Nvidia and AMD Inside Titan: Fastest Supercomputer on Earth

By Zak Islam
published

Replaces Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's Sequoia at the top spot.

Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Titan supercomputer is now the most powerful machine on the planet.

The machine, which is powered via Nvidia's graphics processors and AMD computer chips, knocked off the top spot previously occupied by another U.S. machine, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's Sequoia.

Sequoia, a system that utilizes IBM processors, became the top computer in June due to a performance of 16.32 petaflops a second. Titan bested Sequoia with a result of 17.59 petaflops per second.

Built by Cray, the supercomputer is operated in Tennessee as part of the Department of Energy's network of research labs. Titan will be used by researchers from academia, government labs and several industries in order to research topics such as alternative fuels and climate change.

The machine combines graphics chips (GPUs) and standard microprocessors. Nvidia provides the GPUs, while AMD supplies the CPUs.

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Zak Islam
54 Comments Comment from the forums
  • blazorthon
    It'll be a short lived crowning title :)
    Reply
  • Why this supercomputer *** always so Cray?
    Reply
  • epileptic
    17.59 petaflops per second: isn't per second redundant with the ps in flops?
    Reply
  • mapesdhs
    Zak,

    Writing, "petaflops per second", is redundant. 'petaflops' already includes 'per second', hence
    the 'ps' at the end, or does Titan exhibit the world's first excelarative performance? ;)

    Other than that, thanks for the update! Surprised it was only 17.59 though, I was expecting
    it to be higher.

    Ian.

    Reply
  • blazorthon
    mapesdhsZak,Writing, "petaflops per second", is redundant. 'petaflops' already includes 'per second', hencethe 'ps' at the end, or deso Titan exhibit the world's first excelarative performance? Other than that, thanks for the update! Surprised it was only 17.59 though, I was expectingit to be higher.Ian.
    I'm pretty sure that "excelerative" isn't a word and even if it was, it'd probably be spelled more like accelarative.

    Regardless, good catch on that.
    Reply
  • Devoteicon
    nerd rage all up in this bitch
    Reply
  • But can it run Crysis?
    Reply
  • kracker
    If I hear "But can it run Crysis" one moar time I'm gonna go mad, it's way too old.
    Reply
  • f-14
    MisterZedBut can it run Crysis?it beat it in .005 seconds, how about you man, how long did it take you to beat it?
    Reply
  • ohim
    Am i the only one surprised that the worlds`s fastest super computer has AMD CPUs at heart ?
    Reply