"AMD Claims Big Opteron Supercomputing Wins"

[9-inch]

CHIP FIRM AMD said its Opteron server chips are appearing like plums in a Christmas pudding amongst the world's highest performing supercomputers.
According to AMD, the world's biggest Opteron supercomputer is seventh on the Top 500 list - that's the Tsubame machine at the Tokyo Institute of Tech, which uses Sun Fire servers using over 10,000 Opterons. Tests in May showed Tsubame had a sustained performance of 38.18 teraflops.

What's number one? It's Mr Blue Gene/L, based at Lawrence Livermore. The Top 500 site said the largest system in Europe is the French Atomic Energy Itanium Novascale 5160 system built by Bull and which uses 8,704 Itanics and a Quadrics interconnect. Oddly, AMD didn't mention that one in its press release. The University of Stuttgart is also using a big system based on Opterons.

AMD Opteron chips will also be used in a supercomputer used by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Appro and Voltaire will provide a system using over 16,000 Opterons which will use DDR 2 memory. µ

http://theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=32694

...And since many still don't believe The Inq, here's the press release from the Top500 site:

The No. 1 position was again claimed by the BlueGene/L System, a joint development of IBM and DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and installed at DOE’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, Calif. BlueGene/L also occupied the No. 1 position on the last three TOP500 lists. It has reached a Linpack benchmark performance of 280.6 TFlop/s (“teraflops” or trillions of calculations per second) and still remains the only system ever to exceed the level of 100 TFlop/s. This system is expected to remain the No. 1 Supercomputer in the world for the next few editions of the TOP500 list.

Even as processor frequencies seem to stall the performance improvements of full systems seen at the very high end of scientific computing shows no sign of slowing down. This time the last 158 systems on the list in June 2005 are too small to be included any longer, which represents a lower than average turn-over rate after two record breaking rates in the last lists. However, the growth of average performance remains stable and ahead of Moore’s Law.

Three of the TOP10 systems on the November 2005 TOP500 list were displaced by newly installed systems. The largest system in Europe is the new No. 5 at the Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique (CEA) in France. It is an Itanium based NovaScale 5160 system build by the French company Bull with 8704 processors and a Quadrics interconnect.

The largest system in Japan, a cluster integrated by NEC based on Sun Fire X64 with Opteron processors and an Infiniband interconnect, is installed at the Tokyo Institute of Technology and gained the No. 7 spot.

Intel microprocessors are at the heart of 301 of all 500 systems. Intel’s EM64T-based processors are very successful in the high performance computing (HPC) market place, with 118 systems using them already. AMD’s Opteron processors are also steadily and rapidly gaining ground, now with 81 systems using them compared to only 25 systems one year ago.

Top500.org

It's really amazing that AMD did such a feat in increasing their number of Opteron supercomputers in just 1 year (almost 135% growth). Once Torrenza is fully available we can expect this number to grow even further.

 

[Ycon]

AMD can claim a lot things when theyve got enough time to.

 

[CptCpu]

9 inch why is it when you post something it always has to be AMD cliams this or AMD future outlook is better than intel's? Post something thats worth while.

 

[9-inch]

9 inch why is it when you post something it always has to be AMD cliams this or AMD future outlook is better than intel's? Post something thats worth while.

Is not only AMD saying it, it's also the source I gave that says so.

 

[Ycon]

I dont think theres any difference between your "sources" and AMD itself...

 

[Viperabyss]

9 inch why is it when you post something it always has to be AMD cliams this or AMD future outlook is better than intel's? Post something thats worth while.

Is not only AMD saying it, it's also the source I gave that says so.
um.. no

CHIP FIRM AMD said its Opteron server chips are appearing like plums in a Christmas pudding amongst the world's highest performing supercomputers.

and...

What's number one? It's Mr Blue Gene/L, based at Lawrence Livermore

you can always build the best supercomputer. just stick as many CPUs in as you can. if you have more CPUs than i have, then you probably will have better performances.

 

[9-inch]

um.. no
Quote:

CHIP FIRM AMD said its Opteron server chips are appearing like plums in a Christmas pudding amongst the world's highest performing supercomputers.

Maybe he said so...

and...
Quote:

What's number one? It's Mr Blue Gene/L, based at Lawrence Livermore

you can always build the best supercomputer. just stick as many CPUs in as you can. if you have more CPUs than i have, then you probably will have better performances.

...He didn't said it was number one, all he said was more presence in the supercomputer space.

 

[shabodah]

Is it just me or do the Intel Fanboys have complete rule over Tom's these days? Got to be like 20:1. I can't find a post about AMD at all that isn't overrun by Intel boys. I want to know what they are all running right now, anyway? P4 EE's? There should be room for both sides here, not just one. Chill out people (yes I know 9-inch is a PITA).

 

[Viperabyss]

um.. no
Quote:

CHIP FIRM AMD said its Opteron server chips are appearing like plums in a Christmas pudding amongst the world's highest performing supercomputers.

Maybe he said so...

and...
Quote:

What's number one? It's Mr Blue Gene/L, based at Lawrence Livermore

you can always build the best supercomputer. just stick as many CPUs in as you can. if you have more CPUs than i have, then you probably will have better performances.

...He didn't said it was number one, all he said was more presence in the supercomputer space.

are you just mentally challenged that you can't read, or are you just blind?
your sources just re-iterate AMD's statement. they both didn't have any position on this matter.

...He didn't said it was number one, all he said was more presence in the supercomputer space.

same in AMD's situation. theinquirer didn't make any statement regarding Opteron's performance. it only said, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory will build a system with 16,000 Opterons, which may be the "largest" supercomputer.

i wonder where was the screw 9nm's brain lost years ago...

 

[Me_cago_en_el_moderador]

9-inch --- If I want to read the inquirer I go to THE INQUIRER. Stop posting AMD inquirer garbage. And please read the news before posting.

 

[9-inch]

um.. no
Quote:

CHIP FIRM AMD said its Opteron server chips are appearing like plums in a Christmas pudding amongst the world's highest performing supercomputers.

Maybe he said so...

and...
Quote:

What's number one? It's Mr Blue Gene/L, based at Lawrence Livermore

you can always build the best supercomputer. just stick as many CPUs in as you can. if you have more CPUs than i have, then you probably will have better performances.

...He didn't said it was number one, all he said was more presence in the supercomputer space.

are you just mentally challenged that you can't read, or are you just blind?
your sources just re-iterate AMD's statement. they both didn't have any position on this matter.

...He didn't said it was number one, all he said was more presence in the supercomputer space.

same in AMD's situation. theinquirer didn't make any statement regarding Opteron's performance. it only said, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory will build a system with 16,000 Opterons, which may be the "largest" supercomputer.

i wonder where was the screw 9nm's brain lost years ago...

I gave you both sources, not just The Inq, so please get your facts straight.

 

[Me_cago_en_el_moderador]

Intel Corp.’s long-awaited dual-core Itanium processor will finally see the light of the day in July, if the information that has been published by a web-site is correct. The chip giant reportedly has started revenue shipments of the processor, which launch had been delayed several times.

“This is the summer of servers. We have Woodcrest. We'll have Tulsa and Montecito. We have quad-cores coming,” Intel senior vice president Pat Gelsinger said Monday in New York at the Intel Xeon 5100-series announcement.

According to a report at EETimes web-site, Intel will formally introduce its dual-core IA64 Itanium processor code-named Montecito in July, 2006. Meanwhile, Intel itself confirmed that it plans to release its IA32 chip oriented on multiprocessor servers – code-named Tulsa – in the third quarter of the year, making Intel’s overall lineup of server processors more competitive.

Intel Itanium 2 processors are designed for very high-end mission-critical servers and supercomputers, which deliver performance and reliability, which greatly exceed those offered by systems powered by chips like AMD Opteron or Intel Xeon. While such chips and their platforms are sold in not very large quantities, their average selling prices (ASPs) are much higher than ASPs of server products sold in volume.

Intel’s dual-core Itanium product is projected to bring twice the performance of the current Itanium products, which is pretty natural, as the next-generation flavour of the Itanium sports two processing engines instead of one as well as larger caches.

The first three Itanium 2 processors based on the Montecito core were projected to be single-core 1.60GHz (model 9010), dual-core 1.40GHz (model 9020) as well as dual-core 1.60GHz (model 9040). Dual-core Itanium 2 processors were expected to have 18MB of L2 cache as well as 533MHz processor system bus (PSB), whereas the single-core flavour was claimed to sport 6MB of cache and will use 400MHz PSB. In the second quarter of 2006, Intel was expected to release its Itanium processor with two processing engines and 24MB of cache at 1.80GHz clock-speed. In the same quarter the manufacturer planned to refresh the 9010, 9020 and 9040 lineup with a faster 667MHz Quad Pumped Bus. Intel’s current plans remain unknown.

More news for you stupid fanboy. Take your poorion and go home.

 

[busygamer01]

Yeah Shabodah is right Toms' is infested with Intel fanboys that can't get over the fact that Intel is in sh*t. They're all probably paid by Intel to defend Intel and they probably all get discounts on Intel chips, shirts, hats,etc. LOL. Attention all you Intel fanboys get that Intel pariotism sh*t out of your minds. Face the facts Intel cannot made silicin chips anymore, AMD rules they chip game. Intel's last resort is to spy on AMD's research lab. LOL.

All you Intel fanboys are dumb that is how AMD makes it's money buy making claims and influencing people to buy it's chips. Just because Intel fanboys don't have deep pockets to buy AMD chips doesn't mean they have to be against AMD. All you Intel fanboys need to take a chill pill, and stop talking sh*t you AMD fanboys just because we prefer AMD over Intel.

 

[Viperabyss]

...you may want to recheck your fact too..
oh yeh, and your fanboy glasses.

oh yeh, according to the "new" source you gave me, the largest Opteron system, stationed in asia, was built with 10,480 Opterons. it is the 7th fastest super computer in the world.

the fifth fastest system, which is the largetst system in europe, had 8,704 Itaniums.

humm.. 10,480 Opterons, can't topple 8,704 Itaniums.

i guess facts state itself pretty clearly.

and for your reference, AMD increased their system by 135% compared to 25 years ago. make sure you read your own highlights.

 

[tmac]

9 inch why is it when you post something it always has to be AMD cliams this or AMD future outlook is better than intel's? Post something thats worth while.

:lol: :lol: :lol: I saw this post - and I said it had to be 9-inch
Even without the caps.

Personally - I don't care care a rats butt about servers. If there's
any truth in what you say - and it makes you feel good - I'm glad

I just want AMD and Intel to compete. Then we all get what we want.

 

[Da_Banig]

I just want AMD and Intel to compete. Then we all get what we want.

That's only what we think, fanboy (regardless of Intel or AMD) they want either one of them dead so they can be happy... and not knowning if they don't compete we don't get sh!t and pay high price for trash

 

[shabodah]

I gotta wonder what the difference in price between the opteron and itanium is. *I* can buy an opteron. Not even sure where I'd get an Itanium. Different class of processor. The fact that the opteron supercomputers are X86 is amazing. None of the supercomputers years ago were X86.

 

[MadBill]

oh yeh, according to the "new" source you gave me, the largest Opteron system, stationed in asia, was built with 10,480 Opterons. it is the 7th fastest super computer in the world.

the fifth fastest system, which is the largetst system in europe, had 8,704 Itaniums.

humm.. 10,480 Opterons, can't topple 8,704 Itaniums.

i guess facts state itself pretty clearly.

Just to compare, how much did the 8704 Itaniums cost compared to the 10480 Opterons. I beleave the Itaniums was up until just resently was $4000+ and the Opterons are $1100.
So at that price you could put something like 31650 Opt's. That would be interesting. Xeon would be along the same lines.

I beleave in they said that BOTH Opterons & Xeons are catching the Itaniums

 

[shabodah]

Why can't Intel just let the sinking ship die? If they fix their bus issues, their new march will destroy Itanium very quickly.

 

[mjp1618]

The Price-Performance ratio is not the only criterion for building supercomputers. It is often also performance-per-area. It could probably be possible to build a supercomputer more powerful and cheaper than the BlueGene using a billion Celerons; but that would take up much more space than ten thousand Itaniums.

The Itaniums are not for people who want the best performance-price ratio, they are for people who don't care about the price and want absolutely the best performance. People like the guys at NASA, CERN, etc.. They buy Itaniums for a reason.

It's just like a comparison of the Athlon with the Sempron. The Sempron might offer a far superior price-performance ratio; but there are applications in which the Athlon, or even the Opteron, might be preferred, due to their raw performance. Just like this, the Itaniums, the Power 5s, the UltraSPARCs; all have their markets. These are not the markets that the Opterons or the Xeons target.

 

[mjp1618]

I gotta wonder what the difference in price between the opteron and itanium is. *I* can buy an opteron. Not even sure where I'd get an Itanium. Different class of processor. The fact that the opteron supercomputers are X86 is amazing. None of the supercomputers years ago were X86.

Buy an Itanium if you can afford to. If not, don't.

Why do people buy an Athlon 64 when the Semprons might offer a better price-performance ratio? The same case with the Itaniums.

There are more than 260 systems with Xeons on the list; and Xeons have had a good presence on the list for a long time. So it is not so amazing that an x86 processor system is on the list.

 

[rainyjyu]

Incidentally, if you read closely at top500.org at the current top 10 sites as of June 2006:

#4 NASA/Ames Research Center - Itanium2 1.6 Ghz (10160 procs) installed 2004
#5 Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique (CEA) - Itanium2 1.6 Ghz (8704 procs) installed 2006
#6 Sandia National Laboratories - Xeon 3.6 GHz (8704 procs) installed 2006
#7 GSIC Center Tokyo Institute of Technology - Opteron 2.4/2.6 Ghz (10368 procs) installed 2006

There is no doubt that Opteron's are great chips - this is old news. Now that Woodcrest is out, it will be interesting in the next year or two to see how the server market develops.

 

[shabodah]

Terrible analogy. The Sempron is not very different than the Athlon nor the Opteron, and they are all x86 cpu's within close price ranges of each other. As a matter of fact, the low end single core Athlons are priced almos the same as the semprons. This is certainly a place for everything, but 8000 Itaniums are not saving much space versus 10000 opterons. They might even take up MORE volume. I got to wonder what the total wattage for these systems are as well. With dual core HE opterons, you're running at a maximum of 27.5 watts each core.

 

[MadBill]

Accord to Intel its 65W

http://www.intel.com/products/processor/itanium2/prod_brief.pdf

 

[shinigamiX]

Well, Opterons are great processors, and I guess this is something of a victory for AMD. I think Woodcrest will turn things around though. Hopefully before long the P4 Xeons will be nothing more than distant, painful memory.