Super Computer
Definition: A supercomputer is the fastest computer in the world that can process a significant amount of data very quickly. The computing Performance of a “supercomputer” is measured very high as compared to a general purpose computer. The computing Performance of a supercomputer is measured in FLOPS (that is floating-point operations per second) instead of MIPS. The supercomputer consists of tens of thousands of processors which can perform billions and trillions of calculations per second.
They have evolved from grid to cluster system of massive parallel computing. Cluster system computing means that machine uses multiple processors in one system instead of arrays of separate computers in a network.
These computers are most massive concerning size. A most powerful supercomputer can few feet to hundreds of feet. The supercomputer price is very high, and they can vary from 2 lakh dollar to over 100 million dollars.
Characteristics of Supercomputer
• They can support more than a hundred users at a time.
• These machines are capable of handling the massive amount of calculations that are beyond the human capabilities, the human is unable to solve such extensive calculations.
• These are the most expensive computers that can ever be made.
Features of Supercomputer
• They have more than 1 CPU (Central Processing Unit) which contains instructions so that it can interpret instructions and execute arithmetic and logical operations.
• The supercomputer can support extremely high computation speed of CPUs.
• They can operate on pairs of lists of numbers instead of pairs of numbers.
• They were used initially in applications related to national security, nuclear weapon design, and cryptography. But nowadays they are also employed by the aerospace, automotive and petroleum industries.
Uses of Supercomputer
• Supercomputers are not used for everyday tasks because of their superiority.
• Supercomputer handles those applications, which required the real-time processing. The uses are as follows:
• They’re used for scientific simulations and research such as weather forecasting, meteorology, nuclear energy research, physics, and chemistry, as well as for extremely complex animated graphics. They are also used to interpret new diseases and predict illness behavior and treatment.
• The military uses supercomputers for testing new air crafts, tanks, and weapons. They also use them to understand the effect on soldiers and wars. These machines are also used for encrypting the data.
• Scientists use them to test the impact of nuclear weapon detonation.
• Hollywood uses supercomputers for the creation of animations.
• In entertainment, supercomputers are used for online gaming.
Supercomputers help in stabilizing the game performance when a lot of users are playing the game.
Advantages of a supercomputer:
1. This supercomputer can easily decrypt your password for your security purpose.
2. It may save money.
3. It can be used for R&D.
4. More organizations use this computer part-time.
5. The supercomputer has the superb power of reading the animation in an excellent result.
6. A Supercomputer solves bigger problems.
7. It runs more problems in a shorter time.
8. This allows for virtual testing.
9. Protecting the environment.
10. It has the advance graphic capability.
Disadvantages of a supercomputer:
1. It can be expensive.
2. It requires trained staff.
3. This computer does not replace physical testing.
4. Takes up a lot of space.
5. The bandwidth of data does not synchronize with the device’s hard drive storage. So the speed processing is too much disturbed.
6. May only be good for specific applications.
7. High power requirement
8. They heat up quickly, due to a large number of
processors as well as the load on devices.
9. In this device, the major issue of heat-up problems,
So Most of the devices get damaged quickly.
10. Supercomputers need water cooling in addition to
an A/C system, it produces more heat during the
processing time.
11. It requires more maintenance.
12. It is not useful for broad applications.
13. Need massive external storage for huge data.
14. A supercomputer requires a lot of electricity to run. A supercomputer like a summit can consume energy equal to 5000 houses.
Examples:-
Year | Supercomputer | Peak speed (Rmax) | Location |
2021 | Sunway Oceanlite | 1.05 exaFLOPS (unofficial) | Qingdao, China |
2021 | Fujitsu Fugaku | 442 PFLOPS | Kobe, Japan |
2018 | IBM Summit | 148.6 PFLOPS | Oak Ridge, Tenn. |
2018 | IBM Sierra | 94.6 PFLOPS | Livermore, Calif. |
2016 | Sunway TaihuLight | 93.01 PFLOPS | Wuxi, China |
2013 | NUDT Tianhe-2 | 33.86 PFLOPS | Guangzhou, China |
2012 | Cray Titan | 17.59 PFLOPS | Oak Ridge, Tenn. |
2012 | IBM Sequoia | 17.17 PFLOPS | Livermore, Calif. |
2011 | Fujitsu K computer | 10.51 PFLOPS | Kobe, Japan |
2010 | NUDT Tianhe-1A | 2.566 PFLOPS | Tianjin, China |
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