In The Register’s first HPC channel webcast of 2011, Dan Olds of GCG talks to Rich Brueckner of InsideHPC to take the measure of current HPC performance and talk about the factors that got us to this point.
Some interesting data in the slides, including performance metrics of the #1, #100 and #500 systems on the Top500 list over the past ten years. When you chart out the results, you see a pattern where we just sort of plodded along until somewhere around 2006 – and then performance ramps up in hockey-stick fashion.
This pattern holds true for the top, middle-high, and lowest systems tracked by the Top500. The performance growth rates are astounding. From 2001-2010, performance on LINPACK for the #1, #100 and #500 system on the Top500 list grew at compound rates of 92%, 85% and 90% respectively.
This is a much higher rate than what we’d get from Moore’s Law-like advances in processors, interconnects and storage. Rich and Dan see hybrid systems (CPUs + GPUs or other accelerators) as the nitrous oxide injected into the engine block of HPC system design.
They talk about the costs of HPC, and how they remain stable for the most part and then drop when hybrid systems are factored into the mix. There’s some conversation about the importance of ecosystems and how they foster new technologies, plus some chatter about HPC in the clouds. Give it a listen and let us know what you think …