The computational speed of supercomputers

ABSTRACT

Problems related to the evaluation of computational speeds of supercomputers are discussed. Measurements of sequential speeds, vector speeds, and asynchronous parallel processing speeds are presented. A simple model is developed that allows us to evaluate the workload-dependent effective speed of current systems such as vector computers and asynchronous parallel processing systems. Results indicate that the effective speed of a supercomputer is severely limited by its slowest processing mode unless the fraction of the workload that has to be processed in this mode is negligibly small.

REFERENCES

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  C. Computer Systems Organization
  C.5 COMPUTER SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION
      C.5.1 Large and Medium ("Mainframe") Computers
          Subjects: Super (very large) computers

Additional Classification:
  C. Computer Systems Organization
  C.4 PERFORMANCE OF SYSTEMS
      Subjects: Performance attributes

General Terms:
Performance