Performance Evaluation of Scientific
Programs on Advanced Architecture Computers
- P. Messina,
C. Baillie,
D. W. Walker
- Caltech Concurrent Supercomputing Facilities
- California Institute of Technology
- Pasadena, CA 91125
- U. S. A.
Abstract
Recently a number of advanced architecture machines have become commercially
available. These new machines promise better cost-performance then
traditional computers, and some of them have the potential of competing
with current supercomputers, such as the Cray X/MP, in terms of maximum
performance. This paper describes an on-going project to evaluate
a broad range of advanced architecture computers using a number of complete
scientific application programs. The computers to be evaluated include
(1) distributed-memory machines such as the NCUBE, INTEL and Caltech/JPL
hypercubes,
and the MEIKO computing surface, (2) shared-memory, bus architecture machines
such as the Sequent Balance and the Alliant, (3) very long instruction word
machines such as the Multiflow Trace 7/200 computer, (4)
"traditional" supercomputers such as the Cray X/MP and Cray-2, and (5) SIMD
machines such as the Connection Machine. Currently 11 application codes
from a number of scientific disciplines
have been selected, although it is not intended to run all codes on all
machines. Results are presented for two of the codes (QCD and missile
tracking), and future work is proposed.
P. Messina, C. F. Baillie, and D. W. Walker,
Performance Evaluation of Scientific
Programs on Advanced Architecture Computers,
in Proceedings
of the Third Conference on Hypercube Concurrent Computers and Applications,
held in Pasadena, California, January 19-20, 1988, edited by G. C. Fox,
published by ACM Press, New York, N.Y., 1988.