GPGPU role within a 500 TFLOPS heterogeneous cluster
Richard Linderman · 2010
The outstanding price-performance of GPGPU technology has made it a key architectural engine within a 500 TFLOPS Heterogeneous Cluster being assembled by the Air Force Research Laboratory in Rome, NY. This new machine will likely be the largest interactive HPC in the world and feature $4/GFLOPS overall system performance and 1.5 TFLOPS/KW power efficiency. The heterogeneous aspect of the cluster reflects a combination of roughly 300 TFLOPS performance from 2000 PS3 gaming consoles plus 200 TFLOPS from GPGPUs closely coupled to 84 headnodes of the subclusters within the overall machine.