A Comparison of the Intel iPSC/860 and the Suprenum-1 Parallel Computers
Oliver A. McBryan · Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) · 1990
The author compares the Intel iPSC/860 and SUPRENUM-1 parallel computers using a well-known scientific application algorithm. The algorithm, the Shallow Water Equations, is frequently used as a model for both oceanographic and atmospheric circulation. He describes the steps involved in implementing the algorithm on the iPSC/860 and the SUPRENUM-1, and he provides details of their performance. Surprisingly, the results show that the SUPRENUM-1 provides better performance on both a single node and a multiple node basis, despite the much higher theoretical peak rate of the i860 nodes. Using the latest Intel PGI compiler, he measured 4.63 Mflops per node on the iPSC/860, with efficiencies of 92.7% on 16 nodes, and 91.6% on 128 nodes. Earlier measurements with the standard Greenhills compiler yielded only 2.7 Mflops per node on the iPSC/860. With an early version of the SUPRENUM-1 compiler, he measured 5.11 Mflops (64-bit arithmetic) for single-node performance, and efficiencies of 88.3% with 16 nodes (72 Mflops aggregate performance). While a 256-node SUPRENUM-1 was not yet available for measurement, the author provides a simple static load-balancing algorithm for hierarchical systems that effectively extends the observed single-cluster efficiency for grid algorithms to large systems.