AMD Gains, Intel Slumps In Latest Supercomputer Rankings
SAN JOSE, Calif. — Dual-core Opteron processors from Advanced Micro Devices and the Infiniband interconnect surged forward in the latest list of the world's top 500 supercomputers posted Monday (Nov. 13). They gained ground lost by Intel processors and Gbit Ethernet interconnects that have dominated the list in the last two years.
AMD chips were used in 113 supercomputers, or 22 percent of those on the latest list, up from just 11 percent a year ago ago. Intel CPUs took their biggest decline ever, slumping from a high of use in 333 systems or a year ago to 261 or 52 percent of systems on the current list.
AMD gained an edge by beating Intel to market with dual-core CPUs. But Intel is catching up with its dual-core Xeon processors already appearing on the current list. In addition, Intel launched on Monday its first quad-core Xeon CPUs and expects to ship as many as 1 million of them before AMD ships its quad-core Opterons.
"Intel processors have only come to dominate the list in the last two to three years. Their use in 66 percent of systems a year ago was quite a high level, so its only natural that might decline," said Erich Strohmaier, a researcher at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and one of the authors of the list.
Stohmaier said Intel's dual-core Woodcrest processor already appears in a number of systems in the current list and will be popular in high-performance computing because the CPU can issue two add or multiple instructions in a single cycle.
"If Intel leapfrogs AMD in quad core, that could drive change in the list over the next six to twelve months. I imagine Intel's share will stabilize or even grow again," Stohmaier said.
The number of systems using AMD's Opteron surpassed the number using IBM Power processors. Power appeared in 93 systems, or 18.6 percent of the computers, up from 73 systems or 14.6 percent one year ago.
Stohmaier said he expects the number of Intel- and AMD-based systems on the list will grow while the number of Power systems will decline. That's because only IBM uses Power CPUs, and one of its three Power families is shrinking in market share, he added.
Nevertheless, IBM was by far the largest vendor of supercomputers with 239 systems on the list including the No. 1 listing. IBM's Blue Gene/L installed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory was measured at a sustained Linpack performance of 280.6 teraflops/second.
Infiniband gangs up on clusters
Infiniband is gaining momentum on Gigabit Ethernet as a clustering interconnect in the world's most powerful systems.
Gbit Ethernet is still the most widely used clustering interconnect appearing in 211 systems on the list, but that's down from its use in 256 supercomputers just six month ago. Meanwhile InfiniBand was used in 78 systems more than double the 36 systems that used the link in the list six months ago.
The proprietary Myrinet interconnect from Myricom came in a narrow second with 79 systems, but that was down from use in 87 systems six months ago.
"As processors and systems are getting larger, the performance differential between Gigabit Ethernet and the alternatives is growing too large for scientific computing," said Strohmaier. "Myrinet is holding its position and Infiniband is gaining quite a bit. It's taken Infiniband quite a while to catch on, but it is happening now," he added.
Both Infiniband and Myricom recently have rolled out hybrid products that also adopt Ethernet. "Hybrid interconnects are an interesting strategy, but well have to wait and see how this plays out in the market," said Strohmaier.
Among other trends in the latest list, veteran supercomputer maker Cray Inc. is again on the rise with two systems in the top ten. Cray's Red Storm computer now ranks number two at 101.4 Tflops/s thanks to a shift to from single- to dual-core Opterons. A system installed at Oak Ridge National Labs was also upgraded and came in at number ten at 20.53 Tflop/s.
"Cray may be on a rebound, particularly with new systems it has coming out," said Stohmaier.
The NEC Earth Simulator in Japan that rode at the top of the list for two and a half years, fell out of the top ten to No. 14 in the current list. The system ignited a fire storm of controversy when it was first launched because it beat all U.S. systems by a wide margin.
"This shows how fast this market changes," said Stohmaier.