─ AMD FirePro S9150 GPU powers more
than 3 petaFLOPS supercomputer cluster for OpenCL™ applications at GSI ─
Dubai, United Arab Emirates. — Nov. 13, 2014 — AMD (NYSE: AMD) leadership in heterogeneous high
performance computing (HPC) is delivering more than 3 petaFLOPS of AMD FirePro™ S9150 server GPU performance for the GSI Helmholtzzentrum für
Schwerionenforschung GmbH in support of physics research related to heavy ion
studies. Each of the 160 ASUS ESC4000 G2S nodes1 of the new L-CSC
cluster include four AMD FirePro S9150 server GPUs, for a total GPU peak of
3.25 petaFLOPS single precision and 1.62 petaFLOPS double precision
performance. The cluster is enabling Lattice Quantum Chromo Dynamics (Lattice
QCD) computational research using one of the fastest OpenCL™ implementations
for research applications in the world. Lattice QCD calculations are applicable
to a range of studies in high energy and heavy ion physics.
“AMD is proud to collaborate with ASUS, the
Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies, (FIAS) and GSI to support such
important physics and computer science research,” said David Cummings, senior
director and general manager, professional graphics, AMD. “This installation
reaffirms AMD’s leading role in HPC with the implementation of the AMD FirePro
S9150 server GPUs in this three petaFLOPS supercomputer cluster. AMD and ASUS
are enabling OpenCL™ applications for critical science research usage for this
cluster. We’re committed to building our HPC leadership position in the
industry as a foremost provider of computing applications, tools and
technologies.”
“We had excellent cooperation with ASUS and
AMD to make this project happen in such a short timeframe,” said Professor
Doctor Volker Lindenstruth, professor at Goethe University of Frankfurt and chairman of Frankfurt Institute for
Advanced Studies. “The ASUS ESC4000 G2S servers and the AMD FirePro S9150 GPUs
are an extremely powerful basis for the L-CSC cluster and they provide the
compute capabilities we need for our research. The large 16GB of memory of the
AMD FirePro S9150 server GPUs allows us to run most LQCD computations on one
GPU without inter-GPU and inter-node communication resulting in very efficient
LQCD application operation. We have chosen a multi-GPU approach with four GPU
boards per server to enable an extremely cost-efficient and energy-efficient
configuration.”
“ASUS is passionate
about the HPC field, in the same way that AMD is dedicated to delivering
extreme-performance GPU solutions. Together, ASUS and AMD have reached a new
level with the GSI project, revealing the true power of ASUS ESC4000 G2S GPU
servers and AMD FirePro S9150 GPUs,” said Tom Lin, ASUS General Manager. “We’re
proud to offer our customers solutions that deliver unparalleled performance
and utmost energy efficiency. There is no doubt that our joint GSI project
delivers top-tier performance for critical HPC applications.”
GSI (Gesellschaft für
Schwerionenforschung), located in Darmstadt, Germany, is a research facility
for heavy ion research including cancer therapy. The compute cluster was
designed and built in conjunction with FIAS, a research institute for physics,
neuro science, life science, and computer science. Within the next few years,
GSI will build FAIR (Facility for Anti-Proton and Heavy-Ion Research), a new
particle accelerator and detector facility. Researchers from around the world
use this facility for experiments that help them make fascinating research
discoveries.
High energy physics
experiments, such as at GSI, need huge compute farms for simulations. The L-CSC
cluster is aimed at QCD computations, which require extremely high memory
bandwidth. The implementation of the Lattice QCD algorithm was developed at
FIAS using an OpenCL™ based implementation for portability and flexibility.
AMD is exhibiting with
AMD FirePro S9150 server GPUs and AMD server technologies at SC ’14 in New
Orleans Ernest Memorial Convention Center booth #839 from November 17 to 20.
