QPACE-a QCD parallel computer based on Cell processors

H. Baier, H. Boettiger, M. Drochner, N. Eicker, U. Fischer, Z. Fodor, A. Frommer, C. Gomez, G. Goldrian, S. Heybrock, D. Hierl, M. Hüsken, T. Huth, B. Krill, J. Lauritsen, T. Lippert, T. Maurer, N. Meyer, A. Nobile, I. OudaM. Pivanti, D. Pleiter, A. Schäfer, H. Schick, F. Schifano, H. Simma, S. Solbrig, T. Streuer, K. H. Sulanke, R. Tripiccione, J. S. Vogt, T. Wettig, F. Winter

Research output: Contribution to journalConference articlepeer-review

7 Scopus citations

Abstract

QPACE is a novel parallel computer which has been developed to be primarily used for lattice QCD simulations. The compute power is provided by the IBM PowerXCell 8i processor, an enhanced version of the Cell processor that is used in the Playstation 3. The QPACE nodes are interconnected by a custom, application optimized 3-dimensional torus network implemented on an FPGA. To achieve the very high packaging density of 26 TFlops per rack a new water cooling concept has been developed and successfully realized. In this paper we give an overview of the architecture and highlight some important technical details of the system. Furthermore, we provide initial performance results and report on the installation of 8 QPACE racks providing an aggregate peak performance of 200 TFlops.

Original languageEnglish (US)
JournalProceedings of Science
Volume91
StatePublished - 2009
Event27th International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, LAT 2009 - Beijing, China
Duration: Jul 26 2009Jul 31 2009

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General

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