Message boards :
Number crunching :
Forget the GPU, time for Knights Corner.
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Grant (SSSF) Send message Joined: 19 Aug 99 Posts: 13733 Credit: 208,696,464 RAC: 304 |
In 1997 1 Teraflop of computing power required 9,298 PII Xeon systems. In 2011 it can be done with one chip. "Intel says that its MIC architecture benefits from the ability to run existing applications without the need to port the code to a new programming environment." Knights Corner Grant Darwin NT |
Treasurer Send message Joined: 13 Dec 05 Posts: 109 Credit: 1,569,762 RAC: 0 |
Correct me, but isnt something you put in a PCIe slot and capable of 1TF called a HD4850? At least thats what my BOINC says after every start. |
jason_gee Send message Joined: 24 Nov 06 Posts: 7489 Credit: 91,093,184 RAC: 0 |
Correct me, but isnt something you put in a PCIe slot and capable of 1TF called a HD4850? At least thats what my BOINC says after every start. The key difference vaguely mentioned in the article is they are talking double precision. My understanding is that both the nVidia & AMD/ATI Flops shown at Boinc startup are estimates of single precision peak flops, whereas the article also suggests sustained throughput (rather than peak theoretical) as well. Jason "Living by the wisdom of computer science doesn't sound so bad after all. And unlike most advice, it's backed up by proofs." -- Algorithms to live by: The computer science of human decisions. |
Treasurer Send message Joined: 13 Dec 05 Posts: 109 Credit: 1,569,762 RAC: 0 |
Ok than maybe the HD5970(2× 464 DP) or HD6990(2× 637,5 DP) is more likely to beat this chip. Or are that also "only" peaks? |
Grant (SSSF) Send message Joined: 19 Aug 99 Posts: 13733 Credit: 208,696,464 RAC: 304 |
Unlike present GPUs which only have the one processing core, the Knights Corner is (initially) a 50 core device. I'd be interested to see an article on it's actual architecture- i supsect it's a result of Intels's Larrabee project. Instead of it being used for graphics, they put it towards number crunching instead. Grant Darwin NT |
jason_gee Send message Joined: 24 Nov 06 Posts: 7489 Credit: 91,093,184 RAC: 0 |
Ok than maybe the HD5970(2× 464 DP) or HD6990(2× 637,5 DP) is more likely to beat this chip. Or are that also "only" peaks? My understanding of the formula used in all cases is 'Peak theoretical', which can also be called 'Marketing Flops'. Of course whether the article's claims of sustained TeraFlop performance pan out to a similar sortof artificial number remains to be seen... I'd envisage a number of practical problems related to the speed of memory subsystems etc. Jason. "Living by the wisdom of computer science doesn't sound so bad after all. And unlike most advice, it's backed up by proofs." -- Algorithms to live by: The computer science of human decisions. |
P. Coutsos Send message Joined: 30 Sep 06 Posts: 19 Credit: 42,756,138 RAC: 26 |
Have you seen the picture of the Intel-Guy (Dr. Rajeeb Hazra), where he holds the thing? Can you imagine how much power this device will consume? I guess it is 600W+... |
jason_gee Send message Joined: 24 Nov 06 Posts: 7489 Credit: 91,093,184 RAC: 0 |
Have you seen the picture of the Intel-Guy (Dr. Rajeeb Hazra), where he holds the thing? Can you imagine how much power this device will consume? I guess it is 600W+... I was thinking either that's a very big Chip, or a very small man, LoL. 22nM tri-gate is supposed to be relatively cool & efficient, will be interesting to see. I also still doubt they would have fit it into the regular desktop 95 or 135 Watt TDP envelope though. Jason "Living by the wisdom of computer science doesn't sound so bad after all. And unlike most advice, it's backed up by proofs." -- Algorithms to live by: The computer science of human decisions. |
Team kizb Send message Joined: 8 Mar 01 Posts: 219 Credit: 3,709,162 RAC: 0 |
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HAL9000 Send message Joined: 11 Sep 99 Posts: 6534 Credit: 196,805,888 RAC: 57 |
I have been wanting "co-processors" to stick in my computer for the past 15 years. All I have to say is that "it is about freaking time". GPU computing is good, but why haven't they made generalized "compute" boards. Where they could strip off all of the video things that you don't need to processing data. The previous generation of this they showed off was "Knight's Ferry" which had 32 cores and ran 128 threads. IIRC it sucked up around 250-300w. So you would need 2 8 pin PICe connectors for one of those cards. I'm not sure if it was using older 40 or 32nm tech. so the new one might use less power today. This also seems like what they were doing with the GPU they were making a few years ago. Where they just shoved a bunch of low power x86 cores into a single chip. SETI@home classic workunits: 93,865 CPU time: 863,447 hours Join the [url=http://tinyurl.com/8y46zvu]BP6/VP6 User Group[ |
Brkovip Send message Joined: 18 May 99 Posts: 274 Credit: 144,414,367 RAC: 0 |
So is this somthing that we'll be able to put in our PC in a couple years? If you can afford it. It might cost as much as your house when it comes out. |
MarkJ Send message Joined: 17 Feb 08 Posts: 1139 Credit: 80,854,192 RAC: 5 |
I wonder if they will release it as a PCIe card? We could stuff these in a machine instead of a bunch of GPU's. Does it support AVX? :-) Some stuff from intel.com... Standard programming models BOINC blog |
.clair. Send message Joined: 4 Nov 04 Posts: 1300 Credit: 55,390,408 RAC: 69 |
Also on Rosetta@home number crunching thread Intel unveils 1 teraflop chip with 50-plus cores And two links from that thread :- http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/technologybrierdudleysblog/2016775145_wow_intel_unveils_1_teraflop_c.html http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/cpu/display/20111115163857_Intel_Shows_Off_Knights_Corner_MIC_Compute_Accelerator.html The slides from the presentation give an idea of its low power consumption. And may be available next year to those with a very fat wallet . . . |
MarkJ Send message Joined: 17 Feb 08 Posts: 1139 Credit: 80,854,192 RAC: 5 |
Here is another link with pictures. You'd sweare thats a nvidia reference card they are holding. Apparently the demo ones are based on 40nm chips and yes its a PCIe card. We'd have to ask Intel if they could make one available for Jason so he can start coding :-) I wonder what nvidia are going to do to respond? While their cards have great single-precision capabilities, they might try and increase the double-precision on upcoming chips. Not too sure what they can do about the programming model though. |
Wembley Send message Joined: 16 Sep 09 Posts: 429 Credit: 1,844,293 RAC: 0 |
Does this make you drool? :p We may be obsolete soon. If the SETI lab had one or two of these in the server closet they could probably crunch all the WU's themselves without wasting all this bandwidth by sending the WU's to us. Who wants to start the fund drive? |
zoom3+1=4 Send message Joined: 30 Nov 03 Posts: 65740 Credit: 55,293,173 RAC: 49 |
Heck what are those 8 cards? Any specs? The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's |
MarkJ Send message Joined: 17 Feb 08 Posts: 1139 Credit: 80,854,192 RAC: 5 |
Heck what are those 8 cards? From what I gather 50 core x86 cards running at 1.8Ghz based on 40nm fabrication. The promised release ones are meant to be 80 core based upon 22nm fabrication. |
.clair. Send message Joined: 4 Nov 04 Posts: 1300 Credit: 55,390,408 RAC: 69 |
Heck what are those 8 cards? Thinking about what a tesla card cost`s, One thing is certain, they will put a big hole in anyone`s credit card. and that setup must be on a PCIe expansion board, which cost a fair bit, There is a heck of a lot of dollars worth in that photo. |
zoom3+1=4 Send message Joined: 30 Nov 03 Posts: 65740 Credit: 55,293,173 RAC: 49 |
Heck what are those 8 cards? Oh yeah, that's sounds about right, the pic has unobtainium in It, I guess, for Me at least. But I have more important problems right now... The T1 Trust, PRR T1 Class 4-4-4-4 #5550, 1 of America's First HST's |
HAL9000 Send message Joined: 11 Sep 99 Posts: 6534 Credit: 196,805,888 RAC: 57 |
Heck what are those 8 cards? Looks like each one of those boars has an 8pin and a 6pin going to it. For at least 225w to each card, or 1800w of 12v goodness. The next question is who makes that power configuration/chassis. Could be a custom Intel job for show, but it is a good setup for the massive GPU guys as well. Edit: Here is the whole article where that image came from. http://www.thinq.co.uk/2011/6/20/intel-pushes-hpc-space-knights-corner SETI@home classic workunits: 93,865 CPU time: 863,447 hours Join the [url=http://tinyurl.com/8y46zvu]BP6/VP6 User Group[ |
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