high performance computing

A supercomputer is a computer at the frontline of contemporary processing capacity – particularly speed of calculation which can happen at speeds of nanoseconds.[clarification needed] Supercomputers were introduced in the 1960s, made initially and, for decades, primarily by Seymour Cray at Control Data Corporation (CDC), Cray Research and subsequent companies bearing his name or monogram. While the supercomputers of the 1970s used only a few processors, in the 1990s machines with thousands of processors began to appear and, by the end of the 20th century, massively parallel supercomputers with tens of thousands of "off-the-shelf" processors were the norm.[2][3] As of November 2013, China''s Tianhe-2 supercomputer is the fastest in the world at 33.86 petaFLOPS, or 33.86 quadrillion floating point operations per second.

[...]... —s well —s highest density of memory ™ells per ™hipF „his me—ns lower ™ostD less ˜o—rd sp—™eD less powerD —nd less he—tF yn the other h—ndD some —ppli™—tions su™h —s ™—™he —nd video memory require higher speedD to whi™h ƒ‚ew is ˜etter suitedF gurrentlyD you ™—n ™hoose ˜etween ƒ‚ew —nd h‚ew —t slower speeds " down to —˜out SH n—nose™onds @nsAF ƒ‚ew h—s —™™ess times down to —˜out U ns —t higher ™ostD... optimiz—tions in gh—pter VD we will ™on™entr—te on keeping the —™tivity in the f—stest p—rts of the memory system —nd —voiding the slow p—rtsF 2.7 Improving Memory Performance 12 2.7.1 Improving Memory Performance qiven the import—n™eD in the —re— of high perform—n™e ™omputingD of the perform—n™e of — ™omputer9s memory su˜systemD m—ny te™hniques h—ve ˜een used to improve the perform—n™e of the memory systems... ™omputers when representing re—l num˜ersF 1 This content is available online at 2 This content is available online at 3 In high performance computing we often simulate the real world, so it is somewhat ironic that we use simulated real numbers (oating-point) in those simulations of the real world PW CHAPTER 3 FLOATING-POINT NUMBERS... @it will t—ke longer for memory to ˜e™ome in(nitely f—stAF w—ny of the interesting pro˜lems in high perform—n™e ™omputing use — l—rge —mount of memoryF es ™omputers —re getting f—sterD the size of pro˜lems they tend to oper—te on —lso goes upF „he trou˜le is th—t when you w—nt to solve these pro˜lems —t high speedsD you need — memory system th—t is l—rgeD yet —t the s—me time f—st"— ˜ig ™h—llengeF... memoryF foth —re import—nt ˜e™—use they —re —n import—nt p—rt of most high perform—n™e —ppli™—tionsF fe™—use memory systems —re divided into ™omponentsD there —re di'erent ˜—ndwidth —nd l—ten™y (gures ˜etween di'erent ™omponents —s shown in pigure PFS @pigure QESX ƒimple wemory ƒystemAF „he ˜—ndwidth r—te ˜etween — ™—™he —nd the g€… will ˜e higher th—n the ˜—ndwidth ˜etween m—in memory —nd the ™—™heD for... CHAPTER 2 MEMORY PT 2.8 Closing Notes 15 2.8.1 Closing Notes „hey s—y th—t the ™omputer of the future will ˜e — good memory system th—t just h—ppens to h—ve — g€… —tt—™hedF es high perform—n™e mi™ropro™essor systems t—ke over —s the high perform—n™e ™omputing enginesD the pro˜lem of — ™—™heE˜—sed memory system th—t uses h‚ew for m—in memory must ˜e solvedF „here —re m—ny —r™hite™ture —nd te™hnology e'orts... use of the —v—il—˜le te™hnologyF por the rem—inder of this ™h—pterD we will ex—mine the memory hier—r™hy —nd its imp—™t on perform—n™eF sn — senseD with tod—y9s high perform—n™e mi™ropro™essor performing ™omput—tions so qui™klyD the t—sk of the high perform—n™e progr—mmer ˜e™omes the ™—reful m—n—gement of the memory hier—r™hyF sn some sense it9s — useful intelle™tu—l exer™ise to view the simple ™omput—tions... the tr—deo' ˜etween speed —nd —™™ur—™yF sn the (eld of high perform—n™e ™omputing we gener—lly expe™t our pro™essors to produ™e — )o—tingE point result every THHEwrz ™lo™k ™y™leF st is pretty ™le—r th—t in most —ppli™—tions we —ren9t willing to drop this ˜y — f—™tor of IHH just for — little more —™™ur—™yF fefore we dis™uss the form—t used ˜y most high perform—n™e ™omputersD we dis™uss some —ltern—tive... instru™tionsD the —ggreg—te r—te of inform—tion ™oming from memory is in™re—sedD —nd interferen™e ˜etween the two types of memory referen™es is minimizedF elsoD instru™tions gener—lly h—ve —n extremely high level of lo™—lity of referen™e ˜e™—use of the sequenti—l n—ture of most progr—msF fe™—use the instru™tion ™—™hes don9t h—ve to ˜e p—rti™ul—rly l—rge to ˜e e'e™tiveD — typi™—l —r™hite™ture is to h—ve... jo˜ get ™re—ted or pulled in from the diskF10 „he pool of physi™—l memory p—ges is limited ˜e™—use physi™—l memory is limitedD so on — m—™hine where m—ny progr—ms —re lo˜˜ying for sp—™eD there will ˜e — higher num˜er of p—ge f—ultsF „his is ˜e™—use physi™—l memory p—ges —re ™ontinu—lly ˜eing re™y™led for other purposesF roweverD when you h—ve the m—™hine to yourselfD —nd memory is less in dem—ndD —llo™—ted