The design of a scalable, fixed-time computer benchmark
John Leroy Gustafson, Diane T. Rover, Stephen T. Elbert, Michael Carter · 1990
By using the principle of fixed time benchmarking, it is possible to compare a very wide range of computers, from a small personal computer to the most powerful parallel supercomputer, an a single scale. Fixed-time benchmarks promise far greater longevity than those based on a particular problem size, and are more appropriate for grand challenge'' capability comparison. We present the design of a benchmark, SLALOM{trademark}, that scales automatically to the computing power available, and corrects several deficiencies in various existing benchmarks: it is highly scalable, it solves a real problem, it includes input and output times, and it can be run on parallel machines of all kinds, using any convenient language. The benchmark provides a reasonable estimate of the size of problem solvable on scientific computers. Results are presented that span six orders of magnitude for contemporary computers of various architectures. The benchmarks also can be used to demonstrate a new source of superlinear speedup in parallel computers. 15 refs., 14 figs., 3 tabs.