amp;pg=PA90&amp;lpg=PA90&amp;dq=what+is+a+constellation+in+parallel+computing?&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=Rf9nxSqOgL&amp;sig=-xleas5wXvNpvkgYYxguvP1tSLA&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=aDcnT-XRNqHX0QHymbjrAg&amp;ved=0CGMQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&amp;q=what%20is%20a%20constellation%20in%20parallel%20computing%3F&amp;f=false Applied Parallel Computing&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] data as of November 2011 shows that Cluster computing makes up the largest subset of supercomputers at eight-two percent (82%). The chart to the right shows the growth of cluster supercomputer systems with the oldest data on the right. Teh number of clustered supercomputer systems grew rapidly during the 21st century and started leveling off after about 7.5 years.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The total processing power of the top 500 cluster supercomputers is reported at 50,192.82 TFLOPS and the trend for growth of cluster based supercomputers has leveled off&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Massively Parallel Processing, MPP ==<br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-mpp-count.png|right|350px|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci214085,00.html Massively Parallel Processing] or MPP supercomputers are made up of hundreds of computing nodes and process data in a coordinated fashion &lt;ref name=&quot;ttmppdef&quot;&gt;http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci214085,00.html&lt;/ref&gt;. Each node of the MPP generally has its own memory and operating system and can be made up of nodes that have multiple processors and/or multiple cores &lt;ref name=&quot;ttmppdef&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://i.TOP500.org/stats TOP500.org/stats] for the MPP architecture of supercomputers shows that as of November 2011, MPP makes up approximately 17.8% of all supercomputers reported. A graph of the growth and subsequent decline of the MPP architecture from data displayed at [http://i.TOP500.org/stats TOP500.org/stats] is shown on the right. MPP supercomputer systems grew from the early 90's until the early part of the 21st century and have since declined in total number.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The total processing power of the top 500 MPP supercomputers is 23,823.97 TFLOPS. The trend of MPP supercomputers, like cluster based supercomputers, has leveled off&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Constellation ==<br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-constellation-count.png|right|350px|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;A [http://www.mimuw.edu.pl/~mbiskup/presentations/Parallel%20Computing.pdf Constellation] is a cluster of supercomputers &lt;ref&gt;http://www.mimuw.edu.pl/~mbiskup/presentations/Parallel%20Computing.pdf&lt;/ref&gt;. [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] shows only one constellation supercomputer as of November 2011. The graph shows rapid growth and decline in the first 5 years of the 21st century.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;This author's speculation about the decline of constellations is based on several factors: Multiple processor and/or multiple core computers have been getting faster and less expensive. Combine these less expensive computers into very large clusters and you can get computing power that rivals a constellation. Alternatively, more and more computers have symmetric multiprocessing, SMP, and the concept of constellations and clusters is converging.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The total processing power of the constellation supercomputer is: 52.84 TFLOPS&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Grid Computing ==<br /> [[File:20120130-grid-computing-graph.png|right|350px|Image from http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;Grid Computing is defined as applying many networked computers to solving a single problem simultaneously&lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing&lt;/ref&gt;. It is also defined as a network of computers used by a single company or organization to solve a problem&lt;ref&gt;http://boinc.berkeley.edu/trac/wiki/DesktopGrid&lt;/ref&gt;. Yet another definition as implemented by GridRepublic.org creates a supercomputing grid by using volunteer computers from across the globe&lt;ref&gt;http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=about&lt;/ref&gt;. All of these definitions have something in common, and that is using parallel processing to attack a problem that can be broken up into many pieces.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The graph generated by data at [www.GridRepublic.Org GridRepublic.org] shows the average processing power of this supercomputer created by volunteers from around the world.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The GridRepublic.org statistics is for 55 applications running using a total of 10,979,114 GFLOPS or 10,979.114 TFLOPS&lt;ref name=&quot;grstats&quot;&gt;http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=stats&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Advantages &amp; Disadvantages of Supercomputers =<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;An excellent way to compare the advantages and disadvantages of supercomputers is to use a table. Although this list is not exhaustive, it generally sums up the advantages as being the ability solve large number crunching problems quickly but at a high cost due to the specialty of the hardware, the physical scale of the system and power requirements.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;table border = 1&gt;<br /> {|class=&quot;wikitable&quot;<br /> !Advantage<br /> !Disadvantage<br /> |-<br /> |Ability to process large amounts of data. Examples include atmospheric modeling and oceanic modeling. Processing large matrices and weapons simulation&lt;ref name=&quot;paulmurphy&quot;&gt;http://www.zdnet.com/blog/murphy/uses-for-supercomputers/746 Murphy, Paul (December 2006) Uses for supercomputers&lt;/ref&gt;.<br /> |Limited scope of applications, or in general, they're not general purpose computers. Supercomputers are usually engaged in scientific, military or mathematical applications&lt;ref name=&quot;paulmurphy&quot; /&gt;.<br /> |-<br /> |The ability to process large amounts of data quickly and in parallel, when compared to the ability of low end commercial systems or user computers&lt;ref&gt;http://nickeger.blogspot.com/2011/11/supercomputers-advantages-and.html Eger, Nick (November 2011) Supercomputer advantages adn disadvantages&lt;/ref&gt;.<br /> |Cost, power and cooling. Commercial supercomputers costs hundreds of millions of dollars. They have on-going energy and cooling requirements that are expensive&lt;ref name=&quot;robertharris&quot;&gt;http://www.zdnet.com/blog/storage/build-an-8-ps3-supercomputer/220?tag=rbxccnbzd1 Harris, Robert (October 2007) Build an 8 PS3 supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;.<br /> |-<br /> &lt;/table&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;Although these are advantages and disadvantages of the traditional supercomputer, there is movement towards the consumerization of supercomputers which could result in supercomputers being affordable to the average person&lt;ref name=&quot;robertharris&quot; /&gt;.<br /> <br /> = Summary of the Comparison of Supercomputers =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Cluster supercomputers account for about twice as much processing in TFLOPS as MPP based supercomputers. The statistics tracked by [http://www.GridRepublic.org GridRepublic.org] for 55 applications shows that grid computing is using about the same amount of processing power as the fastest individual supercomputer listed on the [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] list of supercomputers. The fastest computer listed is the<br /> RIKEN located at the Advanced Institute for Computational Science (AICS) in Japan, which is a K computer, SPARC64 VIIIfx 2.0GHz, and Tofu interconnect that operates at 10510.00 TFLOPS&lt;ref&gt;http://www.top500.org/list/2011/11/100&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;Grid Computing as an alternative to individually defined supercomputers seems to be growing and the expense of operating it is fully distributed across the volunteers that are apart of it. However, with any system where you don't have complete control of its parts, you can't rely on all of those parts being there all the time.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = References =<br /> <br /> &lt;references /&gt;</div>

Mewilbor https://wiki.expertiza.ncsu.edu/index.php?title=CSC/ECE_506_Spring_2012/1a_mw&diff=57968 2012-02-05T17:07:20Z

<p>Mewilbor: /* Advantages &amp; Disadvantages of Supercomputers */</p> <hr /> <div>&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Comparisons Between Supercomputers&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Supercomputers] are extremely capable computers, able to solve complex tasks in a relatively small amount of time. Their ability to massively outperform typical home and office computers is made possible normally either by an abundance of processor cores or smaller computers working in conjunction together. Supercomputers are generally specialized computers that tend to be very expensive, not available for general-purpose use and are used in computations where large amounts of numerical processing is required. They are used in scientific, military, graphics applications and for other number or data intensive computations &lt;ref&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref&gt;http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/supercomputer.html Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Benchmarking Supercomputers =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Supercomputers are generally compared qualitatively using floating point operations per second, or [http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html FLOPS]. Using standard prefixes, higher levels of FLOPS can be specified as the computing power of supercomputers increases. For example, KiloFLOPS for thousands of FLOPS and MegaFLOPS for millions of FLOPS &lt;ref&gt;http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html Doran, Kevin (April 2011) Comparing the performance of supercomputers&lt;/ref&gt;. Often you'll see just the first letter of the prefix with FLOPS. For example, for GigaFLOPS or billions of FLOPS, you'll see [http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s GFLOPS] &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s Definition of GFLOPS&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;A software package called [http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK] is a standard approach to testing or benchmarking supercomputers by solving a dense system of linear equations using the Gauss method. &lt;ref&gt;http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK defined&lt;/ref&gt;. However, LINPACK benchmarking software is not only used to benchmark supercomputers, it can also be used to benchmark a typical user computer &lt;ref&gt;http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?197835-IntelBurnTest-The-new-stress-testing-program Intel Benchmark Software&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Finding Supercomputer Comparison Data =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Starting in 1993, [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] began collecting performance data on computers and update their list every six months &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_top500 What is the TOP500&lt;/ref&gt;. This appears to be an excellent online source of information that collects benchmark data submitted by users of computers and readily provides performance statistics by Vendor, Application, Architecture and nine (9) other areas &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot;&gt;http://i.top500.org/stats TOP500 Stats&lt;/ref&gt;. This article, in order to be vendor neutral, is providing the comparison by architecture. However, there are many ways to compare supercomputers and the user interface at [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] makes these comparisons easy to do.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Comparison of Supercomputers by Architecture =<br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-architecture.png|right|350px|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;Traditional supercomputers of today are composed of three (3) types of parallel processing architectures. These architectures are Cluster, Massively Parallel Processing or MPP, and Constellation &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;. A non-traditional, or disruptive approach, to supercomputers is [http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing Grid Computing]&lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The graphic generated at [http://www.TOP500.org/ TOP500.org] shows the distribution of supercomputers by architecture. The Massively Parallel Processing section of the graph makes up 17.8% of the total number of current supercomputers. The bulk of supercomputers is made up of clustered systems, which Constellation architectures make up a fraction of a percent of supercomputers. Each architecture is further discussed, below.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Cluster ==<br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-cluster-count.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats|right|350px|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;A [http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/cluster-computing Cluster] is a group of computers connected together that appear as a single system to the outside world and provide load balancing and resource sharing &lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/cluster-computing Definition of Cluster Computing&lt;/ref&gt;. Invented by Digital Equipment Corporation in the 1980's, clusters of computers form the largest number of supercomputers available today &lt;ref&gt;http://books.google.com/books?id=Hd_JlxD7x3oC&amp;pg=PA90&amp;lpg=PA90&amp;dq=what+is+a+constellation+in+parallel+computing?&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=Rf9nxSqOgL&amp;sig=-xleas5wXvNpvkgYYxguvP1tSLA&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=aDcnT-XRNqHX0QHymbjrAg&amp;ved=0CGMQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&amp;q=what%20is%20a%20constellation%20in%20parallel%20computing%3F&amp;f=false Applied Parallel Computing&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] data as of November 2011 shows that Cluster computing makes up the largest subset of supercomputers at eight-two percent (82%). The chart to the right shows the growth of cluster supercomputer systems with the oldest data on the right. Teh number of clustered supercomputer systems grew rapidly during the 21st century and started leveling off after about 7.5 years.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The total processing power of the top 500 cluster supercomputers is reported at 50,192.82 TFLOPS and the trend for growth of cluster based supercomputers has leveled off&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Massively Parallel Processing, MPP ==<br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-mpp-count.png|right|350px|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci214085,00.html Massively Parallel Processing] or MPP supercomputers are made up of hundreds of computing nodes and process data in a coordinated fashion &lt;ref name=&quot;ttmppdef&quot;&gt;http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci214085,00.html&lt;/ref&gt;. Each node of the MPP generally has its own memory and operating system and can be made up of nodes that have multiple processors and/or multiple cores &lt;ref name=&quot;ttmppdef&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://i.TOP500.org/stats TOP500.org/stats] for the MPP architecture of supercomputers shows that as of November 2011, MPP makes up approximately 17.8% of all supercomputers reported. A graph of the growth and subsequent decline of the MPP architecture from data displayed at [http://i.TOP500.org/stats TOP500.org/stats] is shown on the right. MPP supercomputer systems grew from the early 90's until the early part of the 21st century and have since declined in total number.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The total processing power of the top 500 MPP supercomputers is 23,823.97 TFLOPS. The trend of MPP supercomputers, like cluster based supercomputers, has leveled off&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Constellation ==<br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-constellation-count.png|right|350px|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;A [http://www.mimuw.edu.pl/~mbiskup/presentations/Parallel%20Computing.pdf Constellation] is a cluster of supercomputers &lt;ref&gt;http://www.mimuw.edu.pl/~mbiskup/presentations/Parallel%20Computing.pdf&lt;/ref&gt;. [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] shows only one constellation supercomputer as of November 2011. The graph shows rapid growth and decline in the first 5 years of the 21st century.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;This author's speculation about the decline of constellations is based on several factors: Multiple processor and/or multiple core computers have been getting faster and less expensive. Combine these less expensive computers into very large clusters and you can get computing power that rivals a constellation. Alternatively, more and more computers have symmetric multiprocessing, SMP, and the concept of constellations and clusters is converging.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The total processing power of the constellation supercomputer is: 52.84 TFLOPS&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Grid Computing ==<br /> [[File:20120130-grid-computing-graph.png|right|350px|Image from http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;Grid Computing is defined as applying many networked computers to solving a single problem simultaneously&lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing&lt;/ref&gt;. It is also defined as a network of computers used by a single company or organization to solve a problem&lt;ref&gt;http://boinc.berkeley.edu/trac/wiki/DesktopGrid&lt;/ref&gt;. Yet another definition as implemented by GridRepublic.org creates a supercomputing grid by using volunteer computers from across the globe&lt;ref&gt;http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=about&lt;/ref&gt;. All of these definitions have something in common, and that is using parallel processing to attack a problem that can be broken up into many pieces.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The graph generated by data at [www.GridRepublic.Org GridRepublic.org] shows the average processing power of this supercomputer created by volunteers from around the world.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The GridRepublic.org statistics is for 55 applications running using a total of 10,979,114 GFLOPS or 10,979.114 TFLOPS&lt;ref name=&quot;grstats&quot;&gt;http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=stats&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Advantages &amp; Disadvantages of Supercomputers =<br /> <br /> = Summary of the Comparison of Supercomputers =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Cluster supercomputers account for about twice as much processing in TFLOPS as MPP based supercomputers. The statistics tracked by [http://www.GridRepublic.org GridRepublic.org] for 55 applications shows that grid computing is using about the same amount of processing power as the fastest individual supercomputer listed on the [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] list of supercomputers. The fastest computer listed is the<br /> RIKEN located at the Advanced Institute for Computational Science (AICS) in Japan, which is a K computer, SPARC64 VIIIfx 2.0GHz, and Tofu interconnect that operates at 10510.00 TFLOPS&lt;ref&gt;http://www.top500.org/list/2011/11/100&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;Grid Computing as an alternative to individually defined supercomputers seems to be growing and the expense of operating it is fully distributed across the volunteers that are apart of it. However, with any system where you don't have complete control of its parts, you can't rely on all of those parts being there all the time.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = References =<br /> <br /> &lt;references /&gt;</div>

Mewilbor https://wiki.expertiza.ncsu.edu/index.php?title=CSC/ECE_506_Spring_2012/1a_mw&diff=57967 2012-02-05T17:06:41Z

<p>Mewilbor: added the advantages section</p> <hr /> <div>&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Comparisons Between Supercomputers&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Supercomputers] are extremely capable computers, able to solve complex tasks in a relatively small amount of time. Their ability to massively outperform typical home and office computers is made possible normally either by an abundance of processor cores or smaller computers working in conjunction together. Supercomputers are generally specialized computers that tend to be very expensive, not available for general-purpose use and are used in computations where large amounts of numerical processing is required. They are used in scientific, military, graphics applications and for other number or data intensive computations &lt;ref&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref&gt;http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/supercomputer.html Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Benchmarking Supercomputers =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Supercomputers are generally compared qualitatively using floating point operations per second, or [http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html FLOPS]. Using standard prefixes, higher levels of FLOPS can be specified as the computing power of supercomputers increases. For example, KiloFLOPS for thousands of FLOPS and MegaFLOPS for millions of FLOPS &lt;ref&gt;http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html Doran, Kevin (April 2011) Comparing the performance of supercomputers&lt;/ref&gt;. Often you'll see just the first letter of the prefix with FLOPS. For example, for GigaFLOPS or billions of FLOPS, you'll see [http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s GFLOPS] &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s Definition of GFLOPS&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;A software package called [http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK] is a standard approach to testing or benchmarking supercomputers by solving a dense system of linear equations using the Gauss method. &lt;ref&gt;http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK defined&lt;/ref&gt;. However, LINPACK benchmarking software is not only used to benchmark supercomputers, it can also be used to benchmark a typical user computer &lt;ref&gt;http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?197835-IntelBurnTest-The-new-stress-testing-program Intel Benchmark Software&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Finding Supercomputer Comparison Data =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Starting in 1993, [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] began collecting performance data on computers and update their list every six months &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_top500 What is the TOP500&lt;/ref&gt;. This appears to be an excellent online source of information that collects benchmark data submitted by users of computers and readily provides performance statistics by Vendor, Application, Architecture and nine (9) other areas &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot;&gt;http://i.top500.org/stats TOP500 Stats&lt;/ref&gt;. This article, in order to be vendor neutral, is providing the comparison by architecture. However, there are many ways to compare supercomputers and the user interface at [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] makes these comparisons easy to do.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Comparison of Supercomputers by Architecture =<br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-architecture.png|right|350px|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;Traditional supercomputers of today are composed of three (3) types of parallel processing architectures. These architectures are Cluster, Massively Parallel Processing or MPP, and Constellation &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;. A non-traditional, or disruptive approach, to supercomputers is [http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing Grid Computing]&lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The graphic generated at [http://www.TOP500.org/ TOP500.org] shows the distribution of supercomputers by architecture. The Massively Parallel Processing section of the graph makes up 17.8% of the total number of current supercomputers. The bulk of supercomputers is made up of clustered systems, which Constellation architectures make up a fraction of a percent of supercomputers. Each architecture is further discussed, below.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Cluster ==<br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-cluster-count.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats|right|350px|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;A [http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/cluster-computing Cluster] is a group of computers connected together that appear as a single system to the outside world and provide load balancing and resource sharing &lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/cluster-computing Definition of Cluster Computing&lt;/ref&gt;. Invented by Digital Equipment Corporation in the 1980's, clusters of computers form the largest number of supercomputers available today &lt;ref&gt;http://books.google.com/books?id=Hd_JlxD7x3oC&amp;pg=PA90&amp;lpg=PA90&amp;dq=what+is+a+constellation+in+parallel+computing?&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=Rf9nxSqOgL&amp;sig=-xleas5wXvNpvkgYYxguvP1tSLA&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=aDcnT-XRNqHX0QHymbjrAg&amp;ved=0CGMQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&amp;q=what%20is%20a%20constellation%20in%20parallel%20computing%3F&amp;f=false Applied Parallel Computing&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] data as of November 2011 shows that Cluster computing makes up the largest subset of supercomputers at eight-two percent (82%). The chart to the right shows the growth of cluster supercomputer systems with the oldest data on the right. Teh number of clustered supercomputer systems grew rapidly during the 21st century and started leveling off after about 7.5 years.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The total processing power of the top 500 cluster supercomputers is reported at 50,192.82 TFLOPS and the trend for growth of cluster based supercomputers has leveled off&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Massively Parallel Processing, MPP ==<br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-mpp-count.png|right|350px|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci214085,00.html Massively Parallel Processing] or MPP supercomputers are made up of hundreds of computing nodes and process data in a coordinated fashion &lt;ref name=&quot;ttmppdef&quot;&gt;http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci214085,00.html&lt;/ref&gt;. Each node of the MPP generally has its own memory and operating system and can be made up of nodes that have multiple processors and/or multiple cores &lt;ref name=&quot;ttmppdef&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://i.TOP500.org/stats TOP500.org/stats] for the MPP architecture of supercomputers shows that as of November 2011, MPP makes up approximately 17.8% of all supercomputers reported. A graph of the growth and subsequent decline of the MPP architecture from data displayed at [http://i.TOP500.org/stats TOP500.org/stats] is shown on the right. MPP supercomputer systems grew from the early 90's until the early part of the 21st century and have since declined in total number.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The total processing power of the top 500 MPP supercomputers is 23,823.97 TFLOPS. The trend of MPP supercomputers, like cluster based supercomputers, has leveled off&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Constellation ==<br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-constellation-count.png|right|350px|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;A [http://www.mimuw.edu.pl/~mbiskup/presentations/Parallel%20Computing.pdf Constellation] is a cluster of supercomputers &lt;ref&gt;http://www.mimuw.edu.pl/~mbiskup/presentations/Parallel%20Computing.pdf&lt;/ref&gt;. [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] shows only one constellation supercomputer as of November 2011. The graph shows rapid growth and decline in the first 5 years of the 21st century.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;This author's speculation about the decline of constellations is based on several factors: Multiple processor and/or multiple core computers have been getting faster and less expensive. Combine these less expensive computers into very large clusters and you can get computing power that rivals a constellation. Alternatively, more and more computers have symmetric multiprocessing, SMP, and the concept of constellations and clusters is converging.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The total processing power of the constellation supercomputer is: 52.84 TFLOPS&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Grid Computing ==<br /> [[File:20120130-grid-computing-graph.png|right|350px|Image from http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;Grid Computing is defined as applying many networked computers to solving a single problem simultaneously&lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing&lt;/ref&gt;. It is also defined as a network of computers used by a single company or organization to solve a problem&lt;ref&gt;http://boinc.berkeley.edu/trac/wiki/DesktopGrid&lt;/ref&gt;. Yet another definition as implemented by GridRepublic.org creates a supercomputing grid by using volunteer computers from across the globe&lt;ref&gt;http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=about&lt;/ref&gt;. All of these definitions have something in common, and that is using parallel processing to attack a problem that can be broken up into many pieces.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The graph generated by data at [www.GridRepublic.Org GridRepublic.org] shows the average processing power of this supercomputer created by volunteers from around the world.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The GridRepublic.org statistics is for 55 applications running using a total of 10,979,114 GFLOPS or 10,979.114 TFLOPS&lt;ref name=&quot;grstats&quot;&gt;http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=stats&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Advantages &amp; Disadvantages of Supercomputers ==<br /> <br /> = Summary of the Comparison of Supercomputers =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Cluster supercomputers account for about twice as much processing in TFLOPS as MPP based supercomputers. The statistics tracked by [http://www.GridRepublic.org GridRepublic.org] for 55 applications shows that grid computing is using about the same amount of processing power as the fastest individual supercomputer listed on the [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] list of supercomputers. The fastest computer listed is the<br /> RIKEN located at the Advanced Institute for Computational Science (AICS) in Japan, which is a K computer, SPARC64 VIIIfx 2.0GHz, and Tofu interconnect that operates at 10510.00 TFLOPS&lt;ref&gt;http://www.top500.org/list/2011/11/100&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;Grid Computing as an alternative to individually defined supercomputers seems to be growing and the expense of operating it is fully distributed across the volunteers that are apart of it. However, with any system where you don't have complete control of its parts, you can't rely on all of those parts being there all the time.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = References =<br /> <br /> &lt;references /&gt;</div>

Mewilbor https://wiki.expertiza.ncsu.edu/index.php?title=CSC/ECE_506_Spring_2012/1a_mw&diff=57966 2012-02-05T17:05:50Z

<p>Mewilbor: removed typo</p> <hr /> <div>&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Comparisons Between Supercomputers&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Supercomputers] are extremely capable computers, able to solve complex tasks in a relatively small amount of time. Their ability to massively outperform typical home and office computers is made possible normally either by an abundance of processor cores or smaller computers working in conjunction together. Supercomputers are generally specialized computers that tend to be very expensive, not available for general-purpose use and are used in computations where large amounts of numerical processing is required. They are used in scientific, military, graphics applications and for other number or data intensive computations &lt;ref&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref&gt;http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/supercomputer.html Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Benchmarking Supercomputers =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Supercomputers are generally compared qualitatively using floating point operations per second, or [http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html FLOPS]. Using standard prefixes, higher levels of FLOPS can be specified as the computing power of supercomputers increases. For example, KiloFLOPS for thousands of FLOPS and MegaFLOPS for millions of FLOPS &lt;ref&gt;http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html Doran, Kevin (April 2011) Comparing the performance of supercomputers&lt;/ref&gt;. Often you'll see just the first letter of the prefix with FLOPS. For example, for GigaFLOPS or billions of FLOPS, you'll see [http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s GFLOPS] &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s Definition of GFLOPS&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;A software package called [http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK] is a standard approach to testing or benchmarking supercomputers by solving a dense system of linear equations using the Gauss method. &lt;ref&gt;http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK defined&lt;/ref&gt;. However, LINPACK benchmarking software is not only used to benchmark supercomputers, it can also be used to benchmark a typical user computer &lt;ref&gt;http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?197835-IntelBurnTest-The-new-stress-testing-program Intel Benchmark Software&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Finding Supercomputer Comparison Data =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Starting in 1993, [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] began collecting performance data on computers and update their list every six months &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_top500 What is the TOP500&lt;/ref&gt;. This appears to be an excellent online source of information that collects benchmark data submitted by users of computers and readily provides performance statistics by Vendor, Application, Architecture and nine (9) other areas &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot;&gt;http://i.top500.org/stats TOP500 Stats&lt;/ref&gt;. This article, in order to be vendor neutral, is providing the comparison by architecture. However, there are many ways to compare supercomputers and the user interface at [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] makes these comparisons easy to do.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Comparison of Supercomputers by Architecture =<br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-architecture.png|right|350px|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;Traditional supercomputers of today are composed of three (3) types of parallel processing architectures. These architectures are Cluster, Massively Parallel Processing or MPP, and Constellation &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;. A non-traditional, or disruptive approach, to supercomputers is [http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing Grid Computing]&lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The graphic generated at [http://www.TOP500.org/ TOP500.org] shows the distribution of supercomputers by architecture. The Massively Parallel Processing section of the graph makes up 17.8% of the total number of current supercomputers. The bulk of supercomputers is made up of clustered systems, which Constellation architectures make up a fraction of a percent of supercomputers. Each architecture is further discussed, below.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Cluster ==<br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-cluster-count.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats|right|350px|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;A [http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/cluster-computing Cluster] is a group of computers connected together that appear as a single system to the outside world and provide load balancing and resource sharing &lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/cluster-computing Definition of Cluster Computing&lt;/ref&gt;. Invented by Digital Equipment Corporation in the 1980's, clusters of computers form the largest number of supercomputers available today &lt;ref&gt;http://books.google.com/books?id=Hd_JlxD7x3oC&amp;pg=PA90&amp;lpg=PA90&amp;dq=what+is+a+constellation+in+parallel+computing?&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=Rf9nxSqOgL&amp;sig=-xleas5wXvNpvkgYYxguvP1tSLA&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=aDcnT-XRNqHX0QHymbjrAg&amp;ved=0CGMQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&amp;q=what%20is%20a%20constellation%20in%20parallel%20computing%3F&amp;f=false Applied Parallel Computing&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] data as of November 2011 shows that Cluster computing makes up the largest subset of supercomputers at eight-two percent (82%). The chart to the right shows the growth of cluster supercomputer systems with the oldest data on the right. Teh number of clustered supercomputer systems grew rapidly during the 21st century and started leveling off after about 7.5 years.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The total processing power of the top 500 cluster supercomputers is reported at 50,192.82 TFLOPS and the trend for growth of cluster based supercomputers has leveled off&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Massively Parallel Processing, MPP ==<br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-mpp-count.png|right|350px|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci214085,00.html Massively Parallel Processing] or MPP supercomputers are made up of hundreds of computing nodes and process data in a coordinated fashion &lt;ref name=&quot;ttmppdef&quot;&gt;http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci214085,00.html&lt;/ref&gt;. Each node of the MPP generally has its own memory and operating system and can be made up of nodes that have multiple processors and/or multiple cores &lt;ref name=&quot;ttmppdef&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://i.TOP500.org/stats TOP500.org/stats] for the MPP architecture of supercomputers shows that as of November 2011, MPP makes up approximately 17.8% of all supercomputers reported. A graph of the growth and subsequent decline of the MPP architecture from data displayed at [http://i.TOP500.org/stats TOP500.org/stats] is shown on the right. MPP supercomputer systems grew from the early 90's until the early part of the 21st century and have since declined in total number.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The total processing power of the top 500 MPP supercomputers is 23,823.97 TFLOPS. The trend of MPP supercomputers, like cluster based supercomputers, has leveled off&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Constellation ==<br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-constellation-count.png|right|350px|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;A [http://www.mimuw.edu.pl/~mbiskup/presentations/Parallel%20Computing.pdf Constellation] is a cluster of supercomputers &lt;ref&gt;http://www.mimuw.edu.pl/~mbiskup/presentations/Parallel%20Computing.pdf&lt;/ref&gt;. [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] shows only one constellation supercomputer as of November 2011. The graph shows rapid growth and decline in the first 5 years of the 21st century.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;This author's speculation about the decline of constellations is based on several factors: Multiple processor and/or multiple core computers have been getting faster and less expensive. Combine these less expensive computers into very large clusters and you can get computing power that rivals a constellation. Alternatively, more and more computers have symmetric multiprocessing, SMP, and the concept of constellations and clusters is converging.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The total processing power of the constellation supercomputer is: 52.84 TFLOPS&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Grid Computing ==<br /> [[File:20120130-grid-computing-graph.png|right|350px|Image from http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;Grid Computing is defined as applying many networked computers to solving a single problem simultaneously&lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing&lt;/ref&gt;. It is also defined as a network of computers used by a single company or organization to solve a problem&lt;ref&gt;http://boinc.berkeley.edu/trac/wiki/DesktopGrid&lt;/ref&gt;. Yet another definition as implemented by GridRepublic.org creates a supercomputing grid by using volunteer computers from across the globe&lt;ref&gt;http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=about&lt;/ref&gt;. All of these definitions have something in common, and that is using parallel processing to attack a problem that can be broken up into many pieces.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The graph generated by data at [www.GridRepublic.Org GridRepublic.org] shows the average processing power of this supercomputer created by volunteers from around the world.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The GridRepublic.org statistics is for 55 applications running using a total of 10,979,114 GFLOPS or 10,979.114 TFLOPS&lt;ref name=&quot;grstats&quot;&gt;http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=stats&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Summary of the Comparison of Supercomputers =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Cluster supercomputers account for about twice as much processing in TFLOPS as MPP based supercomputers. The statistics tracked by [http://www.GridRepublic.org GridRepublic.org] for 55 applications shows that grid computing is using about the same amount of processing power as the fastest individual supercomputer listed on the [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] list of supercomputers. The fastest computer listed is the<br /> RIKEN located at the Advanced Institute for Computational Science (AICS) in Japan, which is a K computer, SPARC64 VIIIfx 2.0GHz, and Tofu interconnect that operates at 10510.00 TFLOPS&lt;ref&gt;http://www.top500.org/list/2011/11/100&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;Grid Computing as an alternative to individually defined supercomputers seems to be growing and the expense of operating it is fully distributed across the volunteers that are apart of it. However, with any system where you don't have complete control of its parts, you can't rely on all of those parts being there all the time.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = References =<br /> <br /> &lt;references /&gt;</div>

Mewilbor https://wiki.expertiza.ncsu.edu/index.php?title=CSC/ECE_506_Spring_2012/1a_mw&diff=57965 2012-02-05T16:45:44Z

<p>Mewilbor: put back in the grid republic reference that got deleted by accident.</p> <hr /> <div>&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Comparisons Between Supercomputers&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Supercomputers] are extremely capable computers, able to solve complex tasks in a relatively small amount of time. Their ability to massively outperform typical home and office computers is made possible normally either by an abundance of processor cores or smaller computers working in conjunction together. Supercomputers are generally specialized computers that tend to be very expensive, not available for general-purpose use and are used in computations where large amounts of numerical processing is required. They are used in scientific, military, graphics applications and for other number or data intensive computations &lt;ref&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref&gt;http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/supercomputer.html Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Benchmarking Supercomputers =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Supercomputers are generally compared qualitatively using floating point operations per second, or [http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html FLOPS]. Using standard prefixes, higher levels of FLOPS can be specified as the computing power of supercomputers increases. For example, KiloFLOPS for thousands of FLOPS and MegaFLOPS for millions of FLOPS &lt;ref&gt;http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html Doran, Kevin (April 2011) Comparing the performance of supercomputers&lt;/ref&gt;. Often you'll see just the first letter of the prefix with FLOPS. For example, for GigaFLOPS or billions of FLOPS, you'll see [http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s GFLOPS] &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s Definition of GFLOPS&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;A software package called [http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK] is a standard approach to testing or benchmarking supercomputers by solving a dense system of linear equations using the Gauss method. &lt;ref&gt;http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK defined&lt;/ref&gt;. However, LINPACK benchmarking software is not only used to benchmark supercomputers, it can also be used to benchmark a typical user computer &lt;ref&gt;http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?197835-IntelBurnTest-The-new-stress-testing-program Intel Benchmark Software&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Finding Supercomputer Comparison Data =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Starting in 1993, [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] began collecting performance data on computers and update their list every six months &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_top500 What is the TOP500&lt;/ref&gt;. This appears to be an excellent online source of information that collects benchmark data submitted by users of computers and readily provides performance statistics by Vendor, Application, Architecture and nine (9) other areas &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot;&gt;http://i.top500.org/stats TOP500 Stats&lt;/ref&gt;. This article, in order to be vendor neutral, is providing the comparison by architecture. However, there are many ways to compare supercomputers and the user interface at [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] makes these comparisons easy to do.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Comparison of Supercomputers by Architecture =<br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-architecture.png|right|350px|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;Traditional supercomputers of today are composed of three (3) types of parallel processing architectures. These architectures are Cluster, Massively Parallel Processing or MPP, and Constellation &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;. A non-traditional, or disruptive approach, to supercomputers is [http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing Grid Computing]&lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The graphic generated at [http://www.TOP500.org/ TOP500.org] shows the distribution of supercomputers by architecture. The Massively Parallel Processing section of the graph makes up 17.8% of the total number of current supercomputers. The bulk of supercomputers is made up of clustered systems, which Constellation architectures make up a fraction of a percent of supercomputers. Each architecture is further discussed, below.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Cluster ==<br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-cluster-count.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats|right|350px|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;A [http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/cluster-computing Cluster] is a group of computers connected together that appear as a single system to the outside world and provide load balancing and resource sharing &lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/cluster-computing Definition of Cluster Computing&lt;/ref&gt;. Invented by Digital Equipment Corporation in the 1980's, clusters of computers form the largest number of supercomputers available today &lt;ref&gt;http://books.google.com/books?id=Hd_JlxD7x3oC&amp;pg=PA90&amp;lpg=PA90&amp;dq=what+is+a+constellation+in+parallel+computing?&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=Rf9nxSqOgL&amp;sig=-xleas5wXvNpvkgYYxguvP1tSLA&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=aDcnT-XRNqHX0QHymbjrAg&amp;ved=0CGMQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&amp;q=what%20is%20a%20constellation%20in%20parallel%20computing%3F&amp;f=false Applied Parallel Computing&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] data as of November 2011 shows that Cluster computing makes up the largest subset of supercomputers at eight-two percent (82%). The chart to the right shows the growth of cluster supercomputer systems with the oldest data on the right. Teh number of clustered supercomputer systems grew rapidly during the 21st century and started leveling off after about 7.5 years.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The total processing power of the top 500 cluster supercomputers is reported at 50,192.82 TFLOPS and the trend for growth of cluster based supercomputers has leveled off&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Massively Parallel Processing, MPP ==<br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-mpp-count.png|right|350px|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> <br /> \&lt;p&gt;[http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci214085,00.html Massively Parallel Processing] or MPP supercomputers are made up of hundreds of computing nodes and process data in a coordinated fashion &lt;ref name=&quot;ttmppdef&quot;&gt;http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci214085,00.html&lt;/ref&gt;. Each node of the MPP generally has its own memory and operating system and can be made up of nodes that have multiple processors and/or multiple cores &lt;ref name=&quot;ttmppdef&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://i.TOP500.org/stats TOP500.org/stats] for the MPP architecture of supercomputers shows that as of November 2011, MPP makes up approximately 17.8% of all supercomputers reported. A graph of the growth and subsequent decline of the MPP architecture from data displayed at [http://i.TOP500.org/stats TOP500.org/stats] is shown on the right. MPP supercomputer systems grew from the early 90's until the early part of the 21st century and have since declined in total number.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The total processing power of the top 500 MPP supercomputers is 23,823.97 TFLOPS. The trend of MPP supercomputers, like cluster based supercomputers, has leveled off&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Constellation ==<br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-constellation-count.png|right|350px|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;A [http://www.mimuw.edu.pl/~mbiskup/presentations/Parallel%20Computing.pdf Constellation] is a cluster of supercomputers &lt;ref&gt;http://www.mimuw.edu.pl/~mbiskup/presentations/Parallel%20Computing.pdf&lt;/ref&gt;. [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] shows only one constellation supercomputer as of November 2011. The graph shows rapid growth and decline in the first 5 years of the 21st century.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;This author's speculation about the decline of constellations is based on several factors: Multiple processor and/or multiple core computers have been getting faster and less expensive. Combine these less expensive computers into very large clusters and you can get computing power that rivals a constellation. Alternatively, more and more computers have symmetric multiprocessing, SMP, and the concept of constellations and clusters is converging.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The total processing power of the constellation supercomputer is: 52.84 TFLOPS&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Grid Computing ==<br /> [[File:20120130-grid-computing-graph.png|right|350px|Image from http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;Grid Computing is defined as applying many networked computers to solving a single problem simultaneously&lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing&lt;/ref&gt;. It is also defined as a network of computers used by a single company or organization to solve a problem&lt;ref&gt;http://boinc.berkeley.edu/trac/wiki/DesktopGrid&lt;/ref&gt;. Yet another definition as implemented by GridRepublic.org creates a supercomputing grid by using volunteer computers from across the globe&lt;ref&gt;http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=about&lt;/ref&gt;. All of these definitions have something in common, and that is using parallel processing to attack a problem that can be broken up into many pieces.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The graph generated by data at [www.GridRepublic.Org GridRepublic.org] shows the average processing power of this supercomputer created by volunteers from around the world.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The GridRepublic.org statistics is for 55 applications running using a total of 10,979,114 GFLOPS or 10,979.114 TFLOPS&lt;ref name=&quot;grstats&quot;&gt;http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=stats&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Summary of the Comparison of Supercomputers =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Cluster supercomputers account for about twice as much processing in TFLOPS as MPP based supercomputers. The statistics tracked by [http://www.GridRepublic.org GridRepublic.org] for 55 applications shows that grid computing is using about the same amount of processing power as the fastest individual supercomputer listed on the [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] list of supercomputers. The fastest computer listed is the<br /> RIKEN located at the Advanced Institute for Computational Science (AICS) in Japan, which is a K computer, SPARC64 VIIIfx 2.0GHz, and Tofu interconnect that operates at 10510.00 TFLOPS&lt;ref&gt;http://www.top500.org/list/2011/11/100&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;Grid Computing as an alternative to individually defined supercomputers seems to be growing and the expense of operating it is fully distributed across the volunteers that are apart of it. However, with any system where you don't have complete control of its parts, you can't rely on all of those parts being there all the time.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = References =<br /> <br /> &lt;references /&gt;</div>

Mewilbor https://wiki.expertiza.ncsu.edu/index.php?title=CSC/ECE_506_Spring_2012/1a_mw&diff=57964 2012-02-05T16:42:40Z

<p>Mewilbor: Edited image sizes; move the images to the right; added text explaining the images</p> <hr /> <div>&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Comparisons Between Supercomputers&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Supercomputers] are extremely capable computers, able to solve complex tasks in a relatively small amount of time. Their ability to massively outperform typical home and office computers is made possible normally either by an abundance of processor cores or smaller computers working in conjunction together. Supercomputers are generally specialized computers that tend to be very expensive, not available for general-purpose use and are used in computations where large amounts of numerical processing is required. They are used in scientific, military, graphics applications and for other number or data intensive computations &lt;ref&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref&gt;http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/supercomputer.html Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Benchmarking Supercomputers =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Supercomputers are generally compared qualitatively using floating point operations per second, or [http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html FLOPS]. Using standard prefixes, higher levels of FLOPS can be specified as the computing power of supercomputers increases. For example, KiloFLOPS for thousands of FLOPS and MegaFLOPS for millions of FLOPS &lt;ref&gt;http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html Doran, Kevin (April 2011) Comparing the performance of supercomputers&lt;/ref&gt;. Often you'll see just the first letter of the prefix with FLOPS. For example, for GigaFLOPS or billions of FLOPS, you'll see [http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s GFLOPS] &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s Definition of GFLOPS&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;A software package called [http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK] is a standard approach to testing or benchmarking supercomputers by solving a dense system of linear equations using the Gauss method. &lt;ref&gt;http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK defined&lt;/ref&gt;. However, LINPACK benchmarking software is not only used to benchmark supercomputers, it can also be used to benchmark a typical user computer &lt;ref&gt;http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?197835-IntelBurnTest-The-new-stress-testing-program Intel Benchmark Software&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Finding Supercomputer Comparison Data =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Starting in 1993, [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] began collecting performance data on computers and update their list every six months &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_top500 What is the TOP500&lt;/ref&gt;. This appears to be an excellent online source of information that collects benchmark data submitted by users of computers and readily provides performance statistics by Vendor, Application, Architecture and nine (9) other areas &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot;&gt;http://i.top500.org/stats TOP500 Stats&lt;/ref&gt;. This article, in order to be vendor neutral, is providing the comparison by architecture. However, there are many ways to compare supercomputers and the user interface at [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] makes these comparisons easy to do.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Comparison of Supercomputers by Architecture =<br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-architecture.png|right|350px|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;Traditional supercomputers of today are composed of three (3) types of parallel processing architectures. These architectures are Cluster, Massively Parallel Processing or MPP, and Constellation &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;. A non-traditional, or disruptive approach, to supercomputers is [http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing Grid Computing]&lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The graphic generated at [http://www.TOP500.org/ TOP500.org] shows the distribution of supercomputers by architecture. The Massively Parallel Processing section of the graph makes up 17.8% of the total number of current supercomputers. The bulk of supercomputers is made up of clustered systems, which Constellation architectures make up a fraction of a percent of supercomputers. Each architecture is further discussed, below.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Cluster ==<br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-cluster-count.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats|right|350px|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;A [http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/cluster-computing Cluster] is a group of computers connected together that appear as a single system to the outside world and provide load balancing and resource sharing &lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/cluster-computing Definition of Cluster Computing&lt;/ref&gt;. Invented by Digital Equipment Corporation in the 1980's, clusters of computers form the largest number of supercomputers available today &lt;ref&gt;http://books.google.com/books?id=Hd_JlxD7x3oC&amp;pg=PA90&amp;lpg=PA90&amp;dq=what+is+a+constellation+in+parallel+computing?&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=Rf9nxSqOgL&amp;sig=-xleas5wXvNpvkgYYxguvP1tSLA&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=aDcnT-XRNqHX0QHymbjrAg&amp;ved=0CGMQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&amp;q=what%20is%20a%20constellation%20in%20parallel%20computing%3F&amp;f=false Applied Parallel Computing&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] data as of November 2011 shows that Cluster computing makes up the largest subset of supercomputers at eight-two percent (82%). The chart to the right shows the growth of cluster supercomputer systems with the oldest data on the right. Teh number of clustered supercomputer systems grew rapidly during the 21st century and started leveling off after about 7.5 years.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The total processing power of the top 500 cluster supercomputers is reported at 50,192.82 TFLOPS and the trend for growth of cluster based supercomputers has leveled off&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Massively Parallel Processing, MPP ==<br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-mpp-count.png|right|350px|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> <br /> \&lt;p&gt;[http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci214085,00.html Massively Parallel Processing] or MPP supercomputers are made up of hundreds of computing nodes and process data in a coordinated fashion &lt;ref name=&quot;ttmppdef&quot;&gt;http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci214085,00.html&lt;/ref&gt;. Each node of the MPP generally has its own memory and operating system and can be made up of nodes that have multiple processors and/or multiple cores &lt;ref name=&quot;ttmppdef&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://i.TOP500.org/stats TOP500.org/stats] for the MPP architecture of supercomputers shows that as of November 2011, MPP makes up approximately 17.8% of all supercomputers reported. A graph of the growth and subsequent decline of the MPP architecture from data displayed at [http://i.TOP500.org/stats TOP500.org/stats] is shown on the right. MPP supercomputer systems grew from the early 90's until the early part of the 21st century and have since declined in total number.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The total processing power of the top 500 MPP supercomputers is 23,823.97 TFLOPS. The trend of MPP supercomputers, like cluster based supercomputers, has leveled off&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Constellation ==<br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-constellation-count.png|right|350px|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;A [http://www.mimuw.edu.pl/~mbiskup/presentations/Parallel%20Computing.pdf Constellation] is a cluster of supercomputers &lt;ref&gt;http://www.mimuw.edu.pl/~mbiskup/presentations/Parallel%20Computing.pdf&lt;/ref&gt;. [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] shows only one constellation supercomputer as of November 2011. The graph shows rapid growth and decline in the first 5 years of the 21st century.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;This author's speculation about the decline of constellations is based on several factors: Multiple processor and/or multiple core computers have been getting faster and less expensive. Combine these less expensive computers into very large clusters and you can get computing power that rivals a constellation. Alternatively, more and more computers have symmetric multiprocessing, SMP, and the concept of constellations and clusters is converging.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The total processing power of the constellation supercomputer is: 52.84 TFLOPS&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Grid Computing ==<br /> [[File:20120130-grid-computing-graph.png|right|350px|Image from http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;Grid Computing is defined as applying many networked computers to solving a single problem simultaneously&lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing&lt;/ref&gt;. It is also defined as a network of computers used by a single company or organization to solve a problem&lt;ref&gt;http://boinc.berkeley.edu/trac/wiki/DesktopGrid&lt;/ref&gt;. Yet another definition as implemented by GridRepublic.org creates a supercomputing grid by using volunteer computers from across the globe&lt;ref&gt;http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=about&lt;/ref&gt;. All of these definitions have something in common, and that is using parallel processing to attack a problem that can be broken up into many pieces.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The graph generated by data at [www.GridRepublic.Org GridRepublic.org] shows the average processing power of this supercomputer created by volunteers from around the world:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The GridRepublic.org statistics is for 55 applications running using a total of 10,979,114 GFLOPS or 10,979.114 TFLOPS&lt;ref name=&quot;grstats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;.<br /> <br /> = Summary of the Comparison of Supercomputers =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Cluster supercomputers account for about twice as much processing in TFLOPS as MPP based supercomputers. The statistics tracked by [http://www.GridRepublic.org GridRepublic.org] for 55 applications shows that grid computing is using about the same amount of processing power as the fastest individual supercomputer listed on the [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] list of supercomputers. The fastest computer listed is the<br /> RIKEN located at the Advanced Institute for Computational Science (AICS) in Japan, which is a K computer, SPARC64 VIIIfx 2.0GHz, and Tofu interconnect that operates at 10510.00 TFLOPS&lt;ref&gt;http://www.top500.org/list/2011/11/100&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;Grid Computing as an alternative to individually defined supercomputers seems to be growing and the expense of operating it is fully distributed across the volunteers that are apart of it. However, with any system where you don't have complete control of its parts, you can't rely on all of those parts being there all the time.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = References =<br /> <br /> &lt;references /&gt;</div>

Mewilbor https://wiki.expertiza.ncsu.edu/index.php?title=CSC/ECE_506_Spring_2012/1a_mw&diff=57725 2012-01-31T13:46:24Z

<p>Mewilbor: removed the template message regarding where references go /* References */</p> <hr /> <div>&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Comparisons Between Supercomputers&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Supercomputers] are extremely capable computers, able to solve complex tasks in a relatively small amount of time. Their ability to massively outperform typical home and office computers is made possible normally either by an abundance of processor cores or smaller computers working in conjunction together. Supercomputers are generally specialized computers that tend to be very expensive, not available for general-purpose use and are used in computations where large amounts of numerical processing is required. They are used in scientific, military, graphics applications and for other number or data intensive computations &lt;ref&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref&gt;http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/supercomputer.html Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Benchmarking Supercomputers =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Supercomputers are generally compared qualitatively using floating point operations per second, or [http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html FLOPS]. Using standard prefixes, higher levels of FLOPS can be specified as the computing power of supercomputers increases. For example, KiloFLOPS for thousands of FLOPS and MegaFLOPS for millions of FLOPS &lt;ref&gt;http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html Doran, Kevin (April 2011) Comparing the performance of supercomputers&lt;/ref&gt;. Often you'll see just the first letter of the prefix with FLOPS. For example, for GigaFLOPS or billions of FLOPS, you'll see [http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s GFLOPS] &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s Definition of GFLOPS&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;A software package called [http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK] is a standard approach to testing or benchmarking supercomputers by solving a dense system of linear equations using the Gauss method. &lt;ref&gt;http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK defined&lt;/ref&gt;. However, LINPACK benchmarking software is not only used to benchmark supercomputers, it can also be used to benchmark a typical user computer &lt;ref&gt;http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?197835-IntelBurnTest-The-new-stress-testing-program Intel Benchmark Software&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Finding Supercomputer Comparison Data =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Starting in 1993, [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] began collecting performance data on computers and update their list every six months &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_top500 What is the TOP500&lt;/ref&gt;. This appears to be an excellent online source of information that collects benchmark data submitted by users of computers and readily provides performance statistics by Vendor, Application, Architecture and nine (9) other areas &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot;&gt;http://i.top500.org/stats TOP500 Stats&lt;/ref&gt;. This article, in order to be vendor neutral, is providing the comparison by architecture. However, there are many ways to compare supercomputers and the user interface at [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] makes these comparisons easy to do.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Comparison of Supercomputers by Architecture =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Traditional supercomputers of today are composed of three (3) types of parallel processing architectures. These architectures are Cluster, Massively Parallel Processing or MPP, and Constellation &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;. A non-traditional, or disruptive approach, to supercomputers is [http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing Grid Computing]&lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The following graphic generated at [http://www.TOP500.org/ TOP500.org] shows the distribution of supercomputers by architecture:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-architecture.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Cluster ==<br /> &lt;p&gt;A [http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/cluster-computing Cluster] is a group of computers connected together that appear as a single system to the outside world and provide load balancing and resource sharing &lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/cluster-computing Definition of Cluster Computing&lt;/ref&gt;. Invented by Digital Equipment Corporation in the 1980's, clusters of computers form the largest number of supercomputers available today &lt;ref&gt;http://books.google.com/books?id=Hd_JlxD7x3oC&amp;pg=PA90&amp;lpg=PA90&amp;dq=what+is+a+constellation+in+parallel+computing?&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=Rf9nxSqOgL&amp;sig=-xleas5wXvNpvkgYYxguvP1tSLA&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=aDcnT-XRNqHX0QHymbjrAg&amp;ved=0CGMQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&amp;q=what%20is%20a%20constellation%20in%20parallel%20computing%3F&amp;f=false Applied Parallel Computing&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] data as of November 2011 shows that Cluster computing makes up the largest subset of supercomputers at eight-two percent (82%). The following chart shows the growth of cluster supercomputer systems with the oldest data on the right:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-cluster-count.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The total processing power of the top 500 cluster supercomputers is reported at 50,192.82 TFLOPS and the trend for growth of cluster based supercomputers has leveled off&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Massively Parallel Processing, MPP ==<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci214085,00.html Massively Parallel Processing] or MPP supercomputers are made up of hundreds of computing nodes and process data in a coordinated fashion &lt;ref name=&quot;ttmppdef&quot;&gt;http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci214085,00.html&lt;/ref&gt;. Each node of the MPP generally has its own memory and operating system and can be made up of nodes that have multiple processors and/or multiple cores &lt;ref name=&quot;ttmppdef&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://i.TOP500.org/stats TOP500.org/stats] for the MPP architecture of supercomputers shows that as of November 2011, MPP makes up approximately 17.8% of all supercomputers reported. A graph of the growth and subsequent decline of the MPP architecture from data displayed at [http://i.TOP500.org/stats TOP500.org/stats] is shown below:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-mpp-count.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The total processing power of the top 500 MPP supercomputers is 23,823.97 TFLOPS. The trend of MPP supercomputers, like cluster based supercomputers, has leveled off&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Constellation ==<br /> &lt;p&gt;A [http://www.mimuw.edu.pl/~mbiskup/presentations/Parallel%20Computing.pdf Constellation] is a cluster of supercomputers &lt;ref&gt;http://www.mimuw.edu.pl/~mbiskup/presentations/Parallel%20Computing.pdf&lt;/ref&gt;. [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] shows only one constellation supercomputer as of November 2011:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-constellation-count.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;This author's speculation about the decline of constellations is based on several factors: Multiple processor and/or multiple core computers have been getting faster and less expensive. Combine these less expensive computers into very large clusters and you can get computing power that rivals a constellation. Alternatively, more and more computers have symmetric multiprocessing, SMP, and the concept of constellations and clusters is converging.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The total processing power of the constellation supercomputer is: 52.84 TFLOPS&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Grid Computing ==<br /> &lt;p&gt;Grid Computing is defined as applying many networked computers to solving a single problem simultaneously&lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing&lt;/ref&gt;. It is also defined as a network of computers used by a single company or organization to solve a problem&lt;ref&gt;http://boinc.berkeley.edu/trac/wiki/DesktopGrid&lt;/ref&gt;. Yet another definition as implemented by GridRepublic.org creates a supercomputing grid by using volunteer computers from across the globe&lt;ref&gt;http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=about&lt;/ref&gt;. All of these definitions have something in common, and that is using parallel processing to attack a problem that can be broken up into many pieces.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The following graph generated by data at [www.GridRepublic.Org GridRepublic.org] shows the average processing power of this supercomputer created by volunteers from around the world:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:20120130-grid-computing-graph.png|Image from http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;Image from GridRepublic.org&lt;ref name=&quot;grstats&quot;&gt;http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=stats Image from GridRepublic.Org&lt;/ref&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The GridRepublic.org statistics is for 55 applications running using a total of 10,979,114 GFLOPS or 10,979.114 TFLOPS&lt;ref name=&quot;grstats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;.<br /> <br /> = Summary of the Comparison of Supercomputers =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Cluster supercomputers account for about twice as much processing in TFLOPS as MPP based supercomputers. The statistics tracked by [http://www.GridRepublic.org GridRepublic.org] for 55 applications shows that grid computing is using about the same amount of processing power as the fastest individual supercomputer listed on the [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] list of supercomputers. The fastest computer listed is the<br /> RIKEN located at the Advanced Institute for Computational Science (AICS) in Japan, which is a K computer, SPARC64 VIIIfx 2.0GHz, and Tofu interconnect that operates at 10510.00 TFLOPS&lt;ref&gt;http://www.top500.org/list/2011/11/100&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;Grid Computing as an alternative to individually defined supercomputers seems to be growing and the expense of operating it is fully distributed across the volunteers that are apart of it. However, with any system where you don't have complete control of its parts, you can't rely on all of those parts being there all the time.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = References =<br /> <br /> &lt;references /&gt;</div>

Mewilbor https://wiki.expertiza.ncsu.edu/index.php?title=CSC/ECE_506_Spring_2012/1a_mw&diff=57724 2012-01-31T13:45:19Z

<p>Mewilbor: added a space between two words and rephrased the grid republic sentence</p> <hr /> <div>&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Comparisons Between Supercomputers&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Supercomputers] are extremely capable computers, able to solve complex tasks in a relatively small amount of time. Their ability to massively outperform typical home and office computers is made possible normally either by an abundance of processor cores or smaller computers working in conjunction together. Supercomputers are generally specialized computers that tend to be very expensive, not available for general-purpose use and are used in computations where large amounts of numerical processing is required. They are used in scientific, military, graphics applications and for other number or data intensive computations &lt;ref&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref&gt;http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/supercomputer.html Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Benchmarking Supercomputers =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Supercomputers are generally compared qualitatively using floating point operations per second, or [http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html FLOPS]. Using standard prefixes, higher levels of FLOPS can be specified as the computing power of supercomputers increases. For example, KiloFLOPS for thousands of FLOPS and MegaFLOPS for millions of FLOPS &lt;ref&gt;http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html Doran, Kevin (April 2011) Comparing the performance of supercomputers&lt;/ref&gt;. Often you'll see just the first letter of the prefix with FLOPS. For example, for GigaFLOPS or billions of FLOPS, you'll see [http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s GFLOPS] &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s Definition of GFLOPS&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;A software package called [http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK] is a standard approach to testing or benchmarking supercomputers by solving a dense system of linear equations using the Gauss method. &lt;ref&gt;http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK defined&lt;/ref&gt;. However, LINPACK benchmarking software is not only used to benchmark supercomputers, it can also be used to benchmark a typical user computer &lt;ref&gt;http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?197835-IntelBurnTest-The-new-stress-testing-program Intel Benchmark Software&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Finding Supercomputer Comparison Data =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Starting in 1993, [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] began collecting performance data on computers and update their list every six months &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_top500 What is the TOP500&lt;/ref&gt;. This appears to be an excellent online source of information that collects benchmark data submitted by users of computers and readily provides performance statistics by Vendor, Application, Architecture and nine (9) other areas &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot;&gt;http://i.top500.org/stats TOP500 Stats&lt;/ref&gt;. This article, in order to be vendor neutral, is providing the comparison by architecture. However, there are many ways to compare supercomputers and the user interface at [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] makes these comparisons easy to do.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Comparison of Supercomputers by Architecture =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Traditional supercomputers of today are composed of three (3) types of parallel processing architectures. These architectures are Cluster, Massively Parallel Processing or MPP, and Constellation &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;. A non-traditional, or disruptive approach, to supercomputers is [http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing Grid Computing]&lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The following graphic generated at [http://www.TOP500.org/ TOP500.org] shows the distribution of supercomputers by architecture:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-architecture.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Cluster ==<br /> &lt;p&gt;A [http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/cluster-computing Cluster] is a group of computers connected together that appear as a single system to the outside world and provide load balancing and resource sharing &lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/cluster-computing Definition of Cluster Computing&lt;/ref&gt;. Invented by Digital Equipment Corporation in the 1980's, clusters of computers form the largest number of supercomputers available today &lt;ref&gt;http://books.google.com/books?id=Hd_JlxD7x3oC&amp;pg=PA90&amp;lpg=PA90&amp;dq=what+is+a+constellation+in+parallel+computing?&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=Rf9nxSqOgL&amp;sig=-xleas5wXvNpvkgYYxguvP1tSLA&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=aDcnT-XRNqHX0QHymbjrAg&amp;ved=0CGMQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&amp;q=what%20is%20a%20constellation%20in%20parallel%20computing%3F&amp;f=false Applied Parallel Computing&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] data as of November 2011 shows that Cluster computing makes up the largest subset of supercomputers at eight-two percent (82%). The following chart shows the growth of cluster supercomputer systems with the oldest data on the right:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-cluster-count.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The total processing power of the top 500 cluster supercomputers is reported at 50,192.82 TFLOPS and the trend for growth of cluster based supercomputers has leveled off&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Massively Parallel Processing, MPP ==<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci214085,00.html Massively Parallel Processing] or MPP supercomputers are made up of hundreds of computing nodes and process data in a coordinated fashion &lt;ref name=&quot;ttmppdef&quot;&gt;http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci214085,00.html&lt;/ref&gt;. Each node of the MPP generally has its own memory and operating system and can be made up of nodes that have multiple processors and/or multiple cores &lt;ref name=&quot;ttmppdef&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://i.TOP500.org/stats TOP500.org/stats] for the MPP architecture of supercomputers shows that as of November 2011, MPP makes up approximately 17.8% of all supercomputers reported. A graph of the growth and subsequent decline of the MPP architecture from data displayed at [http://i.TOP500.org/stats TOP500.org/stats] is shown below:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-mpp-count.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The total processing power of the top 500 MPP supercomputers is 23,823.97 TFLOPS. The trend of MPP supercomputers, like cluster based supercomputers, has leveled off&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Constellation ==<br /> &lt;p&gt;A [http://www.mimuw.edu.pl/~mbiskup/presentations/Parallel%20Computing.pdf Constellation] is a cluster of supercomputers &lt;ref&gt;http://www.mimuw.edu.pl/~mbiskup/presentations/Parallel%20Computing.pdf&lt;/ref&gt;. [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] shows only one constellation supercomputer as of November 2011:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-constellation-count.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;This author's speculation about the decline of constellations is based on several factors: Multiple processor and/or multiple core computers have been getting faster and less expensive. Combine these less expensive computers into very large clusters and you can get computing power that rivals a constellation. Alternatively, more and more computers have symmetric multiprocessing, SMP, and the concept of constellations and clusters is converging.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The total processing power of the constellation supercomputer is: 52.84 TFLOPS&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Grid Computing ==<br /> &lt;p&gt;Grid Computing is defined as applying many networked computers to solving a single problem simultaneously&lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing&lt;/ref&gt;. It is also defined as a network of computers used by a single company or organization to solve a problem&lt;ref&gt;http://boinc.berkeley.edu/trac/wiki/DesktopGrid&lt;/ref&gt;. Yet another definition as implemented by GridRepublic.org creates a supercomputing grid by using volunteer computers from across the globe&lt;ref&gt;http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=about&lt;/ref&gt;. All of these definitions have something in common, and that is using parallel processing to attack a problem that can be broken up into many pieces.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The following graph generated by data at [www.GridRepublic.Org GridRepublic.org] shows the average processing power of this supercomputer created by volunteers from around the world:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:20120130-grid-computing-graph.png|Image from http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;Image from GridRepublic.org&lt;ref name=&quot;grstats&quot;&gt;http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=stats Image from GridRepublic.Org&lt;/ref&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The GridRepublic.org statistics is for 55 applications running using a total of 10,979,114 GFLOPS or 10,979.114 TFLOPS&lt;ref name=&quot;grstats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;.<br /> <br /> = Summary of the Comparison of Supercomputers =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Cluster supercomputers account for about twice as much processing in TFLOPS as MPP based supercomputers. The statistics tracked by [http://www.GridRepublic.org GridRepublic.org] for 55 applications shows that grid computing is using about the same amount of processing power as the fastest individual supercomputer listed on the [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] list of supercomputers. The fastest computer listed is the<br /> RIKEN located at the Advanced Institute for Computational Science (AICS) in Japan, which is a K computer, SPARC64 VIIIfx 2.0GHz, and Tofu interconnect that operates at 10510.00 TFLOPS&lt;ref&gt;http://www.top500.org/list/2011/11/100&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;Grid Computing as an alternative to individually defined supercomputers seems to be growing and the expense of operating it is fully distributed across the volunteers that are apart of it. However, with any system where you don't have complete control of its parts, you can't rely on all of those parts being there all the time.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = References =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Your references go here. You should allow the WIKI to create your references list automatically by using inline citations.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;references /&gt;</div>

Mewilbor https://wiki.expertiza.ncsu.edu/index.php?title=CSC/ECE_506_Spring_2012/1a_mw&diff=57548 2012-01-31T03:05:39Z

<p>Mewilbor: /* Finding Supercomputer Comparison Data */</p> <hr /> <div>&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Comparisons Between Supercomputers&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Introduction =<br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Supercomputers] are specialized computers that are generally very expensive, not available for general purpose use and are used in computations where large amounts of numerical processing is required. They are used in scientific, military, graphics applications and for other number or data intensive computations &lt;ref&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref&gt;http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/supercomputer.html Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;Supercomputers are generally compared qualitatively using floating point operations per second, or [http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html FLOPS]. Using standard prefixes, higher levels of FLOPS can be specified as the computing power of supercomputers increases. For example, KiloFLOPS for thousands of FLOPS and MegaFLOPS for millions of FLOPS &lt;ref&gt;http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html Doran, Kevin (April 2011) Comparing the performance of supercomputers&lt;/ref&gt;. Often you'll see just the first letter of the prefix with FLOPS. For example, for GigaFLOPS or billions of FLOPS, you'll see [http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s GFLOPS] &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s Definition of GFLOPS&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;A software package called [http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK] is a standard approach to testing or benchmarking supercomputers by solving a dense system of linear equations using the Gauss method. &lt;ref&gt;http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK defined&lt;/ref&gt;. However, LINPACK benchmarking software isn't only used to benchmark supercomputers, it can also be used to benchmark a typical user computer &lt;ref&gt;http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?197835-IntelBurnTest-The-new-stress-testing-program Intel Benchmark Software&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Finding Supercomputer Comparison Data =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Starting in 1993, [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] began collecting performance data on computers and update their list every six months &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_top500 What is the TOP500&lt;/ref&gt;. This appears to be an excellent online source of information that collects benchmark data submitted by users of computers and readily provides performance statistics by Vendor, Application, Architecture and nine (9) other areas &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot;&gt;http://i.top500.org/stats TOP500 Stats&lt;/ref&gt;. This article, in order to be vendor neutral, is providing the comparison by architecture. However, there are many ways to compare supercomputers and the user interface at [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] makes these comparisons easy to do.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Comparison of Supercomputers by Architecture =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Traditional supercomputers of today are composed of three (3) types of parallel processing architecture. These architectures are Cluster, Massively Parallel Processing or MPP and Constellation &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;. A non-traditional, or disruptive approach, to supercomputers is [http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing Grid Computing]&lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The following graphic generated at [http://www.TOP500.org/ TOP500.org] shows the distribution of supercomputers by architecture:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-architecture.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Cluster ==<br /> &lt;p&gt;A [http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/cluster-computing Cluster] is a group of computers connected together that appear as a single system to the outside world and provide load balancing and resource sharing &lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/cluster-computing Definition of Cluster Computing&lt;/ref&gt;. Invented by Digital Equipment Corporation in the 1980's, clusters of computers form the largest number of supercomputers available today &lt;ref&gt;http://books.google.com/books?id=Hd_JlxD7x3oC&amp;pg=PA90&amp;lpg=PA90&amp;dq=what+is+a+constellation+in+parallel+computing?&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=Rf9nxSqOgL&amp;sig=-xleas5wXvNpvkgYYxguvP1tSLA&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=aDcnT-XRNqHX0QHymbjrAg&amp;ved=0CGMQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&amp;q=what%20is%20a%20constellation%20in%20parallel%20computing%3F&amp;f=false Applied Parallel Computing&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] data as of November 2011 shows that Cluster computing makes up the largest subset of supercomputers at eight-two percent (82%). The following chart shows the growth of cluster supercomputer systems with the oldest data on the right:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-cluster-count.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The total processing power of the top 500 cluster supercomputers is reported at 50,192.82 TFLOPS and the trend for growth of cluster based supercomputers has leveled off&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Massively Parallel Processing, MPP ==<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci214085,00.html Massively Parallel Processing] or MPP supercomputers are made up of hundreds of computing nodes and process data in a coordinated fashion &lt;ref name=&quot;ttmppdef&quot;&gt;http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci214085,00.html&lt;/ref&gt;. Each node of the MPP generally has its own memory and operating system and can be made up of nodes that have multiple processors and/or multiple cores &lt;ref name=&quot;ttmppdef&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://i.TOP500.org/stats TOP500.org/stats] for the MPP architecture of supercomputers shows that as of November 2011, MPP makes up approximately 17.8% of all supercomputers reported. A graph of the growth and subsequent decline of the MPP architecture from data displayed at [http://i.TOP500.org/stats TOP500.org/stats] is shown below:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-mpp-count.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The total processing power of the top 500 MPP supercomputers is 23,823.97 TFLOPS. The trend of MPP supercomputers, like cluster based supercomputers, has leveled off&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Constellation ==<br /> &lt;p&gt;A [http://www.mimuw.edu.pl/~mbiskup/presentations/Parallel%20Computing.pdf Constellation] is a cluster of supercomputers &lt;ref&gt;http://www.mimuw.edu.pl/~mbiskup/presentations/Parallel%20Computing.pdf&lt;/ref&gt;. [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] shows only one constellation supercomputer as of November 2011:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-constellation-count.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;This author's speculation about the decline of constellations is based on several factors: Multiple processor and/or multiple core computers have been getting faster and less expensive. Combine these less expensive computers into very large clusters and you can get computing power that rivals a constellation. Alternatively, more and more computers have symmetric multiprocessing, SMP, and the concept of constellations and clusters is converging.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The total processing power of the constellation supercomputer is: 52.84 TFLOPS&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Grid Computing ==<br /> &lt;p&gt;Grid Computing is defined as applying many networked computers to solving a single problem simultaneously&lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing&lt;/ref&gt;. It is also defined as a network of computers used by a single company or organization to solve a problem&lt;ref&gt;http://boinc.berkeley.edu/trac/wiki/DesktopGrid&lt;/ref&gt;. Yet another definition as implemented by GridRepublic.org creates a supercomputing grid by using volunteer computers from across the globe&lt;ref&gt;http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=about&lt;/ref&gt;. All of these definitions have something in common, and that is using parallel processing to attack a problem that can be broken up into many pieces.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The following graph generated by data at [www.GridRepublic.Org GridRepublic.org] shows the average processing power of this supercomputer created by volunteers from around the world:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:20120130-grid-computing-graph.png|Image from http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;Image from GridRepublic.org&lt;ref name=&quot;grstats&quot;&gt;http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=stats Image from GridRepublic.Org&lt;/ref&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The GridRepublic.org statistics is for 55 applications running using a total of 10,979,114 GFLOPS or 10,979.114 TFLOPS&lt;ref name=&quot;grstats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;.<br /> <br /> = Conclusion/Summary =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Cluster supercomputers account for about twice as much processing in TFLOPS as MPP based supercomputers. The [http://www.GridRepublic.org GridRepublic.org] statistics that it tracks for 55 applications is using about the same amount of processing power as the fastest individual supercomputer listed on the [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] list of supercomputers. The fastest computer listed is the<br /> RIKEN Advanced Institute for Computational Science (AICS) in Japan, which is a K computer, SPARC64 VIIIfx 2.0GHz, Tofu interconnectthat operates at 10510.00 TFLOPS&lt;ref&gt;http://www.top500.org/list/2011/11/100&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;Grid Computing as an alternative to individually defined supercomputers seems to be growing and the expense of operating it is fully distributed across the volunteers that are apart of it. However, with any system where you don't have complete control of its parts, you can't rely on all of those parts being there all the time.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = References =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Your references go here. You should allow the WIKI to create your references list automatically by using inline citations.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;references /&gt;</div>

Mewilbor https://wiki.expertiza.ncsu.edu/index.php?title=CSC/ECE_506_Spring_2012/1a_mw&diff=57542 2012-01-31T03:00:11Z

<p>Mewilbor: /* Conclusion/Summary */</p> <hr /> <div>&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Comparisons Between Supercomputers&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Introduction =<br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Supercomputers] are specialized computers that are generally very expensive, not available for general purpose use and are used in computations where large amounts of numerical processing is required. They are used in scientific, military, graphics applications and for other number or data intensive computations &lt;ref&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref&gt;http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/supercomputer.html Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;Supercomputers are generally compared qualitatively using floating point operations per second, or [http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html FLOPS]. Using standard prefixes, higher levels of FLOPS can be specified as the computing power of supercomputers increases. For example, KiloFLOPS for thousands of FLOPS and MegaFLOPS for millions of FLOPS &lt;ref&gt;http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html Doran, Kevin (April 2011) Comparing the performance of supercomputers&lt;/ref&gt;. Often you'll see just the first letter of the prefix with FLOPS. For example, for GigaFLOPS or billions of FLOPS, you'll see [http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s GFLOPS] &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s Definition of GFLOPS&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;A software package called [http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK] is a standard approach to testing or benchmarking supercomputers by solving a dense system of linear equations using the Gauss method. &lt;ref&gt;http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK defined&lt;/ref&gt;. However, LINPACK benchmarking software isn't only used to benchmark supercomputers, it can also be used to benchmark a typical user computer &lt;ref&gt;http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?197835-IntelBurnTest-The-new-stress-testing-program Intel Benchmark Software&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Finding Supercomputer Comparison Data =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Starting in 1993, [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] began collecting performance data on computers and update their list every six months &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_top500 What is the TOP500&lt;/ref&gt;. This appears to be an excellent online source of information that collects benchmark data submitted by users of computers and readily provides performance statistics by Vendor, Application, Architecture and nine (9) other areas &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot;&gt;http://i.top500.org/stats TOP500 Stats&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Comparison of Supercomputers by Architecture =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Traditional supercomputers of today are composed of three (3) types of parallel processing architecture. These architectures are Cluster, Massively Parallel Processing or MPP and Constellation &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;. A non-traditional, or disruptive approach, to supercomputers is [http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing Grid Computing]&lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The following graphic generated at [http://www.TOP500.org/ TOP500.org] shows the distribution of supercomputers by architecture:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-architecture.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Cluster ==<br /> &lt;p&gt;A [http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/cluster-computing Cluster] is a group of computers connected together that appear as a single system to the outside world and provide load balancing and resource sharing &lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/cluster-computing Definition of Cluster Computing&lt;/ref&gt;. Invented by Digital Equipment Corporation in the 1980's, clusters of computers form the largest number of supercomputers available today &lt;ref&gt;http://books.google.com/books?id=Hd_JlxD7x3oC&amp;pg=PA90&amp;lpg=PA90&amp;dq=what+is+a+constellation+in+parallel+computing?&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=Rf9nxSqOgL&amp;sig=-xleas5wXvNpvkgYYxguvP1tSLA&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=aDcnT-XRNqHX0QHymbjrAg&amp;ved=0CGMQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&amp;q=what%20is%20a%20constellation%20in%20parallel%20computing%3F&amp;f=false Applied Parallel Computing&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] data as of November 2011 shows that Cluster computing makes up the largest subset of supercomputers at eight-two percent (82%). The following chart shows the growth of cluster supercomputer systems with the oldest data on the right:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-cluster-count.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The total processing power of the top 500 cluster supercomputers is reported at 50,192.82 TFLOPS and the trend for growth of cluster based supercomputers has leveled off&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Massively Parallel Processing, MPP ==<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci214085,00.html Massively Parallel Processing] or MPP supercomputers are made up of hundreds of computing nodes and process data in a coordinated fashion &lt;ref name=&quot;ttmppdef&quot;&gt;http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci214085,00.html&lt;/ref&gt;. Each node of the MPP generally has its own memory and operating system and can be made up of nodes that have multiple processors and/or multiple cores &lt;ref name=&quot;ttmppdef&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://i.TOP500.org/stats TOP500.org/stats] for the MPP architecture of supercomputers shows that as of November 2011, MPP makes up approximately 17.8% of all supercomputers reported. A graph of the growth and subsequent decline of the MPP architecture from data displayed at [http://i.TOP500.org/stats TOP500.org/stats] is shown below:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-mpp-count.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The total processing power of the top 500 MPP supercomputers is 23,823.97 TFLOPS. The trend of MPP supercomputers, like cluster based supercomputers, has leveled off&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Constellation ==<br /> &lt;p&gt;A [http://www.mimuw.edu.pl/~mbiskup/presentations/Parallel%20Computing.pdf Constellation] is a cluster of supercomputers &lt;ref&gt;http://www.mimuw.edu.pl/~mbiskup/presentations/Parallel%20Computing.pdf&lt;/ref&gt;. [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] shows only one constellation supercomputer as of November 2011:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-constellation-count.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;This author's speculation about the decline of constellations is based on several factors: Multiple processor and/or multiple core computers have been getting faster and less expensive. Combine these less expensive computers into very large clusters and you can get computing power that rivals a constellation. Alternatively, more and more computers have symmetric multiprocessing, SMP, and the concept of constellations and clusters is converging.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The total processing power of the constellation supercomputer is: 52.84 TFLOPS&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Grid Computing ==<br /> &lt;p&gt;Grid Computing is defined as applying many networked computers to solving a single problem simultaneously&lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing&lt;/ref&gt;. It is also defined as a network of computers used by a single company or organization to solve a problem&lt;ref&gt;http://boinc.berkeley.edu/trac/wiki/DesktopGrid&lt;/ref&gt;. Yet another definition as implemented by GridRepublic.org creates a supercomputing grid by using volunteer computers from across the globe&lt;ref&gt;http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=about&lt;/ref&gt;. All of these definitions have something in common, and that is using parallel processing to attack a problem that can be broken up into many pieces.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The following graph generated by data at [www.GridRepublic.Org GridRepublic.org] shows the average processing power of this supercomputer created by volunteers from around the world:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:20120130-grid-computing-graph.png|Image from http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;Image from GridRepublic.org&lt;ref name=&quot;grstats&quot;&gt;http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=stats Image from GridRepublic.Org&lt;/ref&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The GridRepublic.org statistics is for 55 applications running using a total of 10,979,114 GFLOPS or 10,979.114 TFLOPS&lt;ref name=&quot;grstats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;.<br /> <br /> = Conclusion/Summary =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Cluster supercomputers account for about twice as much processing in TFLOPS as MPP based supercomputers. The [http://www.GridRepublic.org GridRepublic.org] statistics that it tracks for 55 applications is using about the same amount of processing power as the fastest individual supercomputer listed on the [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] list of supercomputers. The fastest computer listed is the<br /> RIKEN Advanced Institute for Computational Science (AICS) in Japan, which is a K computer, SPARC64 VIIIfx 2.0GHz, Tofu interconnectthat operates at 10510.00 TFLOPS&lt;ref&gt;http://www.top500.org/list/2011/11/100&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;Grid Computing as an alternative to individually defined supercomputers seems to be growing and the expense of operating it is fully distributed across the volunteers that are apart of it. However, with any system where you don't have complete control of its parts, you can't rely on all of those parts being there all the time.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = References =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Your references go here. You should allow the WIKI to create your references list automatically by using inline citations.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;references /&gt;</div>

Mewilbor https://wiki.expertiza.ncsu.edu/index.php?title=CSC/ECE_506_Spring_2012/1a_mw&diff=57532 2012-01-31T02:52:42Z

<p>Mewilbor: /* Massively Parallel Processing, MPP */</p> <hr /> <div>&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Comparisons Between Supercomputers&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Introduction =<br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Supercomputers] are specialized computers that are generally very expensive, not available for general purpose use and are used in computations where large amounts of numerical processing is required. They are used in scientific, military, graphics applications and for other number or data intensive computations &lt;ref&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref&gt;http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/supercomputer.html Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;Supercomputers are generally compared qualitatively using floating point operations per second, or [http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html FLOPS]. Using standard prefixes, higher levels of FLOPS can be specified as the computing power of supercomputers increases. For example, KiloFLOPS for thousands of FLOPS and MegaFLOPS for millions of FLOPS &lt;ref&gt;http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html Doran, Kevin (April 2011) Comparing the performance of supercomputers&lt;/ref&gt;. Often you'll see just the first letter of the prefix with FLOPS. For example, for GigaFLOPS or billions of FLOPS, you'll see [http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s GFLOPS] &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s Definition of GFLOPS&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;A software package called [http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK] is a standard approach to testing or benchmarking supercomputers by solving a dense system of linear equations using the Gauss method. &lt;ref&gt;http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK defined&lt;/ref&gt;. However, LINPACK benchmarking software isn't only used to benchmark supercomputers, it can also be used to benchmark a typical user computer &lt;ref&gt;http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?197835-IntelBurnTest-The-new-stress-testing-program Intel Benchmark Software&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Finding Supercomputer Comparison Data =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Starting in 1993, [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] began collecting performance data on computers and update their list every six months &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_top500 What is the TOP500&lt;/ref&gt;. This appears to be an excellent online source of information that collects benchmark data submitted by users of computers and readily provides performance statistics by Vendor, Application, Architecture and nine (9) other areas &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot;&gt;http://i.top500.org/stats TOP500 Stats&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Comparison of Supercomputers by Architecture =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Traditional supercomputers of today are composed of three (3) types of parallel processing architecture. These architectures are Cluster, Massively Parallel Processing or MPP and Constellation &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;. A non-traditional, or disruptive approach, to supercomputers is [http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing Grid Computing]&lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The following graphic generated at [http://www.TOP500.org/ TOP500.org] shows the distribution of supercomputers by architecture:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-architecture.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Cluster ==<br /> &lt;p&gt;A [http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/cluster-computing Cluster] is a group of computers connected together that appear as a single system to the outside world and provide load balancing and resource sharing &lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/cluster-computing Definition of Cluster Computing&lt;/ref&gt;. Invented by Digital Equipment Corporation in the 1980's, clusters of computers form the largest number of supercomputers available today &lt;ref&gt;http://books.google.com/books?id=Hd_JlxD7x3oC&amp;pg=PA90&amp;lpg=PA90&amp;dq=what+is+a+constellation+in+parallel+computing?&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=Rf9nxSqOgL&amp;sig=-xleas5wXvNpvkgYYxguvP1tSLA&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=aDcnT-XRNqHX0QHymbjrAg&amp;ved=0CGMQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&amp;q=what%20is%20a%20constellation%20in%20parallel%20computing%3F&amp;f=false Applied Parallel Computing&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] data as of November 2011 shows that Cluster computing makes up the largest subset of supercomputers at eight-two percent (82%). The following chart shows the growth of cluster supercomputer systems with the oldest data on the right:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-cluster-count.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The total processing power of the top 500 cluster supercomputers is reported at 50,192.82 TFLOPS and the trend for growth of cluster based supercomputers has leveled off&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Massively Parallel Processing, MPP ==<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci214085,00.html Massively Parallel Processing] or MPP supercomputers are made up of hundreds of computing nodes and process data in a coordinated fashion &lt;ref name=&quot;ttmppdef&quot;&gt;http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci214085,00.html&lt;/ref&gt;. Each node of the MPP generally has its own memory and operating system and can be made up of nodes that have multiple processors and/or multiple cores &lt;ref name=&quot;ttmppdef&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://i.TOP500.org/stats TOP500.org/stats] for the MPP architecture of supercomputers shows that as of November 2011, MPP makes up approximately 17.8% of all supercomputers reported. A graph of the growth and subsequent decline of the MPP architecture from data displayed at [http://i.TOP500.org/stats TOP500.org/stats] is shown below:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-mpp-count.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The total processing power of the top 500 MPP supercomputers is 23,823.97 TFLOPS. The trend of MPP supercomputers, like cluster based supercomputers, has leveled off&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Constellation ==<br /> &lt;p&gt;A [http://www.mimuw.edu.pl/~mbiskup/presentations/Parallel%20Computing.pdf Constellation] is a cluster of supercomputers &lt;ref&gt;http://www.mimuw.edu.pl/~mbiskup/presentations/Parallel%20Computing.pdf&lt;/ref&gt;. [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] shows only one constellation supercomputer as of November 2011:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-constellation-count.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;This author's speculation about the decline of constellations is based on several factors: Multiple processor and/or multiple core computers have been getting faster and less expensive. Combine these less expensive computers into very large clusters and you can get computing power that rivals a constellation. Alternatively, more and more computers have symmetric multiprocessing, SMP, and the concept of constellations and clusters is converging.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The total processing power of the constellation supercomputer is: 52.84 TFLOPS&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Grid Computing ==<br /> &lt;p&gt;Grid Computing is defined as applying many networked computers to solving a single problem simultaneously&lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing&lt;/ref&gt;. It is also defined as a network of computers used by a single company or organization to solve a problem&lt;ref&gt;http://boinc.berkeley.edu/trac/wiki/DesktopGrid&lt;/ref&gt;. Yet another definition as implemented by GridRepublic.org creates a supercomputing grid by using volunteer computers from across the globe&lt;ref&gt;http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=about&lt;/ref&gt;. All of these definitions have something in common, and that is using parallel processing to attack a problem that can be broken up into many pieces.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The following graph generated by data at [www.GridRepublic.Org GridRepublic.org] shows the average processing power of this supercomputer created by volunteers from around the world:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:20120130-grid-computing-graph.png|Image from http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;Image from GridRepublic.org&lt;ref name=&quot;grstats&quot;&gt;http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=stats Image from GridRepublic.Org&lt;/ref&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The GridRepublic.org statistics is for 55 applications running using a total of 10,979,114 GFLOPS or 10,979.114 TFLOPS&lt;ref name=&quot;grstats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;.<br /> <br /> = Conclusion/Summary =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Cluster supercomputers account for about twice as much processing in TFLOPS as MPP based supercomputers.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = References =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Your references go here. You should allow the WIKI to create your references list automatically by using inline citations.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;references /&gt;</div>

Mewilbor https://wiki.expertiza.ncsu.edu/index.php?title=CSC/ECE_506_Spring_2012/1a_mw&diff=57530 2012-01-31T02:52:02Z

<p>Mewilbor: /* Cluster */</p> <hr /> <div>&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Comparisons Between Supercomputers&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Introduction =<br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Supercomputers] are specialized computers that are generally very expensive, not available for general purpose use and are used in computations where large amounts of numerical processing is required. They are used in scientific, military, graphics applications and for other number or data intensive computations &lt;ref&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref&gt;http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/supercomputer.html Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;Supercomputers are generally compared qualitatively using floating point operations per second, or [http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html FLOPS]. Using standard prefixes, higher levels of FLOPS can be specified as the computing power of supercomputers increases. For example, KiloFLOPS for thousands of FLOPS and MegaFLOPS for millions of FLOPS &lt;ref&gt;http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html Doran, Kevin (April 2011) Comparing the performance of supercomputers&lt;/ref&gt;. Often you'll see just the first letter of the prefix with FLOPS. For example, for GigaFLOPS or billions of FLOPS, you'll see [http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s GFLOPS] &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s Definition of GFLOPS&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;A software package called [http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK] is a standard approach to testing or benchmarking supercomputers by solving a dense system of linear equations using the Gauss method. &lt;ref&gt;http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK defined&lt;/ref&gt;. However, LINPACK benchmarking software isn't only used to benchmark supercomputers, it can also be used to benchmark a typical user computer &lt;ref&gt;http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?197835-IntelBurnTest-The-new-stress-testing-program Intel Benchmark Software&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Finding Supercomputer Comparison Data =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Starting in 1993, [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] began collecting performance data on computers and update their list every six months &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_top500 What is the TOP500&lt;/ref&gt;. This appears to be an excellent online source of information that collects benchmark data submitted by users of computers and readily provides performance statistics by Vendor, Application, Architecture and nine (9) other areas &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot;&gt;http://i.top500.org/stats TOP500 Stats&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Comparison of Supercomputers by Architecture =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Traditional supercomputers of today are composed of three (3) types of parallel processing architecture. These architectures are Cluster, Massively Parallel Processing or MPP and Constellation &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;. A non-traditional, or disruptive approach, to supercomputers is [http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing Grid Computing]&lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The following graphic generated at [http://www.TOP500.org/ TOP500.org] shows the distribution of supercomputers by architecture:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-architecture.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Cluster ==<br /> &lt;p&gt;A [http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/cluster-computing Cluster] is a group of computers connected together that appear as a single system to the outside world and provide load balancing and resource sharing &lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/cluster-computing Definition of Cluster Computing&lt;/ref&gt;. Invented by Digital Equipment Corporation in the 1980's, clusters of computers form the largest number of supercomputers available today &lt;ref&gt;http://books.google.com/books?id=Hd_JlxD7x3oC&amp;pg=PA90&amp;lpg=PA90&amp;dq=what+is+a+constellation+in+parallel+computing?&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=Rf9nxSqOgL&amp;sig=-xleas5wXvNpvkgYYxguvP1tSLA&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=aDcnT-XRNqHX0QHymbjrAg&amp;ved=0CGMQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&amp;q=what%20is%20a%20constellation%20in%20parallel%20computing%3F&amp;f=false Applied Parallel Computing&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] data as of November 2011 shows that Cluster computing makes up the largest subset of supercomputers at eight-two percent (82%). The following chart shows the growth of cluster supercomputer systems with the oldest data on the right:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-cluster-count.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The total processing power of the top 500 cluster supercomputers is reported at 50,192.82 TFLOPS and the trend for growth of cluster based supercomputers has leveled off&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Massively Parallel Processing, MPP ==<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci214085,00.html Massively Parallel Processing] or MPP supercomputers are made up of hundreds of computing nodes and process data in a coordinated fashion &lt;ref name=&quot;ttmppdef&quot;&gt;http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci214085,00.html&lt;/ref&gt;. Each node of the MPP generally has its own memory and operating system and can be made up of nodes that have multiple processors and/or multiple cores &lt;ref name=&quot;ttmppdef&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://i.TOP500.org/stats TOP500.org/stats] for the MPP architecture of supercomputers shows that as of November 2011, MPP makes up approximately 17.8% of all supercomputers reported. A graph of the growth and subsequent decline of the MPP architecture from data displayed at [http://i.TOP500.org/stats TOP500.org/stats] is shown below:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-mpp-count.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The total processing power of the top 500 MPP supercomputers is 23,823.97 TFLOPS&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Constellation ==<br /> &lt;p&gt;A [http://www.mimuw.edu.pl/~mbiskup/presentations/Parallel%20Computing.pdf Constellation] is a cluster of supercomputers &lt;ref&gt;http://www.mimuw.edu.pl/~mbiskup/presentations/Parallel%20Computing.pdf&lt;/ref&gt;. [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] shows only one constellation supercomputer as of November 2011:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-constellation-count.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;This author's speculation about the decline of constellations is based on several factors: Multiple processor and/or multiple core computers have been getting faster and less expensive. Combine these less expensive computers into very large clusters and you can get computing power that rivals a constellation. Alternatively, more and more computers have symmetric multiprocessing, SMP, and the concept of constellations and clusters is converging.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The total processing power of the constellation supercomputer is: 52.84 TFLOPS&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Grid Computing ==<br /> &lt;p&gt;Grid Computing is defined as applying many networked computers to solving a single problem simultaneously&lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing&lt;/ref&gt;. It is also defined as a network of computers used by a single company or organization to solve a problem&lt;ref&gt;http://boinc.berkeley.edu/trac/wiki/DesktopGrid&lt;/ref&gt;. Yet another definition as implemented by GridRepublic.org creates a supercomputing grid by using volunteer computers from across the globe&lt;ref&gt;http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=about&lt;/ref&gt;. All of these definitions have something in common, and that is using parallel processing to attack a problem that can be broken up into many pieces.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The following graph generated by data at [www.GridRepublic.Org GridRepublic.org] shows the average processing power of this supercomputer created by volunteers from around the world:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:20120130-grid-computing-graph.png|Image from http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;Image from GridRepublic.org&lt;ref name=&quot;grstats&quot;&gt;http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=stats Image from GridRepublic.Org&lt;/ref&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The GridRepublic.org statistics is for 55 applications running using a total of 10,979,114 GFLOPS or 10,979.114 TFLOPS&lt;ref name=&quot;grstats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;.<br /> <br /> = Conclusion/Summary =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Cluster supercomputers account for about twice as much processing in TFLOPS as MPP based supercomputers.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = References =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Your references go here. You should allow the WIKI to create your references list automatically by using inline citations.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;references /&gt;</div>

Mewilbor https://wiki.expertiza.ncsu.edu/index.php?title=CSC/ECE_506_Spring_2012/1a_mw&diff=57525 2012-01-31T02:46:18Z

<p>Mewilbor: /* Conclusion/Summary */</p> <hr /> <div>&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Comparisons Between Supercomputers&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Introduction =<br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Supercomputers] are specialized computers that are generally very expensive, not available for general purpose use and are used in computations where large amounts of numerical processing is required. They are used in scientific, military, graphics applications and for other number or data intensive computations &lt;ref&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref&gt;http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/supercomputer.html Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;Supercomputers are generally compared qualitatively using floating point operations per second, or [http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html FLOPS]. Using standard prefixes, higher levels of FLOPS can be specified as the computing power of supercomputers increases. For example, KiloFLOPS for thousands of FLOPS and MegaFLOPS for millions of FLOPS &lt;ref&gt;http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html Doran, Kevin (April 2011) Comparing the performance of supercomputers&lt;/ref&gt;. Often you'll see just the first letter of the prefix with FLOPS. For example, for GigaFLOPS or billions of FLOPS, you'll see [http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s GFLOPS] &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s Definition of GFLOPS&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;A software package called [http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK] is a standard approach to testing or benchmarking supercomputers by solving a dense system of linear equations using the Gauss method. &lt;ref&gt;http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK defined&lt;/ref&gt;. However, LINPACK benchmarking software isn't only used to benchmark supercomputers, it can also be used to benchmark a typical user computer &lt;ref&gt;http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?197835-IntelBurnTest-The-new-stress-testing-program Intel Benchmark Software&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Finding Supercomputer Comparison Data =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Starting in 1993, [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] began collecting performance data on computers and update their list every six months &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_top500 What is the TOP500&lt;/ref&gt;. This appears to be an excellent online source of information that collects benchmark data submitted by users of computers and readily provides performance statistics by Vendor, Application, Architecture and nine (9) other areas &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot;&gt;http://i.top500.org/stats TOP500 Stats&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Comparison of Supercomputers by Architecture =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Traditional supercomputers of today are composed of three (3) types of parallel processing architecture. These architectures are Cluster, Massively Parallel Processing or MPP and Constellation &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;. A non-traditional, or disruptive approach, to supercomputers is [http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing Grid Computing]&lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The following graphic generated at [http://www.TOP500.org/ TOP500.org] shows the distribution of supercomputers by architecture:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-architecture.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Cluster ==<br /> &lt;p&gt;A [http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/cluster-computing Cluster] is a group of computers connected together that appear as a single system to the outside world and provide load balancing and resource sharing &lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/cluster-computing Definition of Cluster Computing&lt;/ref&gt;. Invented by Digital Equipment Corporation in the 1980's, clusters of computers form the largest number of supercomputers available today &lt;ref&gt;http://books.google.com/books?id=Hd_JlxD7x3oC&amp;pg=PA90&amp;lpg=PA90&amp;dq=what+is+a+constellation+in+parallel+computing?&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=Rf9nxSqOgL&amp;sig=-xleas5wXvNpvkgYYxguvP1tSLA&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=aDcnT-XRNqHX0QHymbjrAg&amp;ved=0CGMQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&amp;q=what%20is%20a%20constellation%20in%20parallel%20computing%3F&amp;f=false Applied Parallel Computing&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] data as of November 2011 shows that Cluster computing makes up the largest subset of supercomputers at eight-two percent (82%). The following chart shows the growth of cluster supercomputer systems with the oldest data on the right:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-cluster-count.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The total processing power of the top 500 cluster supercomputers is reported at 50,192.82 TFLOPS&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Massively Parallel Processing, MPP ==<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci214085,00.html Massively Parallel Processing] or MPP supercomputers are made up of hundreds of computing nodes and process data in a coordinated fashion &lt;ref name=&quot;ttmppdef&quot;&gt;http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci214085,00.html&lt;/ref&gt;. Each node of the MPP generally has its own memory and operating system and can be made up of nodes that have multiple processors and/or multiple cores &lt;ref name=&quot;ttmppdef&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://i.TOP500.org/stats TOP500.org/stats] for the MPP architecture of supercomputers shows that as of November 2011, MPP makes up approximately 17.8% of all supercomputers reported. A graph of the growth and subsequent decline of the MPP architecture from data displayed at [http://i.TOP500.org/stats TOP500.org/stats] is shown below:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-mpp-count.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The total processing power of the top 500 MPP supercomputers is 23,823.97 TFLOPS&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Constellation ==<br /> &lt;p&gt;A [http://www.mimuw.edu.pl/~mbiskup/presentations/Parallel%20Computing.pdf Constellation] is a cluster of supercomputers &lt;ref&gt;http://www.mimuw.edu.pl/~mbiskup/presentations/Parallel%20Computing.pdf&lt;/ref&gt;. [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] shows only one constellation supercomputer as of November 2011:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-constellation-count.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;This author's speculation about the decline of constellations is based on several factors: Multiple processor and/or multiple core computers have been getting faster and less expensive. Combine these less expensive computers into very large clusters and you can get computing power that rivals a constellation. Alternatively, more and more computers have symmetric multiprocessing, SMP, and the concept of constellations and clusters is converging.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The total processing power of the constellation supercomputer is: 52.84 TFLOPS&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Grid Computing ==<br /> &lt;p&gt;Grid Computing is defined as applying many networked computers to solving a single problem simultaneously&lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing&lt;/ref&gt;. It is also defined as a network of computers used by a single company or organization to solve a problem&lt;ref&gt;http://boinc.berkeley.edu/trac/wiki/DesktopGrid&lt;/ref&gt;. Yet another definition as implemented by GridRepublic.org creates a supercomputing grid by using volunteer computers from across the globe&lt;ref&gt;http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=about&lt;/ref&gt;. All of these definitions have something in common, and that is using parallel processing to attack a problem that can be broken up into many pieces.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The following graph generated by data at [www.GridRepublic.Org GridRepublic.org] shows the average processing power of this supercomputer created by volunteers from around the world:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:20120130-grid-computing-graph.png|Image from http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;Image from GridRepublic.org&lt;ref name=&quot;grstats&quot;&gt;http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=stats Image from GridRepublic.Org&lt;/ref&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The GridRepublic.org statistics is for 55 applications running using a total of 10,979,114 GFLOPS or 10,979.114 TFLOPS&lt;ref name=&quot;grstats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;.<br /> <br /> = Conclusion/Summary =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Cluster supercomputers account for about twice as much processing in TFLOPS as MPP based supercomputers.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = References =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Your references go here. You should allow the WIKI to create your references list automatically by using inline citations.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;references /&gt;</div>

Mewilbor https://wiki.expertiza.ncsu.edu/index.php?title=CSC/ECE_506_Spring_2012/1a_mw&diff=57524 2012-01-31T02:44:50Z

<p>Mewilbor: /* Constellation */</p> <hr /> <div>&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Comparisons Between Supercomputers&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Introduction =<br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Supercomputers] are specialized computers that are generally very expensive, not available for general purpose use and are used in computations where large amounts of numerical processing is required. They are used in scientific, military, graphics applications and for other number or data intensive computations &lt;ref&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref&gt;http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/supercomputer.html Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;Supercomputers are generally compared qualitatively using floating point operations per second, or [http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html FLOPS]. Using standard prefixes, higher levels of FLOPS can be specified as the computing power of supercomputers increases. For example, KiloFLOPS for thousands of FLOPS and MegaFLOPS for millions of FLOPS &lt;ref&gt;http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html Doran, Kevin (April 2011) Comparing the performance of supercomputers&lt;/ref&gt;. Often you'll see just the first letter of the prefix with FLOPS. For example, for GigaFLOPS or billions of FLOPS, you'll see [http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s GFLOPS] &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s Definition of GFLOPS&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;A software package called [http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK] is a standard approach to testing or benchmarking supercomputers by solving a dense system of linear equations using the Gauss method. &lt;ref&gt;http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK defined&lt;/ref&gt;. However, LINPACK benchmarking software isn't only used to benchmark supercomputers, it can also be used to benchmark a typical user computer &lt;ref&gt;http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?197835-IntelBurnTest-The-new-stress-testing-program Intel Benchmark Software&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Finding Supercomputer Comparison Data =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Starting in 1993, [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] began collecting performance data on computers and update their list every six months &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_top500 What is the TOP500&lt;/ref&gt;. This appears to be an excellent online source of information that collects benchmark data submitted by users of computers and readily provides performance statistics by Vendor, Application, Architecture and nine (9) other areas &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot;&gt;http://i.top500.org/stats TOP500 Stats&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Comparison of Supercomputers by Architecture =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Traditional supercomputers of today are composed of three (3) types of parallel processing architecture. These architectures are Cluster, Massively Parallel Processing or MPP and Constellation &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;. A non-traditional, or disruptive approach, to supercomputers is [http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing Grid Computing]&lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The following graphic generated at [http://www.TOP500.org/ TOP500.org] shows the distribution of supercomputers by architecture:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-architecture.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Cluster ==<br /> &lt;p&gt;A [http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/cluster-computing Cluster] is a group of computers connected together that appear as a single system to the outside world and provide load balancing and resource sharing &lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/cluster-computing Definition of Cluster Computing&lt;/ref&gt;. Invented by Digital Equipment Corporation in the 1980's, clusters of computers form the largest number of supercomputers available today &lt;ref&gt;http://books.google.com/books?id=Hd_JlxD7x3oC&amp;pg=PA90&amp;lpg=PA90&amp;dq=what+is+a+constellation+in+parallel+computing?&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=Rf9nxSqOgL&amp;sig=-xleas5wXvNpvkgYYxguvP1tSLA&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=aDcnT-XRNqHX0QHymbjrAg&amp;ved=0CGMQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&amp;q=what%20is%20a%20constellation%20in%20parallel%20computing%3F&amp;f=false Applied Parallel Computing&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] data as of November 2011 shows that Cluster computing makes up the largest subset of supercomputers at eight-two percent (82%). The following chart shows the growth of cluster supercomputer systems with the oldest data on the right:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-cluster-count.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The total processing power of the top 500 cluster supercomputers is reported at 50,192.82 TFLOPS&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Massively Parallel Processing, MPP ==<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci214085,00.html Massively Parallel Processing] or MPP supercomputers are made up of hundreds of computing nodes and process data in a coordinated fashion &lt;ref name=&quot;ttmppdef&quot;&gt;http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci214085,00.html&lt;/ref&gt;. Each node of the MPP generally has its own memory and operating system and can be made up of nodes that have multiple processors and/or multiple cores &lt;ref name=&quot;ttmppdef&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://i.TOP500.org/stats TOP500.org/stats] for the MPP architecture of supercomputers shows that as of November 2011, MPP makes up approximately 17.8% of all supercomputers reported. A graph of the growth and subsequent decline of the MPP architecture from data displayed at [http://i.TOP500.org/stats TOP500.org/stats] is shown below:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-mpp-count.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The total processing power of the top 500 MPP supercomputers is 23,823.97 TFLOPS&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Constellation ==<br /> &lt;p&gt;A [http://www.mimuw.edu.pl/~mbiskup/presentations/Parallel%20Computing.pdf Constellation] is a cluster of supercomputers &lt;ref&gt;http://www.mimuw.edu.pl/~mbiskup/presentations/Parallel%20Computing.pdf&lt;/ref&gt;. [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] shows only one constellation supercomputer as of November 2011:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-constellation-count.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;This author's speculation about the decline of constellations is based on several factors: Multiple processor and/or multiple core computers have been getting faster and less expensive. Combine these less expensive computers into very large clusters and you can get computing power that rivals a constellation. Alternatively, more and more computers have symmetric multiprocessing, SMP, and the concept of constellations and clusters is converging.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The total processing power of the constellation supercomputer is: 52.84 TFLOPS&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Grid Computing ==<br /> &lt;p&gt;Grid Computing is defined as applying many networked computers to solving a single problem simultaneously&lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing&lt;/ref&gt;. It is also defined as a network of computers used by a single company or organization to solve a problem&lt;ref&gt;http://boinc.berkeley.edu/trac/wiki/DesktopGrid&lt;/ref&gt;. Yet another definition as implemented by GridRepublic.org creates a supercomputing grid by using volunteer computers from across the globe&lt;ref&gt;http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=about&lt;/ref&gt;. All of these definitions have something in common, and that is using parallel processing to attack a problem that can be broken up into many pieces.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The following graph generated by data at [www.GridRepublic.Org GridRepublic.org] shows the average processing power of this supercomputer created by volunteers from around the world:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:20120130-grid-computing-graph.png|Image from http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;Image from GridRepublic.org&lt;ref name=&quot;grstats&quot;&gt;http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=stats Image from GridRepublic.Org&lt;/ref&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The GridRepublic.org statistics is for 55 applications running using a total of 10,979,114 GFLOPS or 10,979.114 TFLOPS&lt;ref name=&quot;grstats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;.<br /> <br /> = Conclusion/Summary =<br /> <br /> = References =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Your references go here. You should allow the WIKI to create your references list automatically by using inline citations.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;references /&gt;</div>

Mewilbor https://wiki.expertiza.ncsu.edu/index.php?title=CSC/ECE_506_Spring_2012/1a_mw&diff=57521 2012-01-31T02:43:06Z

<p>Mewilbor: /* Massively Parallel Processing, MPP */</p> <hr /> <div>&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Comparisons Between Supercomputers&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Introduction =<br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Supercomputers] are specialized computers that are generally very expensive, not available for general purpose use and are used in computations where large amounts of numerical processing is required. They are used in scientific, military, graphics applications and for other number or data intensive computations &lt;ref&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref&gt;http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/supercomputer.html Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;Supercomputers are generally compared qualitatively using floating point operations per second, or [http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html FLOPS]. Using standard prefixes, higher levels of FLOPS can be specified as the computing power of supercomputers increases. For example, KiloFLOPS for thousands of FLOPS and MegaFLOPS for millions of FLOPS &lt;ref&gt;http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html Doran, Kevin (April 2011) Comparing the performance of supercomputers&lt;/ref&gt;. Often you'll see just the first letter of the prefix with FLOPS. For example, for GigaFLOPS or billions of FLOPS, you'll see [http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s GFLOPS] &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s Definition of GFLOPS&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;A software package called [http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK] is a standard approach to testing or benchmarking supercomputers by solving a dense system of linear equations using the Gauss method. &lt;ref&gt;http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK defined&lt;/ref&gt;. However, LINPACK benchmarking software isn't only used to benchmark supercomputers, it can also be used to benchmark a typical user computer &lt;ref&gt;http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?197835-IntelBurnTest-The-new-stress-testing-program Intel Benchmark Software&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Finding Supercomputer Comparison Data =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Starting in 1993, [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] began collecting performance data on computers and update their list every six months &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_top500 What is the TOP500&lt;/ref&gt;. This appears to be an excellent online source of information that collects benchmark data submitted by users of computers and readily provides performance statistics by Vendor, Application, Architecture and nine (9) other areas &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot;&gt;http://i.top500.org/stats TOP500 Stats&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Comparison of Supercomputers by Architecture =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Traditional supercomputers of today are composed of three (3) types of parallel processing architecture. These architectures are Cluster, Massively Parallel Processing or MPP and Constellation &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;. A non-traditional, or disruptive approach, to supercomputers is [http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing Grid Computing]&lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The following graphic generated at [http://www.TOP500.org/ TOP500.org] shows the distribution of supercomputers by architecture:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-architecture.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Cluster ==<br /> &lt;p&gt;A [http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/cluster-computing Cluster] is a group of computers connected together that appear as a single system to the outside world and provide load balancing and resource sharing &lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/cluster-computing Definition of Cluster Computing&lt;/ref&gt;. Invented by Digital Equipment Corporation in the 1980's, clusters of computers form the largest number of supercomputers available today &lt;ref&gt;http://books.google.com/books?id=Hd_JlxD7x3oC&amp;pg=PA90&amp;lpg=PA90&amp;dq=what+is+a+constellation+in+parallel+computing?&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=Rf9nxSqOgL&amp;sig=-xleas5wXvNpvkgYYxguvP1tSLA&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=aDcnT-XRNqHX0QHymbjrAg&amp;ved=0CGMQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&amp;q=what%20is%20a%20constellation%20in%20parallel%20computing%3F&amp;f=false Applied Parallel Computing&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] data as of November 2011 shows that Cluster computing makes up the largest subset of supercomputers at eight-two percent (82%). The following chart shows the growth of cluster supercomputer systems with the oldest data on the right:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-cluster-count.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The total processing power of the top 500 cluster supercomputers is reported at 50,192.82 TFLOPS&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Massively Parallel Processing, MPP ==<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci214085,00.html Massively Parallel Processing] or MPP supercomputers are made up of hundreds of computing nodes and process data in a coordinated fashion &lt;ref name=&quot;ttmppdef&quot;&gt;http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci214085,00.html&lt;/ref&gt;. Each node of the MPP generally has its own memory and operating system and can be made up of nodes that have multiple processors and/or multiple cores &lt;ref name=&quot;ttmppdef&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://i.TOP500.org/stats TOP500.org/stats] for the MPP architecture of supercomputers shows that as of November 2011, MPP makes up approximately 17.8% of all supercomputers reported. A graph of the growth and subsequent decline of the MPP architecture from data displayed at [http://i.TOP500.org/stats TOP500.org/stats] is shown below:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-mpp-count.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The total processing power of the top 500 MPP supercomputers is 23,823.97 TFLOPS&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Constellation ==<br /> &lt;p&gt;A [http://www.mimuw.edu.pl/~mbiskup/presentations/Parallel%20Computing.pdf Constellation] is a cluster of supercomputers &lt;ref&gt;http://www.mimuw.edu.pl/~mbiskup/presentations/Parallel%20Computing.pdf&lt;/ref&gt;. [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] shows only one constellation supercomputer as of November 2011:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-constellation-count.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;This author's speculation about the decline of constellations is based on several factors: Multiple processor and/or multiple core computers have been getting faster and less expensive. Combine these less expensive computers into very large clusters and you can get computing power that rivals a constellation. Alternatively, more and more computers have symmetric multiprocessing, SMP, and the concept of constellations and clusters is converging.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Grid Computing ==<br /> &lt;p&gt;Grid Computing is defined as applying many networked computers to solving a single problem simultaneously&lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing&lt;/ref&gt;. It is also defined as a network of computers used by a single company or organization to solve a problem&lt;ref&gt;http://boinc.berkeley.edu/trac/wiki/DesktopGrid&lt;/ref&gt;. Yet another definition as implemented by GridRepublic.org creates a supercomputing grid by using volunteer computers from across the globe&lt;ref&gt;http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=about&lt;/ref&gt;. All of these definitions have something in common, and that is using parallel processing to attack a problem that can be broken up into many pieces.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The following graph generated by data at [www.GridRepublic.Org GridRepublic.org] shows the average processing power of this supercomputer created by volunteers from around the world:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:20120130-grid-computing-graph.png|Image from http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;Image from GridRepublic.org&lt;ref name=&quot;grstats&quot;&gt;http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=stats Image from GridRepublic.Org&lt;/ref&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The GridRepublic.org statistics is for 55 applications running using a total of 10,979,114 GFLOPS or 10,979.114 TFLOPS&lt;ref name=&quot;grstats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;.<br /> <br /> = Conclusion/Summary =<br /> <br /> = References =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Your references go here. You should allow the WIKI to create your references list automatically by using inline citations.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;references /&gt;</div>

Mewilbor https://wiki.expertiza.ncsu.edu/index.php?title=CSC/ECE_506_Spring_2012/1a_mw&diff=57517 2012-01-31T02:41:29Z

<p>Mewilbor: /* Cluster */</p> <hr /> <div>&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Comparisons Between Supercomputers&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Introduction =<br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Supercomputers] are specialized computers that are generally very expensive, not available for general purpose use and are used in computations where large amounts of numerical processing is required. They are used in scientific, military, graphics applications and for other number or data intensive computations &lt;ref&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref&gt;http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/supercomputer.html Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;Supercomputers are generally compared qualitatively using floating point operations per second, or [http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html FLOPS]. Using standard prefixes, higher levels of FLOPS can be specified as the computing power of supercomputers increases. For example, KiloFLOPS for thousands of FLOPS and MegaFLOPS for millions of FLOPS &lt;ref&gt;http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html Doran, Kevin (April 2011) Comparing the performance of supercomputers&lt;/ref&gt;. Often you'll see just the first letter of the prefix with FLOPS. For example, for GigaFLOPS or billions of FLOPS, you'll see [http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s GFLOPS] &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s Definition of GFLOPS&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;A software package called [http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK] is a standard approach to testing or benchmarking supercomputers by solving a dense system of linear equations using the Gauss method. &lt;ref&gt;http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK defined&lt;/ref&gt;. However, LINPACK benchmarking software isn't only used to benchmark supercomputers, it can also be used to benchmark a typical user computer &lt;ref&gt;http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?197835-IntelBurnTest-The-new-stress-testing-program Intel Benchmark Software&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Finding Supercomputer Comparison Data =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Starting in 1993, [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] began collecting performance data on computers and update their list every six months &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_top500 What is the TOP500&lt;/ref&gt;. This appears to be an excellent online source of information that collects benchmark data submitted by users of computers and readily provides performance statistics by Vendor, Application, Architecture and nine (9) other areas &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot;&gt;http://i.top500.org/stats TOP500 Stats&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Comparison of Supercomputers by Architecture =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Traditional supercomputers of today are composed of three (3) types of parallel processing architecture. These architectures are Cluster, Massively Parallel Processing or MPP and Constellation &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;. A non-traditional, or disruptive approach, to supercomputers is [http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing Grid Computing]&lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The following graphic generated at [http://www.TOP500.org/ TOP500.org] shows the distribution of supercomputers by architecture:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-architecture.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Cluster ==<br /> &lt;p&gt;A [http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/cluster-computing Cluster] is a group of computers connected together that appear as a single system to the outside world and provide load balancing and resource sharing &lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/cluster-computing Definition of Cluster Computing&lt;/ref&gt;. Invented by Digital Equipment Corporation in the 1980's, clusters of computers form the largest number of supercomputers available today &lt;ref&gt;http://books.google.com/books?id=Hd_JlxD7x3oC&amp;pg=PA90&amp;lpg=PA90&amp;dq=what+is+a+constellation+in+parallel+computing?&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=Rf9nxSqOgL&amp;sig=-xleas5wXvNpvkgYYxguvP1tSLA&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=aDcnT-XRNqHX0QHymbjrAg&amp;ved=0CGMQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&amp;q=what%20is%20a%20constellation%20in%20parallel%20computing%3F&amp;f=false Applied Parallel Computing&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] data as of November 2011 shows that Cluster computing makes up the largest subset of supercomputers at eight-two percent (82%). The following chart shows the growth of cluster supercomputer systems with the oldest data on the right:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-cluster-count.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The total processing power of the top 500 cluster supercomputers is reported at 50,192.82 TFLOPS&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Massively Parallel Processing, MPP ==<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci214085,00.html Massively Parallel Processing] or MPP supercomputers are made up of hundreds of computing nodes and process data in a coordinated fashion &lt;ref name=&quot;ttmppdef&quot;&gt;http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci214085,00.html&lt;/ref&gt;. Each node of the MPP generally has its own memory and operating system and can be made up of nodes that have multiple processors and/or multiple cores &lt;ref name=&quot;ttmppdef&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://i.TOP500.org/stats TOP500.org/stats] for the MPP architecture of supercomputers shows that as of November 2011, MPP makes up approximately 17.8% of all supercomputers reported. A graph of the growth and subsequent decline of the MPP architecture from data displayed at [http://i.TOP500.org/stats TOP500.org/stats] is shown below:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-mpp-count.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Constellation ==<br /> &lt;p&gt;A [http://www.mimuw.edu.pl/~mbiskup/presentations/Parallel%20Computing.pdf Constellation] is a cluster of supercomputers &lt;ref&gt;http://www.mimuw.edu.pl/~mbiskup/presentations/Parallel%20Computing.pdf&lt;/ref&gt;. [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] shows only one constellation supercomputer as of November 2011:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-constellation-count.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;This author's speculation about the decline of constellations is based on several factors: Multiple processor and/or multiple core computers have been getting faster and less expensive. Combine these less expensive computers into very large clusters and you can get computing power that rivals a constellation. Alternatively, more and more computers have symmetric multiprocessing, SMP, and the concept of constellations and clusters is converging.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Grid Computing ==<br /> &lt;p&gt;Grid Computing is defined as applying many networked computers to solving a single problem simultaneously&lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing&lt;/ref&gt;. It is also defined as a network of computers used by a single company or organization to solve a problem&lt;ref&gt;http://boinc.berkeley.edu/trac/wiki/DesktopGrid&lt;/ref&gt;. Yet another definition as implemented by GridRepublic.org creates a supercomputing grid by using volunteer computers from across the globe&lt;ref&gt;http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=about&lt;/ref&gt;. All of these definitions have something in common, and that is using parallel processing to attack a problem that can be broken up into many pieces.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The following graph generated by data at [www.GridRepublic.Org GridRepublic.org] shows the average processing power of this supercomputer created by volunteers from around the world:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:20120130-grid-computing-graph.png|Image from http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;Image from GridRepublic.org&lt;ref name=&quot;grstats&quot;&gt;http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=stats Image from GridRepublic.Org&lt;/ref&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The GridRepublic.org statistics is for 55 applications running using a total of 10,979,114 GFLOPS or 10,979.114 TFLOPS&lt;ref name=&quot;grstats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;.<br /> <br /> = Conclusion/Summary =<br /> <br /> = References =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Your references go here. You should allow the WIKI to create your references list automatically by using inline citations.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;references /&gt;</div>

Mewilbor https://wiki.expertiza.ncsu.edu/index.php?title=CSC/ECE_506_Spring_2012/1a_mw&diff=57514 2012-01-31T02:39:19Z

<p>Mewilbor: /* Grid Computing */</p> <hr /> <div>&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Comparisons Between Supercomputers&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Introduction =<br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Supercomputers] are specialized computers that are generally very expensive, not available for general purpose use and are used in computations where large amounts of numerical processing is required. They are used in scientific, military, graphics applications and for other number or data intensive computations &lt;ref&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref&gt;http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/supercomputer.html Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;Supercomputers are generally compared qualitatively using floating point operations per second, or [http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html FLOPS]. Using standard prefixes, higher levels of FLOPS can be specified as the computing power of supercomputers increases. For example, KiloFLOPS for thousands of FLOPS and MegaFLOPS for millions of FLOPS &lt;ref&gt;http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html Doran, Kevin (April 2011) Comparing the performance of supercomputers&lt;/ref&gt;. Often you'll see just the first letter of the prefix with FLOPS. For example, for GigaFLOPS or billions of FLOPS, you'll see [http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s GFLOPS] &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s Definition of GFLOPS&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;A software package called [http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK] is a standard approach to testing or benchmarking supercomputers by solving a dense system of linear equations using the Gauss method. &lt;ref&gt;http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK defined&lt;/ref&gt;. However, LINPACK benchmarking software isn't only used to benchmark supercomputers, it can also be used to benchmark a typical user computer &lt;ref&gt;http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?197835-IntelBurnTest-The-new-stress-testing-program Intel Benchmark Software&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Finding Supercomputer Comparison Data =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Starting in 1993, [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] began collecting performance data on computers and update their list every six months &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_top500 What is the TOP500&lt;/ref&gt;. This appears to be an excellent online source of information that collects benchmark data submitted by users of computers and readily provides performance statistics by Vendor, Application, Architecture and nine (9) other areas &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot;&gt;http://i.top500.org/stats TOP500 Stats&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Comparison of Supercomputers by Architecture =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Traditional supercomputers of today are composed of three (3) types of parallel processing architecture. These architectures are Cluster, Massively Parallel Processing or MPP and Constellation &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;. A non-traditional, or disruptive approach, to supercomputers is [http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing Grid Computing]&lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The following graphic generated at [http://www.TOP500.org/ TOP500.org] shows the distribution of supercomputers by architecture:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-architecture.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Cluster ==<br /> &lt;p&gt;A [http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/cluster-computing Cluster] is a group of computers connected together that appear as a single system to the outside world and provide load balancing and resource sharing &lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/cluster-computing Definition of Cluster Computing&lt;/ref&gt;. Invented by Digital Equipment Corporation in the 1980's, clusters of computers form the largest number of supercomputers available today &lt;ref&gt;http://books.google.com/books?id=Hd_JlxD7x3oC&amp;pg=PA90&amp;lpg=PA90&amp;dq=what+is+a+constellation+in+parallel+computing?&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=Rf9nxSqOgL&amp;sig=-xleas5wXvNpvkgYYxguvP1tSLA&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=aDcnT-XRNqHX0QHymbjrAg&amp;ved=0CGMQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&amp;q=what%20is%20a%20constellation%20in%20parallel%20computing%3F&amp;f=false Applied Parallel Computing&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] data as of November 2011 shows that Cluster computing makes up the largest subset of supercomputers at eight-two percent (82%). The following chart shows the growth of cluster supercomputer systems with the oldest data on the right:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-cluster-count.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> <br /> == Massively Parallel Processing, MPP ==<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci214085,00.html Massively Parallel Processing] or MPP supercomputers are made up of hundreds of computing nodes and process data in a coordinated fashion &lt;ref name=&quot;ttmppdef&quot;&gt;http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci214085,00.html&lt;/ref&gt;. Each node of the MPP generally has its own memory and operating system and can be made up of nodes that have multiple processors and/or multiple cores &lt;ref name=&quot;ttmppdef&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://i.TOP500.org/stats TOP500.org/stats] for the MPP architecture of supercomputers shows that as of November 2011, MPP makes up approximately 17.8% of all supercomputers reported. A graph of the growth and subsequent decline of the MPP architecture from data displayed at [http://i.TOP500.org/stats TOP500.org/stats] is shown below:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-mpp-count.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Constellation ==<br /> &lt;p&gt;A [http://www.mimuw.edu.pl/~mbiskup/presentations/Parallel%20Computing.pdf Constellation] is a cluster of supercomputers &lt;ref&gt;http://www.mimuw.edu.pl/~mbiskup/presentations/Parallel%20Computing.pdf&lt;/ref&gt;. [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] shows only one constellation supercomputer as of November 2011:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-constellation-count.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;This author's speculation about the decline of constellations is based on several factors: Multiple processor and/or multiple core computers have been getting faster and less expensive. Combine these less expensive computers into very large clusters and you can get computing power that rivals a constellation. Alternatively, more and more computers have symmetric multiprocessing, SMP, and the concept of constellations and clusters is converging.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Grid Computing ==<br /> &lt;p&gt;Grid Computing is defined as applying many networked computers to solving a single problem simultaneously&lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing&lt;/ref&gt;. It is also defined as a network of computers used by a single company or organization to solve a problem&lt;ref&gt;http://boinc.berkeley.edu/trac/wiki/DesktopGrid&lt;/ref&gt;. Yet another definition as implemented by GridRepublic.org creates a supercomputing grid by using volunteer computers from across the globe&lt;ref&gt;http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=about&lt;/ref&gt;. All of these definitions have something in common, and that is using parallel processing to attack a problem that can be broken up into many pieces.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The following graph generated by data at [www.GridRepublic.Org GridRepublic.org] shows the average processing power of this supercomputer created by volunteers from around the world:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:20120130-grid-computing-graph.png|Image from http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;Image from GridRepublic.org&lt;ref name=&quot;grstats&quot;&gt;http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=stats Image from GridRepublic.Org&lt;/ref&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The GridRepublic.org statistics is for 55 applications running using a total of 10,979,114 GFLOPS or 10,979.114 TFLOPS&lt;ref name=&quot;grstats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;.<br /> <br /> = Conclusion/Summary =<br /> <br /> = References =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Your references go here. You should allow the WIKI to create your references list automatically by using inline citations.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;references /&gt;</div>

Mewilbor https://wiki.expertiza.ncsu.edu/index.php?title=CSC/ECE_506_Spring_2012/1a_mw&diff=57510 2012-01-31T02:32:04Z

<p>Mewilbor: /* Grid Computing */</p> <hr /> <div>&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Comparisons Between Supercomputers&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Introduction =<br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Supercomputers] are specialized computers that are generally very expensive, not available for general purpose use and are used in computations where large amounts of numerical processing is required. They are used in scientific, military, graphics applications and for other number or data intensive computations &lt;ref&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref&gt;http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/supercomputer.html Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;Supercomputers are generally compared qualitatively using floating point operations per second, or [http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html FLOPS]. Using standard prefixes, higher levels of FLOPS can be specified as the computing power of supercomputers increases. For example, KiloFLOPS for thousands of FLOPS and MegaFLOPS for millions of FLOPS &lt;ref&gt;http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html Doran, Kevin (April 2011) Comparing the performance of supercomputers&lt;/ref&gt;. Often you'll see just the first letter of the prefix with FLOPS. For example, for GigaFLOPS or billions of FLOPS, you'll see [http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s GFLOPS] &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s Definition of GFLOPS&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;A software package called [http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK] is a standard approach to testing or benchmarking supercomputers by solving a dense system of linear equations using the Gauss method. &lt;ref&gt;http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK defined&lt;/ref&gt;. However, LINPACK benchmarking software isn't only used to benchmark supercomputers, it can also be used to benchmark a typical user computer &lt;ref&gt;http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?197835-IntelBurnTest-The-new-stress-testing-program Intel Benchmark Software&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Finding Supercomputer Comparison Data =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Starting in 1993, [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] began collecting performance data on computers and update their list every six months &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_top500 What is the TOP500&lt;/ref&gt;. This appears to be an excellent online source of information that collects benchmark data submitted by users of computers and readily provides performance statistics by Vendor, Application, Architecture and nine (9) other areas &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot;&gt;http://i.top500.org/stats TOP500 Stats&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Comparison of Supercomputers by Architecture =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Traditional supercomputers of today are composed of three (3) types of parallel processing architecture. These architectures are Cluster, Massively Parallel Processing or MPP and Constellation &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;. A non-traditional, or disruptive approach, to supercomputers is [http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing Grid Computing]&lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The following graphic generated at [http://www.TOP500.org/ TOP500.org] shows the distribution of supercomputers by architecture:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-architecture.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Cluster ==<br /> &lt;p&gt;A [http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/cluster-computing Cluster] is a group of computers connected together that appear as a single system to the outside world and provide load balancing and resource sharing &lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/cluster-computing Definition of Cluster Computing&lt;/ref&gt;. Invented by Digital Equipment Corporation in the 1980's, clusters of computers form the largest number of supercomputers available today &lt;ref&gt;http://books.google.com/books?id=Hd_JlxD7x3oC&amp;pg=PA90&amp;lpg=PA90&amp;dq=what+is+a+constellation+in+parallel+computing?&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=Rf9nxSqOgL&amp;sig=-xleas5wXvNpvkgYYxguvP1tSLA&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=aDcnT-XRNqHX0QHymbjrAg&amp;ved=0CGMQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&amp;q=what%20is%20a%20constellation%20in%20parallel%20computing%3F&amp;f=false Applied Parallel Computing&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] data as of November 2011 shows that Cluster computing makes up the largest subset of supercomputers at eight-two percent (82%). The following chart shows the growth of cluster supercomputer systems with the oldest data on the right:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-cluster-count.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> <br /> == Massively Parallel Processing, MPP ==<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci214085,00.html Massively Parallel Processing] or MPP supercomputers are made up of hundreds of computing nodes and process data in a coordinated fashion &lt;ref name=&quot;ttmppdef&quot;&gt;http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci214085,00.html&lt;/ref&gt;. Each node of the MPP generally has its own memory and operating system and can be made up of nodes that have multiple processors and/or multiple cores &lt;ref name=&quot;ttmppdef&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://i.TOP500.org/stats TOP500.org/stats] for the MPP architecture of supercomputers shows that as of November 2011, MPP makes up approximately 17.8% of all supercomputers reported. A graph of the growth and subsequent decline of the MPP architecture from data displayed at [http://i.TOP500.org/stats TOP500.org/stats] is shown below:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-mpp-count.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Constellation ==<br /> &lt;p&gt;A [http://www.mimuw.edu.pl/~mbiskup/presentations/Parallel%20Computing.pdf Constellation] is a cluster of supercomputers &lt;ref&gt;http://www.mimuw.edu.pl/~mbiskup/presentations/Parallel%20Computing.pdf&lt;/ref&gt;. [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] shows only one constellation supercomputer as of November 2011:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-constellation-count.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;This author's speculation about the decline of constellations is based on several factors: Multiple processor and/or multiple core computers have been getting faster and less expensive. Combine these less expensive computers into very large clusters and you can get computing power that rivals a constellation. Alternatively, more and more computers have symmetric multiprocessing, SMP, and the concept of constellations and clusters is converging.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Grid Computing ==<br /> &lt;p&gt;Grid Computing is defined as applying many networked computers to solving a single problem simultaneously&lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing&lt;/ref&gt;. It is also defined as a network of computers used by a single company or organization to solve a problem&lt;ref&gt;http://boinc.berkeley.edu/trac/wiki/DesktopGrid&lt;/ref&gt;. Yet another definition as implemented by GridRepublic.org creates a supercomputing grid by using volunteer computers from across the globe&lt;ref&gt;http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=about&lt;/ref&gt;. All of these definitions have something in common, and that is using parallel processing to attack a problem that can be broken up into many pieces.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The following graph generated by data at [www.GridRepublic.Org GridRepublic.org] shows the average processing power of this supercomputer created by volunteers from around the world:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:20120130-grid-computing-graph.png|Image from http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;Image from GridRepublic.org&lt;ref&gt;http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=stats Image from GridRepublic.Org&lt;/ref&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Conclusion/Summary =<br /> <br /> = References =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Your references go here. You should allow the WIKI to create your references list automatically by using inline citations.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;references /&gt;</div>

Mewilbor https://wiki.expertiza.ncsu.edu/index.php?title=File:20120130-grid-computing-graph.png&diff=57504 2012-01-31T02:24:09Z

<p>Mewilbor: Summary graph of grid computing data in TFLOPS from http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=stats</p> <hr /> <div>Summary graph of grid computing data in TFLOPS from http://www.gridrepublic.org/index.php?page=stats</div>

Mewilbor https://wiki.expertiza.ncsu.edu/index.php?title=CSC/ECE_506_Spring_2012/1a_mw&diff=57503 2012-01-31T02:19:46Z

<p>Mewilbor: /* Constellation */ defined</p> <hr /> <div>&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Comparisons Between Supercomputers&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Introduction =<br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Supercomputers] are specialized computers that are generally very expensive, not available for general purpose use and are used in computations where large amounts of numerical processing is required. They are used in scientific, military, graphics applications and for other number or data intensive computations &lt;ref&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref&gt;http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/supercomputer.html Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;Supercomputers are generally compared qualitatively using floating point operations per second, or [http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html FLOPS]. Using standard prefixes, higher levels of FLOPS can be specified as the computing power of supercomputers increases. For example, KiloFLOPS for thousands of FLOPS and MegaFLOPS for millions of FLOPS &lt;ref&gt;http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html Doran, Kevin (April 2011) Comparing the performance of supercomputers&lt;/ref&gt;. Often you'll see just the first letter of the prefix with FLOPS. For example, for GigaFLOPS or billions of FLOPS, you'll see [http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s GFLOPS] &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s Definition of GFLOPS&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;A software package called [http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK] is a standard approach to testing or benchmarking supercomputers by solving a dense system of linear equations using the Gauss method. &lt;ref&gt;http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK defined&lt;/ref&gt;. However, LINPACK benchmarking software isn't only used to benchmark supercomputers, it can also be used to benchmark a typical user computer &lt;ref&gt;http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?197835-IntelBurnTest-The-new-stress-testing-program Intel Benchmark Software&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Finding Supercomputer Comparison Data =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Starting in 1993, [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] began collecting performance data on computers and update their list every six months &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_top500 What is the TOP500&lt;/ref&gt;. This appears to be an excellent online source of information that collects benchmark data submitted by users of computers and readily provides performance statistics by Vendor, Application, Architecture and nine (9) other areas &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot;&gt;http://i.top500.org/stats TOP500 Stats&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Comparison of Supercomputers by Architecture =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Traditional supercomputers of today are composed of three (3) types of parallel processing architecture. These architectures are Cluster, Massively Parallel Processing or MPP and Constellation &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;. A non-traditional, or disruptive approach, to supercomputers is [http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing Grid Computing]&lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The following graphic generated at [http://www.TOP500.org/ TOP500.org] shows the distribution of supercomputers by architecture:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-architecture.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Cluster ==<br /> &lt;p&gt;A [http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/cluster-computing Cluster] is a group of computers connected together that appear as a single system to the outside world and provide load balancing and resource sharing &lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/cluster-computing Definition of Cluster Computing&lt;/ref&gt;. Invented by Digital Equipment Corporation in the 1980's, clusters of computers form the largest number of supercomputers available today &lt;ref&gt;http://books.google.com/books?id=Hd_JlxD7x3oC&amp;pg=PA90&amp;lpg=PA90&amp;dq=what+is+a+constellation+in+parallel+computing?&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=Rf9nxSqOgL&amp;sig=-xleas5wXvNpvkgYYxguvP1tSLA&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=aDcnT-XRNqHX0QHymbjrAg&amp;ved=0CGMQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&amp;q=what%20is%20a%20constellation%20in%20parallel%20computing%3F&amp;f=false Applied Parallel Computing&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] data as of November 2011 shows that Cluster computing makes up the largest subset of supercomputers at eight-two percent (82%). The following chart shows the growth of cluster supercomputer systems with the oldest data on the right:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-cluster-count.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> <br /> == Massively Parallel Processing, MPP ==<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci214085,00.html Massively Parallel Processing] or MPP supercomputers are made up of hundreds of computing nodes and process data in a coordinated fashion &lt;ref name=&quot;ttmppdef&quot;&gt;http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci214085,00.html&lt;/ref&gt;. Each node of the MPP generally has its own memory and operating system and can be made up of nodes that have multiple processors and/or multiple cores &lt;ref name=&quot;ttmppdef&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://i.TOP500.org/stats TOP500.org/stats] for the MPP architecture of supercomputers shows that as of November 2011, MPP makes up approximately 17.8% of all supercomputers reported. A graph of the growth and subsequent decline of the MPP architecture from data displayed at [http://i.TOP500.org/stats TOP500.org/stats] is shown below:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-mpp-count.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Constellation ==<br /> &lt;p&gt;A [http://www.mimuw.edu.pl/~mbiskup/presentations/Parallel%20Computing.pdf Constellation] is a cluster of supercomputers &lt;ref&gt;http://www.mimuw.edu.pl/~mbiskup/presentations/Parallel%20Computing.pdf&lt;/ref&gt;. [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] shows only one constellation supercomputer as of November 2011:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-constellation-count.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;This author's speculation about the decline of constellations is based on several factors: Multiple processor and/or multiple core computers have been getting faster and less expensive. Combine these less expensive computers into very large clusters and you can get computing power that rivals a constellation. Alternatively, more and more computers have symmetric multiprocessing, SMP, and the concept of constellations and clusters is converging.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Grid Computing ==<br /> <br /> = Conclusion/Summary =<br /> <br /> = References =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Your references go here. You should allow the WIKI to create your references list automatically by using inline citations.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;references /&gt;</div>

Mewilbor https://wiki.expertiza.ncsu.edu/index.php?title=CSC/ECE_506_Spring_2012/1a_mw&diff=57486 2012-01-31T01:52:59Z

<p>Mewilbor: /* Comparison of Supercomputers by Architecture */</p> <hr /> <div>&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Comparisons Between Supercomputers&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Introduction =<br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Supercomputers] are specialized computers that are generally very expensive, not available for general purpose use and are used in computations where large amounts of numerical processing is required. They are used in scientific, military, graphics applications and for other number or data intensive computations &lt;ref&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref&gt;http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/supercomputer.html Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;Supercomputers are generally compared qualitatively using floating point operations per second, or [http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html FLOPS]. Using standard prefixes, higher levels of FLOPS can be specified as the computing power of supercomputers increases. For example, KiloFLOPS for thousands of FLOPS and MegaFLOPS for millions of FLOPS &lt;ref&gt;http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html Doran, Kevin (April 2011) Comparing the performance of supercomputers&lt;/ref&gt;. Often you'll see just the first letter of the prefix with FLOPS. For example, for GigaFLOPS or billions of FLOPS, you'll see [http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s GFLOPS] &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s Definition of GFLOPS&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;A software package called [http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK] is a standard approach to testing or benchmarking supercomputers by solving a dense system of linear equations using the Gauss method. &lt;ref&gt;http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK defined&lt;/ref&gt;. However, LINPACK benchmarking software isn't only used to benchmark supercomputers, it can also be used to benchmark a typical user computer &lt;ref&gt;http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?197835-IntelBurnTest-The-new-stress-testing-program Intel Benchmark Software&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Finding Supercomputer Comparison Data =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Starting in 1993, [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] began collecting performance data on computers and update their list every six months &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_top500 What is the TOP500&lt;/ref&gt;. This appears to be an excellent online source of information that collects benchmark data submitted by users of computers and readily provides performance statistics by Vendor, Application, Architecture and nine (9) other areas &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot;&gt;http://i.top500.org/stats TOP500 Stats&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Comparison of Supercomputers by Architecture =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Traditional supercomputers of today are composed of three (3) types of parallel processing architecture. These architectures are Cluster, Massively Parallel Processing or MPP and Constellation &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;. A non-traditional, or disruptive approach, to supercomputers is [http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing Grid Computing]&lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The following graphic generated at [http://www.TOP500.org/ TOP500.org] shows the distribution of supercomputers by architecture:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-architecture.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Cluster ==<br /> &lt;p&gt;A [http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/cluster-computing Cluster] is a group of computers connected together that appear as a single system to the outside world and provide load balancing and resource sharing &lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/cluster-computing Definition of Cluster Computing&lt;/ref&gt;. Invented by Digital Equipment Corporation in the 1980's, clusters of computers form the largest number of supercomputers available today &lt;ref&gt;http://books.google.com/books?id=Hd_JlxD7x3oC&amp;pg=PA90&amp;lpg=PA90&amp;dq=what+is+a+constellation+in+parallel+computing?&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=Rf9nxSqOgL&amp;sig=-xleas5wXvNpvkgYYxguvP1tSLA&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=aDcnT-XRNqHX0QHymbjrAg&amp;ved=0CGMQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&amp;q=what%20is%20a%20constellation%20in%20parallel%20computing%3F&amp;f=false Applied Parallel Computing&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] data as of November 2011 shows that Cluster computing makes up the largest subset of supercomputers at eight-two percent (82%). The following chart shows the growth of cluster supercomputer systems with the oldest data on the right:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-cluster-count.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> <br /> == Massively Parallel Processing, MPP ==<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci214085,00.html Massively Parallel Processing] or MPP supercomputers are made up of hundreds of computing nodes and process data in a coordinated fashion &lt;ref name=&quot;ttmppdef&quot;&gt;http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci214085,00.html&lt;/ref&gt;. Each node of the MPP generally has its own memory and operating system and can be made up of nodes that have multiple processors and/or multiple cores &lt;ref name=&quot;ttmppdef&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://i.TOP500.org/stats TOP500.org/stats] for the MPP architecture of supercomputers shows that as of November 2011, MPP makes up approximately 17.8% of all supercomputers reported. A graph of the growth and subsequent decline of the MPP architecture from data displayed at [http://i.TOP500.org/stats TOP500.org/stats] is shown below:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-mpp-count.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Constellation ==<br /> <br /> == Grid Computing ==<br /> <br /> = Conclusion/Summary =<br /> <br /> = References =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Your references go here. You should allow the WIKI to create your references list automatically by using inline citations.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;references /&gt;</div>

Mewilbor https://wiki.expertiza.ncsu.edu/index.php?title=CSC/ECE_506_Spring_2012/1a_mw&diff=57485 2012-01-31T01:51:17Z

<p>Mewilbor: /* Definitions */ removed</p> <hr /> <div>&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Comparisons Between Supercomputers&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Introduction =<br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Supercomputers] are specialized computers that are generally very expensive, not available for general purpose use and are used in computations where large amounts of numerical processing is required. They are used in scientific, military, graphics applications and for other number or data intensive computations &lt;ref&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref&gt;http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/supercomputer.html Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;Supercomputers are generally compared qualitatively using floating point operations per second, or [http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html FLOPS]. Using standard prefixes, higher levels of FLOPS can be specified as the computing power of supercomputers increases. For example, KiloFLOPS for thousands of FLOPS and MegaFLOPS for millions of FLOPS &lt;ref&gt;http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html Doran, Kevin (April 2011) Comparing the performance of supercomputers&lt;/ref&gt;. Often you'll see just the first letter of the prefix with FLOPS. For example, for GigaFLOPS or billions of FLOPS, you'll see [http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s GFLOPS] &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s Definition of GFLOPS&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;A software package called [http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK] is a standard approach to testing or benchmarking supercomputers by solving a dense system of linear equations using the Gauss method. &lt;ref&gt;http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK defined&lt;/ref&gt;. However, LINPACK benchmarking software isn't only used to benchmark supercomputers, it can also be used to benchmark a typical user computer &lt;ref&gt;http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?197835-IntelBurnTest-The-new-stress-testing-program Intel Benchmark Software&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Finding Supercomputer Comparison Data =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Starting in 1993, [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] began collecting performance data on computers and update their list every six months &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_top500 What is the TOP500&lt;/ref&gt;. This appears to be an excellent online source of information that collects benchmark data submitted by users of computers and readily provides performance statistics by Vendor, Application, Architecture and nine (9) other areas &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot;&gt;http://i.top500.org/stats TOP500 Stats&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Comparison of Supercomputers by Architecture =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Traditional supercomputers of today are composed of three (3) types of parallel processing architecture. These architectures are Cluster, Massively Parallel Processing or MPP and Constellation &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;. A non-traditional, or disruptive approach, to supercomputers is [http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computingGrid Computing]&lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The following graphic generated at [http://www.TOP500.org/ TOP500.org] shows the distribution of supercomputers by architecture:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-architecture.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Cluster ==<br /> &lt;p&gt;A [http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/cluster-computing Cluster] is a group of computers connected together that appear as a single system to the outside world and provide load balancing and resource sharing &lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/cluster-computing Definition of Cluster Computing&lt;/ref&gt;. Invented by Digital Equipment Corporation in the 1980's, clusters of computers form the largest number of supercomputers available today &lt;ref&gt;http://books.google.com/books?id=Hd_JlxD7x3oC&amp;pg=PA90&amp;lpg=PA90&amp;dq=what+is+a+constellation+in+parallel+computing?&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=Rf9nxSqOgL&amp;sig=-xleas5wXvNpvkgYYxguvP1tSLA&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=aDcnT-XRNqHX0QHymbjrAg&amp;ved=0CGMQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&amp;q=what%20is%20a%20constellation%20in%20parallel%20computing%3F&amp;f=false Applied Parallel Computing&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] data as of November 2011 shows that Cluster computing makes up the largest subset of supercomputers at eight-two percent (82%). The following chart shows the growth of cluster supercomputer systems with the oldest data on the right:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-cluster-count.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> <br /> == Massively Parallel Processing, MPP ==<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci214085,00.html Massively Parallel Processing] or MPP supercomputers are made up of hundreds of computing nodes and process data in a coordinated fashion &lt;ref name=&quot;ttmppdef&quot;&gt;http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci214085,00.html&lt;/ref&gt;. Each node of the MPP generally has its own memory and operating system and can be made up of nodes that have multiple processors and/or multiple cores &lt;ref name=&quot;ttmppdef&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://i.TOP500.org/stats TOP500.org/stats] for the MPP architecture of supercomputers shows that as of November 2011, MPP makes up approximately 17.8% of all supercomputers reported. A graph of the growth and subsequent decline of the MPP architecture from data displayed at [http://i.TOP500.org/stats TOP500.org/stats] is shown below:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-mpp-count.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Constellation ==<br /> <br /> == Grid Computing ==<br /> <br /> = Conclusion/Summary =<br /> <br /> = References =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Your references go here. You should allow the WIKI to create your references list automatically by using inline citations.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;references /&gt;</div>

Mewilbor https://wiki.expertiza.ncsu.edu/index.php?title=CSC/ECE_506_Spring_2012/1a_mw&diff=57484 2012-01-31T01:50:54Z

<p>Mewilbor: /* Comparison of Supercomputers by Architecture */</p> <hr /> <div>&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Comparisons Between Supercomputers&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Introduction =<br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Supercomputers] are specialized computers that are generally very expensive, not available for general purpose use and are used in computations where large amounts of numerical processing is required. They are used in scientific, military, graphics applications and for other number or data intensive computations &lt;ref&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref&gt;http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/supercomputer.html Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;Supercomputers are generally compared qualitatively using floating point operations per second, or [http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html FLOPS]. Using standard prefixes, higher levels of FLOPS can be specified as the computing power of supercomputers increases. For example, KiloFLOPS for thousands of FLOPS and MegaFLOPS for millions of FLOPS &lt;ref&gt;http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html Doran, Kevin (April 2011) Comparing the performance of supercomputers&lt;/ref&gt;. Often you'll see just the first letter of the prefix with FLOPS. For example, for GigaFLOPS or billions of FLOPS, you'll see [http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s GFLOPS] &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s Definition of GFLOPS&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;A software package called [http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK] is a standard approach to testing or benchmarking supercomputers by solving a dense system of linear equations using the Gauss method. &lt;ref&gt;http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK defined&lt;/ref&gt;. However, LINPACK benchmarking software isn't only used to benchmark supercomputers, it can also be used to benchmark a typical user computer &lt;ref&gt;http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?197835-IntelBurnTest-The-new-stress-testing-program Intel Benchmark Software&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Finding Supercomputer Comparison Data =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Starting in 1993, [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] began collecting performance data on computers and update their list every six months &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_top500 What is the TOP500&lt;/ref&gt;. This appears to be an excellent online source of information that collects benchmark data submitted by users of computers and readily provides performance statistics by Vendor, Application, Architecture and nine (9) other areas &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot;&gt;http://i.top500.org/stats TOP500 Stats&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Comparison of Supercomputers by Architecture =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Traditional supercomputers of today are composed of three (3) types of parallel processing architecture. These architectures are Cluster, Massively Parallel Processing or MPP and Constellation &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;. A non-traditional, or disruptive approach, to supercomputers is [http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computingGrid Computing]&lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/grid-computing&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The following graphic generated at [http://www.TOP500.org/ TOP500.org] shows the distribution of supercomputers by architecture:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-architecture.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Cluster ==<br /> &lt;p&gt;A [http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/cluster-computing Cluster] is a group of computers connected together that appear as a single system to the outside world and provide load balancing and resource sharing &lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/cluster-computing Definition of Cluster Computing&lt;/ref&gt;. Invented by Digital Equipment Corporation in the 1980's, clusters of computers form the largest number of supercomputers available today &lt;ref&gt;http://books.google.com/books?id=Hd_JlxD7x3oC&amp;pg=PA90&amp;lpg=PA90&amp;dq=what+is+a+constellation+in+parallel+computing?&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=Rf9nxSqOgL&amp;sig=-xleas5wXvNpvkgYYxguvP1tSLA&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=aDcnT-XRNqHX0QHymbjrAg&amp;ved=0CGMQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&amp;q=what%20is%20a%20constellation%20in%20parallel%20computing%3F&amp;f=false Applied Parallel Computing&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] data as of November 2011 shows that Cluster computing makes up the largest subset of supercomputers at eight-two percent (82%). The following chart shows the growth of cluster supercomputer systems with the oldest data on the right:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-cluster-count.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> <br /> == Massively Parallel Processing, MPP ==<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci214085,00.html Massively Parallel Processing] or MPP supercomputers are made up of hundreds of computing nodes and process data in a coordinated fashion &lt;ref name=&quot;ttmppdef&quot;&gt;http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci214085,00.html&lt;/ref&gt;. Each node of the MPP generally has its own memory and operating system and can be made up of nodes that have multiple processors and/or multiple cores &lt;ref name=&quot;ttmppdef&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://i.TOP500.org/stats TOP500.org/stats] for the MPP architecture of supercomputers shows that as of November 2011, MPP makes up approximately 17.8% of all supercomputers reported. A graph of the growth and subsequent decline of the MPP architecture from data displayed at [http://i.TOP500.org/stats TOP500.org/stats] is shown below:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-mpp-count.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Constellation ==<br /> <br /> == Grid Computing ==<br /> <br /> = Conclusion/Summary =<br /> <br /> = Definitions =<br /> &lt;p&gt;For any definitions where you don't have inline hypertext links to the definition you can place the definition of those terms here.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = References =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Your references go here. You should allow the WIKI to create your references list automatically by using inline citations.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;references /&gt;</div>

Mewilbor https://wiki.expertiza.ncsu.edu/index.php?title=CSC/ECE_506_Spring_2012/1a_mw&diff=57477 2012-01-31T01:43:28Z

<p>Mewilbor: /* Massively Parallel Processing, MPP */</p> <hr /> <div>&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Comparisons Between Supercomputers&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Introduction =<br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Supercomputers] are specialized computers that are generally very expensive, not available for general purpose use and are used in computations where large amounts of numerical processing is required. They are used in scientific, military, graphics applications and for other number or data intensive computations &lt;ref&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref&gt;http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/supercomputer.html Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;Supercomputers are generally compared qualitatively using floating point operations per second, or [http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html FLOPS]. Using standard prefixes, higher levels of FLOPS can be specified as the computing power of supercomputers increases. For example, KiloFLOPS for thousands of FLOPS and MegaFLOPS for millions of FLOPS &lt;ref&gt;http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html Doran, Kevin (April 2011) Comparing the performance of supercomputers&lt;/ref&gt;. Often you'll see just the first letter of the prefix with FLOPS. For example, for GigaFLOPS or billions of FLOPS, you'll see [http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s GFLOPS] &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s Definition of GFLOPS&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;A software package called [http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK] is a standard approach to testing or benchmarking supercomputers by solving a dense system of linear equations using the Gauss method. &lt;ref&gt;http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK defined&lt;/ref&gt;. However, LINPACK benchmarking software isn't only used to benchmark supercomputers, it can also be used to benchmark a typical user computer &lt;ref&gt;http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?197835-IntelBurnTest-The-new-stress-testing-program Intel Benchmark Software&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Finding Supercomputer Comparison Data =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Starting in 1993, [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] began collecting performance data on computers and update their list every six months &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_top500 What is the TOP500&lt;/ref&gt;. This appears to be an excellent online source of information that collects benchmark data submitted by users of computers and readily provides performance statistics by Vendor, Application, Architecture and nine (9) other areas &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot;&gt;http://i.top500.org/stats TOP500 Stats&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Comparison of Supercomputers by Architecture =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Supercomputers of today are composed of three (3) types of parallel processing architecture. These architectures are Cluster, Massively Parallel Processing or MPP and Constellation &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The following graphic generated at [http://www.TOP500.org/ TOP500.org] shows the distribution of supercomputers by architecture:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-architecture.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Cluster ==<br /> &lt;p&gt;A [http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/cluster-computing Cluster] is a group of computers connected together that appear as a single system to the outside world and provide load balancing and resource sharing &lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/cluster-computing Definition of Cluster Computing&lt;/ref&gt;. Invented by Digital Equipment Corporation in the 1980's, clusters of computers form the largest number of supercomputers available today &lt;ref&gt;http://books.google.com/books?id=Hd_JlxD7x3oC&amp;pg=PA90&amp;lpg=PA90&amp;dq=what+is+a+constellation+in+parallel+computing?&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=Rf9nxSqOgL&amp;sig=-xleas5wXvNpvkgYYxguvP1tSLA&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=aDcnT-XRNqHX0QHymbjrAg&amp;ved=0CGMQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&amp;q=what%20is%20a%20constellation%20in%20parallel%20computing%3F&amp;f=false Applied Parallel Computing&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] data as of November 2011 shows that Cluster computing makes up the largest subset of supercomputers at eight-two percent (82%). The following chart shows the growth of cluster supercomputer systems with the oldest data on the right:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-cluster-count.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> <br /> == Massively Parallel Processing, MPP ==<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci214085,00.html Massively Parallel Processing] or MPP supercomputers are made up of hundreds of computing nodes and process data in a coordinated fashion &lt;ref name=&quot;ttmppdef&quot;&gt;http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci214085,00.html&lt;/ref&gt;. Each node of the MPP generally has its own memory and operating system and can be made up of nodes that have multiple processors and/or multiple cores &lt;ref name=&quot;ttmppdef&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://i.TOP500.org/stats TOP500.org/stats] for the MPP architecture of supercomputers shows that as of November 2011, MPP makes up approximately 17.8% of all supercomputers reported. A graph of the growth and subsequent decline of the MPP architecture from data displayed at [http://i.TOP500.org/stats TOP500.org/stats] is shown below:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-mpp-count.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Constellation ==<br /> <br /> = Conclusion/Summary =<br /> <br /> = Definitions =<br /> &lt;p&gt;For any definitions where you don't have inline hypertext links to the definition you can place the definition of those terms here.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = References =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Your references go here. You should allow the WIKI to create your references list automatically by using inline citations.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;references /&gt;</div>

Mewilbor https://wiki.expertiza.ncsu.edu/index.php?title=CSC/ECE_506_Spring_2012/1a_mw&diff=57468 2012-01-31T01:32:39Z

<p>Mewilbor: /* Cluster */</p> <hr /> <div>&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Comparisons Between Supercomputers&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Introduction =<br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Supercomputers] are specialized computers that are generally very expensive, not available for general purpose use and are used in computations where large amounts of numerical processing is required. They are used in scientific, military, graphics applications and for other number or data intensive computations &lt;ref&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref&gt;http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/supercomputer.html Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;Supercomputers are generally compared qualitatively using floating point operations per second, or [http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html FLOPS]. Using standard prefixes, higher levels of FLOPS can be specified as the computing power of supercomputers increases. For example, KiloFLOPS for thousands of FLOPS and MegaFLOPS for millions of FLOPS &lt;ref&gt;http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html Doran, Kevin (April 2011) Comparing the performance of supercomputers&lt;/ref&gt;. Often you'll see just the first letter of the prefix with FLOPS. For example, for GigaFLOPS or billions of FLOPS, you'll see [http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s GFLOPS] &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s Definition of GFLOPS&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;A software package called [http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK] is a standard approach to testing or benchmarking supercomputers by solving a dense system of linear equations using the Gauss method. &lt;ref&gt;http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK defined&lt;/ref&gt;. However, LINPACK benchmarking software isn't only used to benchmark supercomputers, it can also be used to benchmark a typical user computer &lt;ref&gt;http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?197835-IntelBurnTest-The-new-stress-testing-program Intel Benchmark Software&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Finding Supercomputer Comparison Data =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Starting in 1993, [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] began collecting performance data on computers and update their list every six months &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_top500 What is the TOP500&lt;/ref&gt;. This appears to be an excellent online source of information that collects benchmark data submitted by users of computers and readily provides performance statistics by Vendor, Application, Architecture and nine (9) other areas &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot;&gt;http://i.top500.org/stats TOP500 Stats&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Comparison of Supercomputers by Architecture =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Supercomputers of today are composed of three (3) types of parallel processing architecture. These architectures are Cluster, Massively Parallel Processing or MPP and Constellation &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The following graphic generated at [http://www.TOP500.org/ TOP500.org] shows the distribution of supercomputers by architecture:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-architecture.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Cluster ==<br /> &lt;p&gt;A [http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/cluster-computing Cluster] is a group of computers connected together that appear as a single system to the outside world and provide load balancing and resource sharing &lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/cluster-computing Definition of Cluster Computing&lt;/ref&gt;. Invented by Digital Equipment Corporation in the 1980's, clusters of computers form the largest number of supercomputers available today &lt;ref&gt;http://books.google.com/books?id=Hd_JlxD7x3oC&amp;pg=PA90&amp;lpg=PA90&amp;dq=what+is+a+constellation+in+parallel+computing?&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=Rf9nxSqOgL&amp;sig=-xleas5wXvNpvkgYYxguvP1tSLA&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=aDcnT-XRNqHX0QHymbjrAg&amp;ved=0CGMQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&amp;q=what%20is%20a%20constellation%20in%20parallel%20computing%3F&amp;f=false Applied Parallel Computing&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] data as of November 2011 shows that Cluster computing makes up the largest subset of supercomputers at eight-two percent (82%). The following chart shows the growth of cluster supercomputer systems with the oldest data on the right:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-cluster-count.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> <br /> == Massively Parallel Processing, MPP ==<br /> <br /> == Constellation ==<br /> <br /> = Conclusion/Summary =<br /> <br /> = Definitions =<br /> &lt;p&gt;For any definitions where you don't have inline hypertext links to the definition you can place the definition of those terms here.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = References =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Your references go here. You should allow the WIKI to create your references list automatically by using inline citations.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;references /&gt;</div>

Mewilbor https://wiki.expertiza.ncsu.edu/index.php?title=CSC/ECE_506_Spring_2012/1a_mw&diff=57466 2012-01-31T01:31:32Z

<p>Mewilbor: image link fixed</p> <hr /> <div>&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Comparisons Between Supercomputers&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Introduction =<br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Supercomputers] are specialized computers that are generally very expensive, not available for general purpose use and are used in computations where large amounts of numerical processing is required. They are used in scientific, military, graphics applications and for other number or data intensive computations &lt;ref&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref&gt;http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/supercomputer.html Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;Supercomputers are generally compared qualitatively using floating point operations per second, or [http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html FLOPS]. Using standard prefixes, higher levels of FLOPS can be specified as the computing power of supercomputers increases. For example, KiloFLOPS for thousands of FLOPS and MegaFLOPS for millions of FLOPS &lt;ref&gt;http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html Doran, Kevin (April 2011) Comparing the performance of supercomputers&lt;/ref&gt;. Often you'll see just the first letter of the prefix with FLOPS. For example, for GigaFLOPS or billions of FLOPS, you'll see [http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s GFLOPS] &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s Definition of GFLOPS&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;A software package called [http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK] is a standard approach to testing or benchmarking supercomputers by solving a dense system of linear equations using the Gauss method. &lt;ref&gt;http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK defined&lt;/ref&gt;. However, LINPACK benchmarking software isn't only used to benchmark supercomputers, it can also be used to benchmark a typical user computer &lt;ref&gt;http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?197835-IntelBurnTest-The-new-stress-testing-program Intel Benchmark Software&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Finding Supercomputer Comparison Data =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Starting in 1993, [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] began collecting performance data on computers and update their list every six months &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_top500 What is the TOP500&lt;/ref&gt;. This appears to be an excellent online source of information that collects benchmark data submitted by users of computers and readily provides performance statistics by Vendor, Application, Architecture and nine (9) other areas &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot;&gt;http://i.top500.org/stats TOP500 Stats&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Comparison of Supercomputers by Architecture =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Supercomputers of today are composed of three (3) types of parallel processing architecture. These architectures are Cluster, Massively Parallel Processing or MPP and Constellation &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The following graphic generated at [http://www.TOP500.org/ TOP500.org] shows the distribution of supercomputers by architecture:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-architecture.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Cluster ==<br /> &lt;p&gt;A [http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/cluster-computing Cluster] is a group of computers connected together that appear as a single system to the outside world and provide load balancing and resource sharing &lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/cluster-computing Definition of Cluster Computing&lt;/ref&gt;. Invented by Digital Equipment Corporation in the 1980's, clusters of computers form the largest number of supercomputers available today &lt;ref&gt;http://books.google.com/books?id=Hd_JlxD7x3oC&amp;pg=PA90&amp;lpg=PA90&amp;dq=what+is+a+constellation+in+parallel+computing?&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=Rf9nxSqOgL&amp;sig=-xleas5wXvNpvkgYYxguvP1tSLA&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=aDcnT-XRNqHX0QHymbjrAg&amp;ved=0CGMQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&amp;q=what%20is%20a%20constellation%20in%20parallel%20computing%3F&amp;f=false Applied Parallel Computing&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] data as of November 2011 shows that Cluster computing makes up the largest subset of supercomputers. The following chart shows the growth of cluster supercomputer systems with the oldest data on the right:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-cluster-count.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> <br /> == Massively Parallel Processing, MPP ==<br /> <br /> == Constellation ==<br /> <br /> = Conclusion/Summary =<br /> <br /> = Definitions =<br /> &lt;p&gt;For any definitions where you don't have inline hypertext links to the definition you can place the definition of those terms here.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = References =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Your references go here. You should allow the WIKI to create your references list automatically by using inline citations.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;references /&gt;</div>

Mewilbor https://wiki.expertiza.ncsu.edu/index.php?title=CSC/ECE_506_Spring_2012/1a_mw&diff=57465 2012-01-31T01:30:50Z

<p>Mewilbor: added graphs and definitions</p> <hr /> <div>&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Comparisons Between Supercomputers&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Introduction =<br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Supercomputers] are specialized computers that are generally very expensive, not available for general purpose use and are used in computations where large amounts of numerical processing is required. They are used in scientific, military, graphics applications and for other number or data intensive computations &lt;ref&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref&gt;http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/supercomputer.html Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;Supercomputers are generally compared qualitatively using floating point operations per second, or [http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html FLOPS]. Using standard prefixes, higher levels of FLOPS can be specified as the computing power of supercomputers increases. For example, KiloFLOPS for thousands of FLOPS and MegaFLOPS for millions of FLOPS &lt;ref&gt;http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html Doran, Kevin (April 2011) Comparing the performance of supercomputers&lt;/ref&gt;. Often you'll see just the first letter of the prefix with FLOPS. For example, for GigaFLOPS or billions of FLOPS, you'll see [http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s GFLOPS] &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s Definition of GFLOPS&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;A software package called [http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK] is a standard approach to testing or benchmarking supercomputers by solving a dense system of linear equations using the Gauss method. &lt;ref&gt;http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK defined&lt;/ref&gt;. However, LINPACK benchmarking software isn't only used to benchmark supercomputers, it can also be used to benchmark a typical user computer &lt;ref&gt;http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?197835-IntelBurnTest-The-new-stress-testing-program Intel Benchmark Software&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Finding Supercomputer Comparison Data =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Starting in 1993, [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] began collecting performance data on computers and update their list every six months &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_top500 What is the TOP500&lt;/ref&gt;. This appears to be an excellent online source of information that collects benchmark data submitted by users of computers and readily provides performance statistics by Vendor, Application, Architecture and nine (9) other areas &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot;&gt;http://i.top500.org/stats TOP500 Stats&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Comparison of Supercomputers by Architecture =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Supercomputers of today are composed of three (3) types of parallel processing architecture. These architectures are Cluster, Massively Parallel Processing or MPP and Constellation &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The following graphic generated at [http://www.TOP500.org/ TOP500.org] shows the distribution of supercomputers by architecture:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-architecture.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Cluster ==<br /> &lt;p&gt;A [http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/cluster-computing Cluster] is a group of computers connected together that appear as a single system to the outside world and provide load balancing and resource sharing &lt;ref&gt;http://searchdatacenter.techtarget.com/definition/cluster-computing Definition of Cluster Computing&lt;/ref&gt;. Invented by Digital Equipment Corporation in the 1980's, clusters of computers form the largest number of supercomputers available today &lt;ref&gt;http://books.google.com/books?id=Hd_JlxD7x3oC&amp;pg=PA90&amp;lpg=PA90&amp;dq=what+is+a+constellation+in+parallel+computing?&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=Rf9nxSqOgL&amp;sig=-xleas5wXvNpvkgYYxguvP1tSLA&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=aDcnT-XRNqHX0QHymbjrAg&amp;ved=0CGMQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&amp;q=what%20is%20a%20constellation%20in%20parallel%20computing%3F&amp;f=false Applied Parallel Computing&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] data as of November 2011 shows that Cluster computing makes up the largest subset of supercomputers. The following chart shows the growth of cluster supercomputer systems with the oldest data on the right:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-cluster-architecture.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> <br /> == Massively Parallel Processing, MPP ==<br /> <br /> == Constellation ==<br /> <br /> = Conclusion/Summary =<br /> <br /> = Definitions =<br /> &lt;p&gt;For any definitions where you don't have inline hypertext links to the definition you can place the definition of those terms here.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = References =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Your references go here. You should allow the WIKI to create your references list automatically by using inline citations.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;references /&gt;</div>

Mewilbor https://wiki.expertiza.ncsu.edu/index.php?title=CSC/ECE_506_Spring_2012/1a_mw&diff=57460 2012-01-31T01:23:30Z

<p>Mewilbor: /* Comparison of Supercomputers by Architecture */</p> <hr /> <div>&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Comparisons Between Supercomputers&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Introduction =<br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Supercomputers] are specialized computers that are generally very expensive, not available for general purpose use and are used in computations where large amounts of numerical processing is required. They are used in scientific, military, graphics applications and for other number or data intensive computations &lt;ref&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref&gt;http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/supercomputer.html Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;Supercomputers are generally compared qualitatively using floating point operations per second, or [http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html FLOPS]. Using standard prefixes, higher levels of FLOPS can be specified as the computing power of supercomputers increases. For example, KiloFLOPS for thousands of FLOPS and MegaFLOPS for millions of FLOPS &lt;ref&gt;http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html Doran, Kevin (April 2011) Comparing the performance of supercomputers&lt;/ref&gt;. Often you'll see just the first letter of the prefix with FLOPS. For example, for GigaFLOPS or billions of FLOPS, you'll see [http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s GFLOPS] &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s Definition of GFLOPS&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;A software package called [http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK] is a standard approach to testing or benchmarking supercomputers by solving a dense system of linear equations using the Gauss method. &lt;ref&gt;http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK defined&lt;/ref&gt;. However, LINPACK benchmarking software isn't only used to benchmark supercomputers, it can also be used to benchmark a typical user computer &lt;ref&gt;http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?197835-IntelBurnTest-The-new-stress-testing-program Intel Benchmark Software&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Finding Supercomputer Comparison Data =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Starting in 1993, [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] began collecting performance data on computers and update their list every six months &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_top500 What is the TOP500&lt;/ref&gt;. This appears to be an excellent online source of information that collects benchmark data submitted by users of computers and readily provides performance statistics by Vendor, Application, Architecture and nine (9) other areas &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot;&gt;http://i.top500.org/stats TOP500 Stats&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Comparison of Supercomputers by Architecture =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Supercomputers of today are composed of three (3) types of parallel processing architecture. These architectures are Cluster, Massively Parallel Processing or MPP and Constellation &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;The following graphic generated at [http://www.TOP500.org/ TOP500.org] shows the distribution of supercomputers by architecture:&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> [[File:2011nov-top500-architecture.png|Image from i.TOP500.org/stats]]<br /> &lt;p&gt;&lt;ref name=&quot;top500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Cluster ==<br /> &lt;p&gt;A Cluster&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] data as of November 2011 shows that Cluster computing makes up the largest subset of supercomputers.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Massively Parallel Processing, MPP ==<br /> <br /> == Constellation ==<br /> <br /> = Conclusion/Summary =<br /> <br /> = Definitions =<br /> &lt;p&gt;For any definitions where you don't have inline hypertext links to the definition you can place the definition of those terms here.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = References =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Your references go here. You should allow the WIKI to create your references list automatically by using inline citations.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;references /&gt;</div>

Mewilbor https://wiki.expertiza.ncsu.edu/index.php?title=File:2011nov-top500-constellation-count.png&diff=57452 2012-01-31T01:17:31Z

<p>Mewilbor: Supercomputers by Constellation architecture count. Created from data displayed at http://i.top500.org/stats by supercomputer architecture, January 30, 2012.</p> <hr /> <div>Supercomputers by Constellation architecture count. Created from data displayed at http://i.top500.org/stats by supercomputer architecture, January 30, 2012.</div>

Mewilbor https://wiki.expertiza.ncsu.edu/index.php?title=File:2011nov-top500-mpp-count.png&diff=57451 2012-01-31T01:17:06Z

<p>Mewilbor: Supercomputers by MPP architecture count. Created from data displayed at http://i.top500.org/stats by supercomputer architecture, January 30, 2012.</p> <hr /> <div>Supercomputers by MPP architecture count. Created from data displayed at http://i.top500.org/stats by supercomputer architecture, January 30, 2012.</div>

Mewilbor https://wiki.expertiza.ncsu.edu/index.php?title=File:2011nov-top500-cluster-count.png&diff=57450 2012-01-31T01:16:40Z

<p>Mewilbor: Supercomputers by cluster architecture. Created from data displayed at http://i.top500.org/stats by supercomputer architecture, January 30, 2012.</p> <hr /> <div>Supercomputers by cluster architecture. Created from data displayed at http://i.top500.org/stats by supercomputer architecture, January 30, 2012.</div>

Mewilbor https://wiki.expertiza.ncsu.edu/index.php?title=File:2011nov-top500-architecture.png&diff=57448 2012-01-31T01:15:49Z

<p>Mewilbor: Supercomputers by architecture. Created from data displayed at http://i.top500.org/stats by supercomputer architecture, January 30, 2012.</p> <hr /> <div>Supercomputers by architecture. Created from data displayed at http://i.top500.org/stats by supercomputer architecture, January 30, 2012.</div>

Mewilbor https://wiki.expertiza.ncsu.edu/index.php?title=CSC/ECE_506_Spring_2012/1a_mw&diff=57445 2012-01-31T01:14:08Z

<p>Mewilbor: /* Comparison of Supercomputers by Architecture */</p> <hr /> <div>&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Comparisons Between Supercomputers&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Introduction =<br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Supercomputers] are specialized computers that are generally very expensive, not available for general purpose use and are used in computations where large amounts of numerical processing is required. They are used in scientific, military, graphics applications and for other number or data intensive computations &lt;ref&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref&gt;http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/supercomputer.html Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;Supercomputers are generally compared qualitatively using floating point operations per second, or [http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html FLOPS]. Using standard prefixes, higher levels of FLOPS can be specified as the computing power of supercomputers increases. For example, KiloFLOPS for thousands of FLOPS and MegaFLOPS for millions of FLOPS &lt;ref&gt;http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html Doran, Kevin (April 2011) Comparing the performance of supercomputers&lt;/ref&gt;. Often you'll see just the first letter of the prefix with FLOPS. For example, for GigaFLOPS or billions of FLOPS, you'll see [http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s GFLOPS] &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s Definition of GFLOPS&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;A software package called [http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK] is a standard approach to testing or benchmarking supercomputers by solving a dense system of linear equations using the Gauss method. &lt;ref&gt;http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK defined&lt;/ref&gt;. However, LINPACK benchmarking software isn't only used to benchmark supercomputers, it can also be used to benchmark a typical user computer &lt;ref&gt;http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?197835-IntelBurnTest-The-new-stress-testing-program Intel Benchmark Software&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Finding Supercomputer Comparison Data =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Starting in 1993, [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] began collecting performance data on computers and update their list every six months &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_top500 What is the TOP500&lt;/ref&gt;. This appears to be an excellent online source of information that collects benchmark data submitted by users of computers and readily provides performance statistics by Vendor, Application, Architecture and nine (9) other areas &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot;&gt;http://i.top500.org/stats TOP500 Stats&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Comparison of Supercomputers by Architecture =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Supercomputers of today are composed of three (3) types of parallel processing architecture. These architectures are Cluster, Massively Parallel Processing or MPP and Constellation &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Cluster ==<br /> &lt;p&gt;A Cluster&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] data as of November 2011 shows that Cluster computing makes up the largest subset of supercomputers.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Massively Parallel Processing, MPP ==<br /> <br /> == Constellation ==<br /> <br /> = Conclusion/Summary =<br /> <br /> = Definitions =<br /> &lt;p&gt;For any definitions where you don't have inline hypertext links to the definition you can place the definition of those terms here.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = References =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Your references go here. You should allow the WIKI to create your references list automatically by using inline citations.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;references /&gt;</div>

Mewilbor https://wiki.expertiza.ncsu.edu/index.php?title=CSC/ECE_506_Spring_2012/1a_mw&diff=57442 2012-01-31T01:01:34Z

<p>Mewilbor: named reference</p> <hr /> <div>&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Comparisons Between Supercomputers&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Introduction =<br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Supercomputers] are specialized computers that are generally very expensive, not available for general purpose use and are used in computations where large amounts of numerical processing is required. They are used in scientific, military, graphics applications and for other number or data intensive computations &lt;ref&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref&gt;http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/supercomputer.html Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;Supercomputers are generally compared qualitatively using floating point operations per second, or [http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html FLOPS]. Using standard prefixes, higher levels of FLOPS can be specified as the computing power of supercomputers increases. For example, KiloFLOPS for thousands of FLOPS and MegaFLOPS for millions of FLOPS &lt;ref&gt;http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html Doran, Kevin (April 2011) Comparing the performance of supercomputers&lt;/ref&gt;. Often you'll see just the first letter of the prefix with FLOPS. For example, for GigaFLOPS or billions of FLOPS, you'll see [http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s GFLOPS] &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s Definition of GFLOPS&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;A software package called [http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK] is a standard approach to testing or benchmarking supercomputers by solving a dense system of linear equations using the Gauss method. &lt;ref&gt;http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK defined&lt;/ref&gt;. However, LINPACK benchmarking software isn't only used to benchmark supercomputers, it can also be used to benchmark a typical user computer &lt;ref&gt;http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?197835-IntelBurnTest-The-new-stress-testing-program Intel Benchmark Software&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Finding Supercomputer Comparison Data =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Starting in 1993, [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] began collecting performance data on computers and update their list every six months &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_top500 What is the TOP500&lt;/ref&gt;. This appears to be an excellent online source of information that collects benchmark data submitted by users of computers and readily provides performance statistics by Vendor, Application, Architecture and nine (9) other areas &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot;&gt;http://i.top500.org/stats TOP500 Stats&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Comparison of Supercomputers by Architecture =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Supercomputers of today are composed of three (3) types of parallel processing architecture. &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Cluster ==<br /> <br /> == MPP ==<br /> <br /> == Constellation ==<br /> <br /> = Conclusion/Summary =<br /> <br /> = Definitions =<br /> &lt;p&gt;For any definitions where you don't have inline hypertext links to the definition you can place the definition of those terms here.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = References =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Your references go here. You should allow the WIKI to create your references list automatically by using inline citations.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;references /&gt;</div>

Mewilbor https://wiki.expertiza.ncsu.edu/index.php?title=CSC/ECE_506_Spring_2012/1a_mw&diff=57441 2012-01-31T01:00:13Z

<p>Mewilbor: /* Comparison of Supercomputers by Architecture */</p> <hr /> <div>&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Comparisons Between Supercomputers&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Introduction =<br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Supercomputers] are specialized computers that are generally very expensive, not available for general purpose use and are used in computations where large amounts of numerical processing is required. They are used in scientific, military, graphics applications and for other number or data intensive computations &lt;ref&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref&gt;http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/supercomputer.html Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;Supercomputers are generally compared qualitatively using floating point operations per second, or [http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html FLOPS]. Using standard prefixes, higher levels of FLOPS can be specified as the computing power of supercomputers increases. For example, KiloFLOPS for thousands of FLOPS and MegaFLOPS for millions of FLOPS &lt;ref&gt;http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html Doran, Kevin (April 2011) Comparing the performance of supercomputers&lt;/ref&gt;. Often you'll see just the first letter of the prefix with FLOPS. For example, for GigaFLOPS or billions of FLOPS, you'll see [http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s GFLOPS] &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s Definition of GFLOPS&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;A software package called [http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK] is a standard approach to testing or benchmarking supercomputers by solving a dense system of linear equations using the Gauss method. &lt;ref&gt;http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK defined&lt;/ref&gt;. However, LINPACK benchmarking software isn't only used to benchmark supercomputers, it can also be used to benchmark a typical user computer &lt;ref&gt;http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?197835-IntelBurnTest-The-new-stress-testing-program Intel Benchmark Software&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Finding Supercomputer Comparison Data =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Starting in 1993, [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] began collecting performance data on computers and update their list every six months &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_top500 What is the TOP500&lt;/ref&gt;. This appears to be an excellent online source of information that collects benchmark data submitted by users of computers and readily provides performance statistics by Vendor, Application, Architecture and nine (9) other areas &lt;ref name&quot;t500stats&quot;&gt;http://i.top500.org/stats TOP500 Stats&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Comparison of Supercomputers by Architecture =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Supercomputers of today are composed of three (3) types of parallel processing architecture. &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot; /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Cluster ==<br /> <br /> == MPP ==<br /> <br /> == Constellation ==<br /> <br /> = Conclusion/Summary =<br /> <br /> = Definitions =<br /> &lt;p&gt;For any definitions where you don't have inline hypertext links to the definition you can place the definition of those terms here.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = References =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Your references go here. You should allow the WIKI to create your references list automatically by using inline citations.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;references /&gt;</div>

Mewilbor https://wiki.expertiza.ncsu.edu/index.php?title=CSC/ECE_506_Spring_2012/1a_mw&diff=57438 2012-01-31T00:58:38Z

<p>Mewilbor: /* Comparison of Supercomputers by Architecture */</p> <hr /> <div>&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Comparisons Between Supercomputers&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Introduction =<br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Supercomputers] are specialized computers that are generally very expensive, not available for general purpose use and are used in computations where large amounts of numerical processing is required. They are used in scientific, military, graphics applications and for other number or data intensive computations &lt;ref&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref&gt;http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/supercomputer.html Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;Supercomputers are generally compared qualitatively using floating point operations per second, or [http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html FLOPS]. Using standard prefixes, higher levels of FLOPS can be specified as the computing power of supercomputers increases. For example, KiloFLOPS for thousands of FLOPS and MegaFLOPS for millions of FLOPS &lt;ref&gt;http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html Doran, Kevin (April 2011) Comparing the performance of supercomputers&lt;/ref&gt;. Often you'll see just the first letter of the prefix with FLOPS. For example, for GigaFLOPS or billions of FLOPS, you'll see [http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s GFLOPS] &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s Definition of GFLOPS&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;A software package called [http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK] is a standard approach to testing or benchmarking supercomputers by solving a dense system of linear equations using the Gauss method. &lt;ref&gt;http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK defined&lt;/ref&gt;. However, LINPACK benchmarking software isn't only used to benchmark supercomputers, it can also be used to benchmark a typical user computer &lt;ref&gt;http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?197835-IntelBurnTest-The-new-stress-testing-program Intel Benchmark Software&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Finding Supercomputer Comparison Data =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Starting in 1993, [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] began collecting performance data on computers and update their list every six months &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_top500 What is the TOP500&lt;/ref&gt;. This appears to be an excellent online source of information that collects benchmark data submitted by users of computers and readily provides performance statistics by Vendor, Application, Architecture and nine (9) other areas &lt;ref name&quot;t500stats&quot;&gt;http://i.top500.org/stats TOP500 Stats&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Comparison of Supercomputers by Architecture =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Supercomputers of today are composed of three (3) types of parallel processing architecture. &lt;ref name=&quot;t500stats&quot;&gt;&lt;/ref&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Cluster ==<br /> <br /> == MPP ==<br /> <br /> == Constellation ==<br /> <br /> = Conclusion/Summary =<br /> <br /> = Definitions =<br /> &lt;p&gt;For any definitions where you don't have inline hypertext links to the definition you can place the definition of those terms here.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = References =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Your references go here. You should allow the WIKI to create your references list automatically by using inline citations.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;references /&gt;</div>

Mewilbor https://wiki.expertiza.ncsu.edu/index.php?title=CSC/ECE_506_Spring_2012/1a_mw&diff=57437 2012-01-31T00:58:14Z

<p>Mewilbor: /* Finding Supercomputer Comparison Data */</p> <hr /> <div>&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Comparisons Between Supercomputers&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Introduction =<br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Supercomputers] are specialized computers that are generally very expensive, not available for general purpose use and are used in computations where large amounts of numerical processing is required. They are used in scientific, military, graphics applications and for other number or data intensive computations &lt;ref&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref&gt;http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/supercomputer.html Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;Supercomputers are generally compared qualitatively using floating point operations per second, or [http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html FLOPS]. Using standard prefixes, higher levels of FLOPS can be specified as the computing power of supercomputers increases. For example, KiloFLOPS for thousands of FLOPS and MegaFLOPS for millions of FLOPS &lt;ref&gt;http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html Doran, Kevin (April 2011) Comparing the performance of supercomputers&lt;/ref&gt;. Often you'll see just the first letter of the prefix with FLOPS. For example, for GigaFLOPS or billions of FLOPS, you'll see [http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s GFLOPS] &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s Definition of GFLOPS&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;A software package called [http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK] is a standard approach to testing or benchmarking supercomputers by solving a dense system of linear equations using the Gauss method. &lt;ref&gt;http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK defined&lt;/ref&gt;. However, LINPACK benchmarking software isn't only used to benchmark supercomputers, it can also be used to benchmark a typical user computer &lt;ref&gt;http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?197835-IntelBurnTest-The-new-stress-testing-program Intel Benchmark Software&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Finding Supercomputer Comparison Data =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Starting in 1993, [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] began collecting performance data on computers and update their list every six months &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_top500 What is the TOP500&lt;/ref&gt;. This appears to be an excellent online source of information that collects benchmark data submitted by users of computers and readily provides performance statistics by Vendor, Application, Architecture and nine (9) other areas &lt;ref name&quot;t500stats&quot;&gt;http://i.top500.org/stats TOP500 Stats&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Comparison of Supercomputers by Architecture =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Supercomputers of today are composed of three (3) types of parallel processing architecture.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Cluster ==<br /> <br /> == MPP ==<br /> <br /> == Constellation ==<br /> <br /> = Conclusion/Summary =<br /> <br /> = Definitions =<br /> &lt;p&gt;For any definitions where you don't have inline hypertext links to the definition you can place the definition of those terms here.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = References =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Your references go here. You should allow the WIKI to create your references list automatically by using inline citations.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;references /&gt;</div>

Mewilbor https://wiki.expertiza.ncsu.edu/index.php?title=CSC/ECE_506_Spring_2012/1a_mw&diff=57436 2012-01-31T00:56:06Z

<p>Mewilbor: /* Comparison of Supercomputers by Architecture */</p> <hr /> <div>&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Comparisons Between Supercomputers&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Introduction =<br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Supercomputers] are specialized computers that are generally very expensive, not available for general purpose use and are used in computations where large amounts of numerical processing is required. They are used in scientific, military, graphics applications and for other number or data intensive computations &lt;ref&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref&gt;http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/supercomputer.html Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;Supercomputers are generally compared qualitatively using floating point operations per second, or [http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html FLOPS]. Using standard prefixes, higher levels of FLOPS can be specified as the computing power of supercomputers increases. For example, KiloFLOPS for thousands of FLOPS and MegaFLOPS for millions of FLOPS &lt;ref&gt;http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html Doran, Kevin (April 2011) Comparing the performance of supercomputers&lt;/ref&gt;. Often you'll see just the first letter of the prefix with FLOPS. For example, for GigaFLOPS or billions of FLOPS, you'll see [http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s GFLOPS] &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s Definition of GFLOPS&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;A software package called [http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK] is a standard approach to testing or benchmarking supercomputers by solving a dense system of linear equations using the Gauss method. &lt;ref&gt;http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK defined&lt;/ref&gt;. However, LINPACK benchmarking software isn't only used to benchmark supercomputers, it can also be used to benchmark a typical user computer &lt;ref&gt;http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?197835-IntelBurnTest-The-new-stress-testing-program Intel Benchmark Software&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Finding Supercomputer Comparison Data =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Starting in 1993, [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] began collecting performance data on computers and update their list every six months &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_top500 What is the TOP500&lt;/ref&gt;. This appears to be an excellent online source of information that collects benchmark data submitted by users of computers and readily provides performance statistics by Vendor, Application, Architecture and nine (9) other areas &lt;ref&gt;http://i.top500.org/stats TOP500 Stats&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Comparison of Supercomputers by Architecture =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Supercomputers of today are composed of three (3) types of parallel processing architecture.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Cluster ==<br /> <br /> == MPP ==<br /> <br /> == Constellation ==<br /> <br /> = Conclusion/Summary =<br /> <br /> = Definitions =<br /> &lt;p&gt;For any definitions where you don't have inline hypertext links to the definition you can place the definition of those terms here.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = References =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Your references go here. You should allow the WIKI to create your references list automatically by using inline citations.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;references /&gt;</div>

Mewilbor https://wiki.expertiza.ncsu.edu/index.php?title=CSC/ECE_506_Spring_2012/1a_mw&diff=57434 2012-01-31T00:48:51Z

<p>Mewilbor: /* Conclusion/Summary */</p> <hr /> <div>&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Comparisons Between Supercomputers&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Introduction =<br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Supercomputers] are specialized computers that are generally very expensive, not available for general purpose use and are used in computations where large amounts of numerical processing is required. They are used in scientific, military, graphics applications and for other number or data intensive computations &lt;ref&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref&gt;http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/supercomputer.html Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;Supercomputers are generally compared qualitatively using floating point operations per second, or [http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html FLOPS]. Using standard prefixes, higher levels of FLOPS can be specified as the computing power of supercomputers increases. For example, KiloFLOPS for thousands of FLOPS and MegaFLOPS for millions of FLOPS &lt;ref&gt;http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html Doran, Kevin (April 2011) Comparing the performance of supercomputers&lt;/ref&gt;. Often you'll see just the first letter of the prefix with FLOPS. For example, for GigaFLOPS or billions of FLOPS, you'll see [http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s GFLOPS] &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s Definition of GFLOPS&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;A software package called [http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK] is a standard approach to testing or benchmarking supercomputers by solving a dense system of linear equations using the Gauss method. &lt;ref&gt;http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK defined&lt;/ref&gt;. However, LINPACK benchmarking software isn't only used to benchmark supercomputers, it can also be used to benchmark a typical user computer &lt;ref&gt;http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?197835-IntelBurnTest-The-new-stress-testing-program Intel Benchmark Software&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Finding Supercomputer Comparison Data =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Starting in 1993, [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] began collecting performance data on computers and update their list every six months &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_top500 What is the TOP500&lt;/ref&gt;. This appears to be an excellent online source of information that collects benchmark data submitted by users of computers and readily provides performance statistics by Vendor, Application, Architecture and nine (9) other areas &lt;ref&gt;http://i.top500.org/stats TOP500 Stats&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Comparison of Supercomputers by Architecture =<br /> <br /> == Cluster ==<br /> <br /> == MPP ==<br /> <br /> == Constellation ==<br /> <br /> = Conclusion/Summary =<br /> <br /> = Definitions =<br /> &lt;p&gt;For any definitions where you don't have inline hypertext links to the definition you can place the definition of those terms here.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = References =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Your references go here. You should allow the WIKI to create your references list automatically by using inline citations.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;references /&gt;</div>

Mewilbor https://wiki.expertiza.ncsu.edu/index.php?title=CSC/ECE_506_Spring_2012/1a_mw&diff=57433 2012-01-31T00:48:26Z

<p>Mewilbor: removed /* Section N */</p> <hr /> <div>&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Comparisons Between Supercomputers&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Introduction =<br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Supercomputers] are specialized computers that are generally very expensive, not available for general purpose use and are used in computations where large amounts of numerical processing is required. They are used in scientific, military, graphics applications and for other number or data intensive computations &lt;ref&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref&gt;http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/supercomputer.html Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;Supercomputers are generally compared qualitatively using floating point operations per second, or [http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html FLOPS]. Using standard prefixes, higher levels of FLOPS can be specified as the computing power of supercomputers increases. For example, KiloFLOPS for thousands of FLOPS and MegaFLOPS for millions of FLOPS &lt;ref&gt;http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html Doran, Kevin (April 2011) Comparing the performance of supercomputers&lt;/ref&gt;. Often you'll see just the first letter of the prefix with FLOPS. For example, for GigaFLOPS or billions of FLOPS, you'll see [http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s GFLOPS] &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s Definition of GFLOPS&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;A software package called [http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK] is a standard approach to testing or benchmarking supercomputers by solving a dense system of linear equations using the Gauss method. &lt;ref&gt;http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK defined&lt;/ref&gt;. However, LINPACK benchmarking software isn't only used to benchmark supercomputers, it can also be used to benchmark a typical user computer &lt;ref&gt;http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?197835-IntelBurnTest-The-new-stress-testing-program Intel Benchmark Software&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Finding Supercomputer Comparison Data =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Starting in 1993, [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] began collecting performance data on computers and update their list every six months &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_top500 What is the TOP500&lt;/ref&gt;. This appears to be an excellent online source of information that collects benchmark data submitted by users of computers and readily provides performance statistics by Vendor, Application, Architecture and nine (9) other areas &lt;ref&gt;http://i.top500.org/stats TOP500 Stats&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Comparison of Supercomputers by Architecture =<br /> <br /> == Cluster ==<br /> <br /> == MPP ==<br /> <br /> == Constellation ==<br /> <br /> = Conclusion/Summary =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Articles generally end with a conclusion or summary section.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Definitions =<br /> &lt;p&gt;For any definitions where you don't have inline hypertext links to the definition you can place the definition of those terms here.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = References =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Your references go here. You should allow the WIKI to create your references list automatically by using inline citations.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;references /&gt;</div>

Mewilbor https://wiki.expertiza.ncsu.edu/index.php?title=CSC/ECE_506_Spring_2012/1a_mw&diff=57432 2012-01-31T00:47:34Z

<p>Mewilbor: /* Section 2 */</p> <hr /> <div>&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Comparisons Between Supercomputers&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Introduction =<br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Supercomputers] are specialized computers that are generally very expensive, not available for general purpose use and are used in computations where large amounts of numerical processing is required. They are used in scientific, military, graphics applications and for other number or data intensive computations &lt;ref&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref&gt;http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/supercomputer.html Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;Supercomputers are generally compared qualitatively using floating point operations per second, or [http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html FLOPS]. Using standard prefixes, higher levels of FLOPS can be specified as the computing power of supercomputers increases. For example, KiloFLOPS for thousands of FLOPS and MegaFLOPS for millions of FLOPS &lt;ref&gt;http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html Doran, Kevin (April 2011) Comparing the performance of supercomputers&lt;/ref&gt;. Often you'll see just the first letter of the prefix with FLOPS. For example, for GigaFLOPS or billions of FLOPS, you'll see [http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s GFLOPS] &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s Definition of GFLOPS&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;A software package called [http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK] is a standard approach to testing or benchmarking supercomputers by solving a dense system of linear equations using the Gauss method. &lt;ref&gt;http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK defined&lt;/ref&gt;. However, LINPACK benchmarking software isn't only used to benchmark supercomputers, it can also be used to benchmark a typical user computer &lt;ref&gt;http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?197835-IntelBurnTest-The-new-stress-testing-program Intel Benchmark Software&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Finding Supercomputer Comparison Data =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Starting in 1993, [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] began collecting performance data on computers and update their list every six months &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_top500 What is the TOP500&lt;/ref&gt;. This appears to be an excellent online source of information that collects benchmark data submitted by users of computers and readily provides performance statistics by Vendor, Application, Architecture and nine (9) other areas &lt;ref&gt;http://i.top500.org/stats TOP500 Stats&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Comparison of Supercomputers by Architecture =<br /> <br /> == Cluster ==<br /> <br /> == MPP ==<br /> <br /> == Constellation ==<br /> <br /> = Section N =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Create as many sections and subsections as necessary to support your article.<br /> <br /> = Conclusion/Summary =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Articles generally end with a conclusion or summary section.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Definitions =<br /> &lt;p&gt;For any definitions where you don't have inline hypertext links to the definition you can place the definition of those terms here.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = References =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Your references go here. You should allow the WIKI to create your references list automatically by using inline citations.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;references /&gt;</div>

Mewilbor https://wiki.expertiza.ncsu.edu/index.php?title=CSC/ECE_506_Spring_2012/1a_mw&diff=57428 2012-01-31T00:34:18Z

<p>Mewilbor: removed unused sections</p> <hr /> <div>&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Comparisons Between Supercomputers&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Introduction =<br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Supercomputers] are specialized computers that are generally very expensive, not available for general purpose use and are used in computations where large amounts of numerical processing is required. They are used in scientific, military, graphics applications and for other number or data intensive computations &lt;ref&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref&gt;http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/supercomputer.html Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;Supercomputers are generally compared qualitatively using floating point operations per second, or [http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html FLOPS]. Using standard prefixes, higher levels of FLOPS can be specified as the computing power of supercomputers increases. For example, KiloFLOPS for thousands of FLOPS and MegaFLOPS for millions of FLOPS &lt;ref&gt;http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html Doran, Kevin (April 2011) Comparing the performance of supercomputers&lt;/ref&gt;. Often you'll see just the first letter of the prefix with FLOPS. For example, for GigaFLOPS or billions of FLOPS, you'll see [http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s GFLOPS] &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s Definition of GFLOPS&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;A software package called [http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK] is a standard approach to testing or benchmarking supercomputers by solving a dense system of linear equations using the Gauss method. &lt;ref&gt;http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK defined&lt;/ref&gt;. However, LINPACK benchmarking software isn't only used to benchmark supercomputers, it can also be used to benchmark a typical user computer &lt;ref&gt;http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?197835-IntelBurnTest-The-new-stress-testing-program Intel Benchmark Software&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Finding Supercomputer Comparison Data =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Starting in 1993, [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] began collecting performance data on computers and update their list every six months &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_top500 What is the TOP500&lt;/ref&gt;. This appears to be an excellent online source of information that collects benchmark data submitted by users of computers and readily provides performance statistics by Vendor, Application, Architecture and nine (9) other areas &lt;ref&gt;http://i.top500.org/stats TOP500 Stats&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Section 2 =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Another section for your article.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Section N =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Create as many sections and subsections as necessary to support your article.<br /> <br /> = Conclusion/Summary =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Articles generally end with a conclusion or summary section.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Definitions =<br /> &lt;p&gt;For any definitions where you don't have inline hypertext links to the definition you can place the definition of those terms here.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = References =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Your references go here. You should allow the WIKI to create your references list automatically by using inline citations.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;references /&gt;</div>

Mewilbor https://wiki.expertiza.ncsu.edu/index.php?title=CSC/ECE_506_Spring_2012/1a_mw&diff=57426 2012-01-31T00:28:42Z

<p>Mewilbor: URL typo fixed</p> <hr /> <div>&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Comparisons Between Supercomputers&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Introduction =<br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Supercomputers] are specialized computers that are generally very expensive, not available for general purpose use and are used in computations where large amounts of numerical processing is required. They are used in scientific, military, graphics applications and for other number or data intensive computations &lt;ref&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref&gt;http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/supercomputer.html Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;Supercomputers are generally compared qualitatively using floating point operations per second, or [http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html FLOPS]. Using standard prefixes, higher levels of FLOPS can be specified as the computing power of supercomputers increases. For example, KiloFLOPS for thousands of FLOPS and MegaFLOPS for millions of FLOPS &lt;ref&gt;http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html Doran, Kevin (April 2011) Comparing the performance of supercomputers&lt;/ref&gt;. Often you'll see just the first letter of the prefix with FLOPS. For example, for GigaFLOPS or billions of FLOPS, you'll see [http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s GFLOPS] &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s Definition of GFLOPS&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;A software package called [http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK] is a standard approach to testing or benchmarking supercomputers by solving a dense system of linear equations using the Gauss method. &lt;ref&gt;http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK defined&lt;/ref&gt;. However, LINPACK benchmarking software isn't only used to benchmark supercomputers, it can also be used to benchmark a typical user computer &lt;ref&gt;http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?197835-IntelBurnTest-The-new-stress-testing-program Intel Benchmark Software&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Finding Supercomputer Comparison Data =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Starting in 1993, [http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] began collecting performance data on computers and update their list every six months &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_top500 What is the TOP500&lt;/ref&gt;. This appears to be an excellent online source of information that collects benchmark data submitted by users of computers and readily provides performance statistics by Vendor, Application, Architecture and nine (9) other areas &lt;ref&gt;http://i.top500.org/stats TOP500 Stats&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Section 1, Subsection 1 ==<br /> &lt;p&gt;This is a subsection of section 1. Obviously, you name each of your sections and subsections as appropriate for your article.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Section 1, Subsection 2 ==<br /> &lt;p&gt;Like an outline, you shouldn't have a single section or subsection. Your subsections can go many levels deep!&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Section 2 =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Another section for your article.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Section N =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Create as many sections and subsections as necessary to support your article.<br /> <br /> = Conclusion/Summary =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Articles generally end with a conclusion or summary section.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Definitions =<br /> &lt;p&gt;For any definitions where you don't have inline hypertext links to the definition you can place the definition of those terms here.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = References =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Your references go here. You should allow the WIKI to create your references list automatically by using inline citations.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;references /&gt;</div>

Mewilbor https://wiki.expertiza.ncsu.edu/index.php?title=CSC/ECE_506_Spring_2012/1a_mw&diff=57424 2012-01-31T00:28:17Z

<p>Mewilbor: hyperlinks added</p> <hr /> <div>&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Comparisons Between Supercomputers&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Introduction =<br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Supercomputers] are specialized computers that are generally very expensive, not available for general purpose use and are used in computations where large amounts of numerical processing is required. They are used in scientific, military, graphics applications and for other number or data intensive computations &lt;ref&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref&gt;http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/supercomputer.html Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;Supercomputers are generally compared qualitatively using floating point operations per second, or [http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html FLOPS]. Using standard prefixes, higher levels of FLOPS can be specified as the computing power of supercomputers increases. For example, KiloFLOPS for thousands of FLOPS and MegaFLOPS for millions of FLOPS &lt;ref&gt;http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html Doran, Kevin (April 2011) Comparing the performance of supercomputers&lt;/ref&gt;. Often you'll see just the first letter of the prefix with FLOPS. For example, for GigaFLOPS or billions of FLOPS, you'll see [http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s GFLOPS] &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s Definition of GFLOPS&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;A software package called [http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK] is a standard approach to testing or benchmarking supercomputers by solving a dense system of linear equations using the Gauss method. &lt;ref&gt;http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK defined&lt;/ref&gt;. However, LINPACK benchmarking software isn't only used to benchmark supercomputers, it can also be used to benchmark a typical user computer &lt;ref&gt;http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?197835-IntelBurnTest-The-new-stress-testing-program Intel Benchmark Software&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Finding Supercomputer Comparison Data =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Starting in 1993, ]http://www.TOP500.org TOP500.org] began collecting performance data on computers and update their list every six months &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_top500 What is the TOP500&lt;/ref&gt;. This appears to be an excellent online source of information that collects benchmark data submitted by users of computers and readily provides performance statistics by Vendor, Application, Architecture and nine (9) other areas &lt;ref&gt;http://i.top500.org/stats TOP500 Stats&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Section 1, Subsection 1 ==<br /> &lt;p&gt;This is a subsection of section 1. Obviously, you name each of your sections and subsections as appropriate for your article.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Section 1, Subsection 2 ==<br /> &lt;p&gt;Like an outline, you shouldn't have a single section or subsection. Your subsections can go many levels deep!&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Section 2 =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Another section for your article.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Section N =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Create as many sections and subsections as necessary to support your article.<br /> <br /> = Conclusion/Summary =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Articles generally end with a conclusion or summary section.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Definitions =<br /> &lt;p&gt;For any definitions where you don't have inline hypertext links to the definition you can place the definition of those terms here.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = References =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Your references go here. You should allow the WIKI to create your references list automatically by using inline citations.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;references /&gt;</div>

Mewilbor https://wiki.expertiza.ncsu.edu/index.php?title=CSC/ECE_506_Spring_2012/1a_mw&diff=57423 2012-01-31T00:27:37Z

<p>Mewilbor: First section on finding supercomputer comparison data created</p> <hr /> <div>&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Comparisons Between Supercomputers&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Introduction =<br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Supercomputers] are specialized computers that are generally very expensive, not available for general purpose use and are used in computations where large amounts of numerical processing is required. They are used in scientific, military, graphics applications and for other number or data intensive computations &lt;ref&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref&gt;http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/supercomputer.html Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;Supercomputers are generally compared qualitatively using floating point operations per second, or [http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html FLOPS]. Using standard prefixes, higher levels of FLOPS can be specified as the computing power of supercomputers increases. For example, KiloFLOPS for thousands of FLOPS and MegaFLOPS for millions of FLOPS &lt;ref&gt;http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html Doran, Kevin (April 2011) Comparing the performance of supercomputers&lt;/ref&gt;. Often you'll see just the first letter of the prefix with FLOPS. For example, for GigaFLOPS or billions of FLOPS, you'll see [http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s GFLOPS] &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s Definition of GFLOPS&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;A software package called [http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK] is a standard approach to testing or benchmarking supercomputers by solving a dense system of linear equations using the Gauss method. &lt;ref&gt;http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK defined&lt;/ref&gt;. However, LINPACK benchmarking software isn't only used to benchmark supercomputers, it can also be used to benchmark a typical user computer &lt;ref&gt;http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?197835-IntelBurnTest-The-new-stress-testing-program Intel Benchmark Software&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Finding Supercomputer Comparison Data =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Starting in 1993, TOP500.org began collecting performance data on computers and update their list every six months &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_top500 What is the TOP500&lt;/ref&gt;. This appears to be an excellent online source of information that collects benchmark data submitted by users of computers and readily provides performance statistics by Vendor, Application, Architecture and nine (9) other areas &lt;ref&gt;http://i.top500.org/stats TOP500 Stats&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Section 1, Subsection 1 ==<br /> &lt;p&gt;This is a subsection of section 1. Obviously, you name each of your sections and subsections as appropriate for your article.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Section 1, Subsection 2 ==<br /> &lt;p&gt;Like an outline, you shouldn't have a single section or subsection. Your subsections can go many levels deep!&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Section 2 =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Another section for your article.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Section N =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Create as many sections and subsections as necessary to support your article.<br /> <br /> = Conclusion/Summary =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Articles generally end with a conclusion or summary section.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Definitions =<br /> &lt;p&gt;For any definitions where you don't have inline hypertext links to the definition you can place the definition of those terms here.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = References =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Your references go here. You should allow the WIKI to create your references list automatically by using inline citations.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;references /&gt;</div>

Mewilbor https://wiki.expertiza.ncsu.edu/index.php?title=CSC/ECE_506_Spring_2012/1a_mw&diff=57421 2012-01-31T00:21:58Z

<p>Mewilbor: Added GFLOPS definition</p> <hr /> <div>&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Comparisons Between Supercomputers&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Introduction =<br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Supercomputers] are specialized computers that are generally very expensive, not available for general purpose use and are used in computations where large amounts of numerical processing is required. They are used in scientific, military, graphics applications and for other number or data intensive computations &lt;ref&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref&gt;http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/supercomputer.html Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;Supercomputers are generally compared qualitatively using floating point operations per second, or [http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html FLOPS]. Using standard prefixes, higher levels of FLOPS can be specified as the computing power of supercomputers increases. For example, KiloFLOPS for thousands of FLOPS and MegaFLOPS for millions of FLOPS &lt;ref&gt;http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html Doran, Kevin (April 2011) Comparing the performance of supercomputers&lt;/ref&gt;. Often you'll see just the first letter of the prefix with FLOPS. For example, for GigaFLOPS or billions of FLOPS, you'll see [http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s GFLOPS] &lt;ref&gt;http://top500.org/faq/what_gflop_s Definition of GFLOPS&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;A software package called [http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK] is a standard approach to testing or benchmarking supercomputers by solving a dense system of linear equations using the Gauss method. &lt;ref&gt;http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK defined&lt;/ref&gt;. However, LINPACK benchmarking software isn't only used to benchmark supercomputers, it can also be used to benchmark a typical user computer &lt;ref&gt;http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?197835-IntelBurnTest-The-new-stress-testing-program Intel Benchmark Software&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Section 1 =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Development of the concept your article describes can be created in sections and subsections.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Section 1, Subsection 1 ==<br /> &lt;p&gt;This is a subsection of section 1. Obviously, you name each of your sections and subsections as appropriate for your article.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Section 1, Subsection 2 ==<br /> &lt;p&gt;Like an outline, you shouldn't have a single section or subsection. Your subsections can go many levels deep!&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Section 2 =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Another section for your article.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Section N =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Create as many sections and subsections as necessary to support your article.<br /> <br /> = Conclusion/Summary =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Articles generally end with a conclusion or summary section.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Definitions =<br /> &lt;p&gt;For any definitions where you don't have inline hypertext links to the definition you can place the definition of those terms here.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = References =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Your references go here. You should allow the WIKI to create your references list automatically by using inline citations.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;references /&gt;</div>

Mewilbor https://wiki.expertiza.ncsu.edu/index.php?title=CSC/ECE_506_Spring_2012/1a_mw&diff=57419 2012-01-31T00:03:55Z

<p>Mewilbor: added some definitions</p> <hr /> <div>&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Comparisons Between Supercomputers&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Introduction =<br /> &lt;p&gt;[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Supercomputers] are specialized computers that are generally very expensive, not available for general purpose use and are used in computations where large amounts of numerical processing is required. They are used in scientific, military, graphics applications and for other number or data intensive computations &lt;ref&gt;http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/supercomputer Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;, &lt;ref&gt;http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/supercomputer.html Definition of supercomputer&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;Supercomputers are generally compared qualitatively using floating point operations per second, or [http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html FLOPS]. Using standard prefixes, higher levels of FLOPS can be specified as the computing power of supercomputers increases. For example, KiloFLOPS for thousands of FLOPS and MegaFLOPS for millions of FLOPS &lt;ref&gt;http://kevindoran.blogspot.com/2011/04/comparing-performance-of-supercomputers.html Doran, Kevin (April 2011) Comparing the performance of supercomputers&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;p&gt;A software package called [http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK] is a standard approach to testing or benchmarking supercomputers by solving a dense system of linear equations using the Gauss method. &lt;ref&gt;http://www.top500.org/project/linpack LINPACK defined&lt;/ref&gt;. However, LINPACK benchmarking software isn't only used to benchmark supercomputers, it can also be used to benchmark a typical user computer &lt;ref&gt;http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?197835-IntelBurnTest-The-new-stress-testing-program Intel Benchmark Software&lt;/ref&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Section 1 =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Development of the concept your article describes can be created in sections and subsections.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Section 1, Subsection 1 ==<br /> &lt;p&gt;This is a subsection of section 1. Obviously, you name each of your sections and subsections as appropriate for your article.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> == Section 1, Subsection 2 ==<br /> &lt;p&gt;Like an outline, you shouldn't have a single section or subsection. Your subsections can go many levels deep!&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Section 2 =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Another section for your article.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Section N =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Create as many sections and subsections as necessary to support your article.<br /> <br /> = Conclusion/Summary =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Articles generally end with a conclusion or summary section.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = Definitions =<br /> &lt;p&gt;For any definitions where you don't have inline hypertext links to the definition you can place the definition of those terms here.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> = References =<br /> &lt;p&gt;Your references go here. You should allow the WIKI to create your references list automatically by using inline citations.&lt;/p&gt;<br /> <br /> &lt;references /&gt;</div>

Mewilbor