New Tests Sponsored By Department Of Energy, NSF, DARPA HPCS Program Analyze Memory Access As Well As Processor Performance
SEATTLE, Jun 14, 2004 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Global supercomputer leader Cray Inc. (Nasdaq:CRAY) today
announced that overall customer-reported scores for the Cray X1(TM)
supercomputer system are the best for any high-performance computing
(HPC) system on the new HPC Challenge benchmark tests.
The new set of tests, co-sponsored by the DARPA HPCS (High
Productivity Computing Systems) program, the U.S. Department of Energy
and the National Science Foundation, was introduced at the SC2003
conference in November 2003.
Assembled by Jack Dongarra and Piotr Luszczek of the University of
Tennessee, with collaborators from the U.S. and Europe, the HPC
Challenge benchmark suite is intended to test multiple attributes that
can contribute substantially to the real-world performance of HPC
systems. The suite of tests includes High Performance Linpack, the
single test primarily of processor performance that is the basis for
the semi-annual TOP500 supercomputer ranking, and substantially
augments this with six additional tests. More tests may be added over
time, Dongarra said.
"Linpack is useful, but no single test can accurately reflect the
overall performance of HPC systems," Dongarra said. "The HPC Challenge
benchmark test suite stresses not only the processors, but the memory
system and the interconnect. It is a better indicator of how an HPC
system will perform across a spectrum of real-world applications."
Cray X1 Supercomputer Has Highest Reported Scores
Based on test results reported by customers including the Army
High Performance Computing Research Center (AHPCRC), Oak Ridge
National Laboratory (ORNL) and the U.S. Army Engineer Research and
Development Center (ERDC), a Cray X1 supercomputer had the highest
overall test scores of any system listed as of June 10, 2004.
Comparing a 252-processor Cray X1 system with a 256-processor IBM
p690 system, for example, the Cray X1 system was about 4 times faster
on Linpack, 115 times faster on PTRANS, 18 times faster per processor
on STREAM Triad, and 14 times faster per processor on the Random
Access MPI test.
Comparing a 124-processor Cray X1 system with a 128-processor HP
Integrity zx6000 system, the Cray X1 system was approximately 4 times
faster on Linpack, 9 times faster on PTRANS, 11 times faster per
processor on STREAM Triad, and 8 times faster per processor on Random
Access MPI.
Results for all listed systems are available at
http://icl.cs.utk.edu/hpcc/hpcc_results.cgi.
User Organizations Call For Widespread Adoption of HPCC Benchmark
Suite
"Because the new HPC Challenge benchmark tests are multi-faceted,
they provide a more comprehensive insight into the performance of
today's high performance computing systems and are a major improvement
over traditional single point-benchmarks in predicting how HPC systems
will perform on many real-world applications," said AHPCRC Support
Infrastructure Director Paul Muzio. "I believe that the new HPC
Challenge benchmark test, by incorporating a number of measures in
addition to Linpack, should be widely adopted as it is a better
indicator of performance."
"The HPC Challenge benchmark suite is an important advance that
will help us better understand which applications perform best on
which HPC systems," according to Thomas Zacharia, ORNL's associate
director for computing and computational sciences. "The results
available today are already useful. We look forward to widespread
adoption of this new measurement tool by the global HPC community."
"No single test can accurately compare the performance of HPC
systems. Now that the more comprehensive, informative HPC Challenge
benchmark suite is available, it should be used in preference to
comparisons and rankings based on single tests," said Cray Chairman
and CEO Jim Rottsolk.
Rottsolk applauded the Department of Energy, the DARPA HPCS
program, the NSF, Jack Dongarra and Piotr Luszczek for providing the
new tests. "Cray is proud to be the leading performer today on these
new, more comprehensive tests that provide a stronger basis for
measuring HPC systems. We expect to increase our lead as larger
versions of our current Cray X1 product are installed, and as results
are submitted for the Red Storm system and the Cray XD1(TM) product we
obtained through the OctigaBay acquisition."
About Cray Inc.
Cray's mission is to be the premier provider of supercomputing
solutions for its customers' most challenging scientific and
engineering problems. Go to www.cray.com for more information about
the company.
Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements. There are
certain factors that could cause Cray's execution plans to differ
materially from those anticipated by the statements above. For a
discussion of these and other risks, see "Factors That Could Affect
Future Results" in Cray's most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q
filed with the SEC.
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trademarks, of Cray Inc. All other trademarks are the property of
their respective owners.
SOURCE: Cray Inc.
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