deskside supercomputers
for the Precision workstations, points to the Precision M6600 ‘mobile workstation’, which features Intel Core processors and either AMD or Nvidia graphics in a system with a 17.3-inch screen. While Dell workstations can support
SGI Octane III deskside cluster The deskside cluster version comes with
a max of 20 Intel Xeon quad- or six-core processors (two per node) 1.9TB of memory, 10 2.5-inch drives or 20 3.5-inch drives, and one Nvidia Quadro card for graphics. Input power is 90 - 264 VAC, and the dimensions are 26.5 x 12.5 x 28.2-inches.
Box makers looking at HPC Meanwhile, more traditional desktop computer suppliers are looking at the HPC market. ‘We like the idea of a personal supercomputer, it suits us well,’ states Hugh Jenkins, enterprise program manager for EMEA at Dell. ‘Here, we’re taking a pincer movement. On the server side we have a long history with standard platforms, and on the other hand it’s becoming possible to do serious engineering work on a laptop. The personal supercomputer is where both meet in the middle.’ He does warn, though, that on some laptop and desktop systems the thermal envelope is not sufficient to be reliable if you stuff a system with too much compute power. For desktops, the max performance
from Dell at the moment is the Precision T75000, which is designed for scalability and performance on large datasets and complex multi-threaded applications. Base features include an Intel Xeon quad- or six- core processor and memory scalability up to 192GB. Both Dell workstations and servers can
offer HPC capabilities, and workstations are often an ideal option for first-level HPC solutions, he adds. Offering server class architecture, workstations are also quiet and therefore ideal in a small office environment. The Dell Precision R5500, for example, was launched in April 2011 and offers full scalability and performance in a dual- socket rack form factor. On the laptop side, Richard Thwaites, senior consultant at Dell
22 SCIENTIFIC COMPUTING WORLD
HPC requirements for both small and large organisations, the company’s servers can also be used in the office environment. Consider 2U rack workstations in the PowerEdge C series. The C6100 features four independent nodes with dual Intel Xeon quad- and hex-core processors. It provides 12 DDR3 memory slots, a x16 PCI Express generation 2, an x8 PCI Express mezzanine slot, and holds as many as 12 x 3.5-inch or 24 x 2.5-inch hotplug disk drives. Note that PowerEdge C6100 fans and power supplies are shared across nodes to save space and weight and to create an eco-friendly design. ‘These go even further than our own blade designs for performance per square foot,’ adds Jenkins. Addressing the noise issue, Dell states
that PowerEdge models, such as the R610 rack-mount and T610 tower/pedestal
Z200 with an Intel i5 3.47-GHz CPU, the same RAM and disk and a Quadro FX 1800 graphics card. At the time of release, both these systems sold for just above $2,000. The author found that users can improve
their output by 45 per cent by upgrading from AutoCAD 2008 to AutoCAD 2011, without any change in computer hardware. By investing in a newer system with a more recent graphics accelerator, they can achieve productivity improvements of 68 per cent.
12 Tflops under your arm For certain parallel repetitive tasks, GPUs present an ideal solution. And, while space limitations prevent this article from going into depth on this topic, but which we have covered extensively in the past, one system does deserve mention as a true desktop supercomputer. Researchers at the University of Antwerp in Belgium needed the biggest possible bang for their buck, so in conjunction with Belgian computer shop
Tones.be and hardware manufacturer Asus, they developed the Fastra II system. The Vision Lab at the university needs this
C IT’S BECOMING POSSIBLE TO DO SERIOUS ENGINEERING WORK
ON A LAPTOP. THE PERSONAL SUPERCOMPUTER IS WHERE BOTH MEET IN THE MIDDLE
Hugh Jenkins, enterprise program manager, Dell
systems, generate around 30 dB of noise in standby mode, rising to around 53 dB when configured and under high application stress. To put this into context, rustling leaves create around 20 dB of noise, normal conversation generates around 60 dB, while the level of noise from inside a car is typically at around 70 dB.
Dell PowerEdge C6145 To see what kinds of productivity
improvements are possible with office- compatible workstations, consider a study released by AutoCAD, in conjunction with Hewlett Packard (see the Reference). For test purposes, the study used two systems: an HP xw4600 workstation with an Intel Core 2 Duo 3.16-GHz CPU, 4GB of RAM, 7200 rpm SATA hard drive and a Nvidia Quadro FX570 graphics card; the second was an HP
power for their novel processing methods for tomography, where they take a large number of X-ray photos taken from a range of angles to develop 3D images of internal organs of patients. The Fastra II design contains six Nvidia GTX295-dual GPU cards and one GTX275 single-GPU card for a total of 13 GPUs providing 12 Tflops. To fit all this hardware in one PC case, they designed a special cage for the graphics cards, which connect to the motherboard through flexible riser cables. To satisfy the power requirements of all its GPUs, the system has four power supplies. At full speed, say the developers, it can outperform a moderately-sized cluster of state-of-the-art CPUs – and all for less than 6,000 euros. Further, compared to traditional supercomputer clusters, it requires 100 times less energy and can be transported under your arm.
Reference Cohn, David, Realistic User Productivity Comparisons for Upgrade Decision Making, white paper, 2010,
http://investors.autodesk. com/phoenix.zhtml?c=117861&p=irol- newsArticle&ID=1458518
www.scientific-computing.com M Y CM MY CY CMY K
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