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ABSTRACT

Multi-core platforms have proven themselves able to accelerate numerous HPC applications. But programming data-intensive applications on such platforms is a hard, and not yet solved, problem. Not only do modern processors favor compute-intensive code, they also have diverse architectures and incompatible programming models. And even after making a difficult platform choice, extensive programming effort must be invested with an uncertain performance outcome. By taking the plunge on an irregular, data-intensive application, we present an evaluation of three platform types, namely the generic multi-core CPU, the STI Cell/B.E., and the GPU. We evaluate these platforms in terms of application performance, programming effort and cost. Although we do not select a clear winner, we do provide a list of guidelines to assist in platform choice and development of similar data-intensive applications.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  C. Computer Systems Organization
  C.1 PROCESSOR ARCHITECTURES
      C.1.3 Other Architecture Styles
          Subjects: Heterogeneous (hybrid) systems

Additional Classification:
  C. Computer Systems Organization
  C.1 PROCESSOR ARCHITECTURES
      C.1.4 Parallel Architectures
  C.4 PERFORMANCE OF SYSTEMS
      Subjects: Performance attributes

  D. Software
  D.1 PROGRAMMING TECHNIQUES
      D.1.3 Concurrent Programming
          Subjects: Parallel programming

General Terms:
Algorithms, Measurement, Performance

Keywords:
data-intensive kernels, gpus, memory-bound applications, multi-core processors, the cell processor