High-performance computing
saw a major jump in
performance this year with
the appearance of dual
quad-core platforms. This
technology provides an
ideal format for parallel processing and
virtual-machine support.
This year’s top-of-the-line system is
based on Intel’s Xeon 3-GHz, 64-bit
X5365 quad-core processor. A pair can
be found on Intel’s S5000XVN motherboard
(Fig. 1). The Xeon employs Intel’s
latest Virtualization Technology, which
reduces system overhead for virtualmachine
management (VMM) hypervisors
like Xen or VmWare. Software platforms
such as these are more common on
workstations, especially with developers.
The Xeon supports up to eight fully
buffered dual-inline memory modules
(DIMMs) with a capacity of 64 Gbytes
at a bandwidth of 21 Gbytes/s using a
1.33-GHz system bus. Each chip also has
8 Mbytes of L2 cache. The S5000XVN
motherboard, which uses the 5000X
chip set, has x4, x8, and x16 PCI
Express slots plus a pair of PCI-X slots.
An activation key enables optional sixport
SATA/SAS RAID support.
MULTICORE SOFTWARE
The
S5000XVN can handle a host of operating
systems and hypervisors, but it
requires applications to take advantage
of the multicore power. One way designers
can do this is to utilize Intel’s Thread
Building Blocks (TBB), which spawn a
thread for each core that serves a job
queue to handle array- and stream-oriented
applications.
TBB has even moved into the opensource
realm, now running on Windows,
Linux, FreeBSD, and Solaris operating
systems. Check out James Reinders’
book, Intel Threading Building Blocks,
to see how it works.
Another approach is to deliver
dataflow-like programming tools, as in
National Instruments’ LabVIEW. Lab-
VIEW 8.5 brings improved multicore
support and essentially hides the complexity
of a multicore target behind an
easy-to-use graphical environment.
HD VIDEO
AMD’s FireGL 8650 PCI
Express graphics adapter fills the
S5000XVN’s x16 PCI Express videoadapter
slot. It can handle large-screen
HDTVs like Viewsonic’s 37-in. N3752w
as well as high-resolution displays up to
9 Mpixels. This size and resolution are
necessary for high-end CAD and medical
applications.
This top-end solution packs 1 Gbyte
of memory with 320 shading processor
units. Also, it can drive a pair of DVI
outputs. The 512-bit ring bus controller
has a bandwidth of 108 Gbytes/s.
HIGH-CAPACITY STORAGE
Seagate’s
Barracuda 7200.11 utilizes perpendicular-
magnetic-recording (PMR) technology
to pack 1 Tbyte of data onto four
platters in a 3.5-in. hard drive (Fig. 2).
The drive has a 32-Mbyte cache and is
available with an ATA or 3-Gbit/s Serial
ATA (SATA) interface. It also has a sustained
data rate of 105 Mbits/s.
High-performance workstations normally
use multiple drives in a paired
RAID 1 configuration or, more often, in
a RAID 5 configuration. The 7200.11
drive incorporates a host of features,
such as adaptive flying height on the
read/write heads or the SoftSonic technology
to eliminate operational noise.
Seagate’s CleanSweep technology
addresses drive calibration.
Lite-On’s 2x LH-2B1S Blu-ray triple
writer handles 25-Gbyte Blu-ray media
at 2X speeds in addition to DVD and
CD media (Fig. 3). The need for speed
warrants its SATA interface. Its high
capacity makes it ideal for backup as
well as playback.
Check out the system built with these
and other components in "Best Computer of 2007".