Overview of the QCDSP and QCDOC computers

PA Boyle, D Chen, NH Christ, Mike A Clark, SD Cohen, C Cristian, Z Dong, A Gara, B Joo, C Jung, C Kim, LA Levkova, X Liao, G Liu, RD Mawhinney, S Ohta, K Petrov, T Wettig, A Yamaguchi

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

The QCDSP and QCDOC computers are two generations of midtithousand-node multidimensional mesh-based computers designed to study quantum chromodynamics (QCD), the theory of the strong nuclear force. QCDSP (QCD on digital signal processors). a four-dimensional mesh machine, was completed in 1998; in that year, it won the Gordon Bell prize in the price/performance categorly. Two large installations - of 8,192 and 12,288 nodes, with a combined peak speed of one teraflops-have been in operation since. QCD-on-a-chip (QCDOC) utilizes a sixdimensional mesh and compute nodes fabricated with IBM system-on-a-chip technology. It offers a tenfold impropement in price/performace . Currently 100-node versions are operating, and there are plans to build three 12,288-node, 10-teraflops machines. In this paper, we describe the architecture of both the QCDSP and QCDOC machines, the operating systems employed, the user software environment, and the performance of our application-lattice QCD.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)351-365
Number of pages15
JournalIbm journal of research and development
Volume49
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Mar 2005

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