JMD
08-25-2002, 09:16 AM
Earth Simulator
Based on the NEC SX architecture, 640 nodes, each node with 8 vector processors (8 Gflop/s peak per processor), 2 ns cycle time, 16GB shared memory. Total of 5120 total processors, 40 TFlop/s peak, and 10 TB memory.
It has a single stage crossbar (1800 miles of cable) 83,000 copper cables, 16 GB/s cross section bandwidth.
700 TB disk space
1.6 PB mass store
Area of computer = 4 tennis courts, 3 floors
Rmax from LINPACK MPP Benchmark Ax=b, dense problem
Linpack Benchmark = 35.6 TFlop/s
Problem of size n = 1,041,216; (8.7 TB of memory)
Half of peak (n ½ ) achieved at n ½ = 265,408
Benchmark took 5.8 hours to run.
Software: for the most part Fortran using MPI
For the Top500 (As of November 2001)
Sum of all the DOE computers = 24 TFlop/s
Performance of ESC > (Top 18 Computers)
Performance of ESC > (Top 20 Computers in the US)
Performance of ESC > All the DOE and DOD machines (27.6 TFlop/s)
_ Performance of ESC >> the 3 NSF Center's computers (8.4 TFlop/s)
The Earth Simulator is a special purpose machine, made by NEC with the same type of vector technology as is available on the SX-6. This is a different approach than the Americans are taking, who base the large machines on off-the shelf technology. A clear advantage of the Japanese approach is that they "only" need 5120 processors for the Earth Simulator. The Asci White at the US Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and made by IBM, already needs 8192 processors for 7 Tflop/s.
Hans Meuer, the father of the TOP500 list of the world's most powerful supercomputers, asked for a comment, says: "The ES (Earth Simulator) is a significant step into the future of high end supercomputers: it is approximately 5 times faster than the current #1, ASCI White, if we take the best linpack performance as a yardstick. I do expect the ES to be faster than the sum of the first other 19 machines in the TOP20 of the forthcoming 19th TOP500 list. Thus the ES is a real challenge for the US ASCI program. The US labs are now falling significantly behind."
The New York Times reports: "In some sense we have a Computenik on our hands," said Jack Dongarra, a University of Tennessee computer scientist who reported the achievement today. On this citation, Hans Meuer comments: The exciting thing for me is that this is the first system after Numerical Wind Tunnel (built by Fujitsu) to take over the lead in the TOP500 list as a true vector processing system. And like the Numerical Wind Tunnel being the number one spot from 11/93 to 11/95 I expect the ES to be the number one in the world for at least two years.
Based on the NEC SX architecture, 640 nodes, each node with 8 vector processors (8 Gflop/s peak per processor), 2 ns cycle time, 16GB shared memory. Total of 5120 total processors, 40 TFlop/s peak, and 10 TB memory.
It has a single stage crossbar (1800 miles of cable) 83,000 copper cables, 16 GB/s cross section bandwidth.
700 TB disk space
1.6 PB mass store
Area of computer = 4 tennis courts, 3 floors
Rmax from LINPACK MPP Benchmark Ax=b, dense problem
Linpack Benchmark = 35.6 TFlop/s
Problem of size n = 1,041,216; (8.7 TB of memory)
Half of peak (n ½ ) achieved at n ½ = 265,408
Benchmark took 5.8 hours to run.
Software: for the most part Fortran using MPI
For the Top500 (As of November 2001)
Sum of all the DOE computers = 24 TFlop/s
Performance of ESC > (Top 18 Computers)
Performance of ESC > (Top 20 Computers in the US)
Performance of ESC > All the DOE and DOD machines (27.6 TFlop/s)
_ Performance of ESC >> the 3 NSF Center's computers (8.4 TFlop/s)
The Earth Simulator is a special purpose machine, made by NEC with the same type of vector technology as is available on the SX-6. This is a different approach than the Americans are taking, who base the large machines on off-the shelf technology. A clear advantage of the Japanese approach is that they "only" need 5120 processors for the Earth Simulator. The Asci White at the US Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and made by IBM, already needs 8192 processors for 7 Tflop/s.
Hans Meuer, the father of the TOP500 list of the world's most powerful supercomputers, asked for a comment, says: "The ES (Earth Simulator) is a significant step into the future of high end supercomputers: it is approximately 5 times faster than the current #1, ASCI White, if we take the best linpack performance as a yardstick. I do expect the ES to be faster than the sum of the first other 19 machines in the TOP20 of the forthcoming 19th TOP500 list. Thus the ES is a real challenge for the US ASCI program. The US labs are now falling significantly behind."
The New York Times reports: "In some sense we have a Computenik on our hands," said Jack Dongarra, a University of Tennessee computer scientist who reported the achievement today. On this citation, Hans Meuer comments: The exciting thing for me is that this is the first system after Numerical Wind Tunnel (built by Fujitsu) to take over the lead in the TOP500 list as a true vector processing system. And like the Numerical Wind Tunnel being the number one spot from 11/93 to 11/95 I expect the ES to be the number one in the world for at least two years.