Comments on: Intel Set to Leak More Info on Tukwila http://insidehpc.com/2008/02/04/intel-set-to-leak-more-info-on-tukwila/ HPC News Without the Noise for Supercomputing Professionals | insideHPC Sun, 19 May 2013 10:46:54 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.1 By: John Leidel http://insidehpc.com/2008/02/04/intel-set-to-leak-more-info-on-tukwila/#comment-33489 John Leidel Sun, 10 Feb 2008 19:48:07 +0000 http://insidehpc.com/2008/02/04/intel-set-to-leak-more-info-on-tukwila/#comment-33489 I partially agree with you Marek. I agree the choice to head down the Itanium road is application specific. However, I don't believe communication necessarily has anything to do with it. There are several communication-bound applications that perform as well or better in a distributed memory, x86 environment when utilizing high performance interconnects [IB]. On the other hand, Itaniums perform quite well when the applications analyst(s) fully understand how to utilize the positive aspects of the IA64 [ie, very large cache]. [See GFDL's FMS code] Either way, we can all agree that in most situations, `N` distributed memory x86 nodes are less costly than the same `N` Itanium nodes. Thanks for the comments! I partially agree with you Marek. I agree the choice to head down the Itanium road is application specific. However, I don’t believe communication necessarily has anything to do with it. There are several communication-bound applications that perform as well or better in a distributed memory, x86 environment when utilizing high performance interconnects [IB]. On the other hand, Itaniums perform quite well when the applications analyst(s) fully understand how to utilize the positive aspects of the IA64 [ie, very large cache]. [See GFDL's FMS code]
Either way, we can all agree that in most situations, `N` distributed memory x86 nodes are less costly than the same `N` Itanium nodes.
Thanks for the comments!

]]> By: clusteradmin.net http://insidehpc.com/2008/02/04/intel-set-to-leak-more-info-on-tukwila/#comment-33484 clusteradmin.net Sun, 10 Feb 2008 19:33:18 +0000 http://insidehpc.com/2008/02/04/intel-set-to-leak-more-info-on-tukwila/#comment-33484 Unless you run large distributed jobs with lots of communication (in which case you should consider getting a large SMP anyway) I suggest you make price/performance benchmarks of your applications before jumping on the new Itanium. Perhaps for the same X amount of money you can get way more nodes with slower cpus, but all together they will provide your cluster with higher throughput than a smaller number of nodes with top-shelf IA-64 on board. -marek -- <a href="clusteradmin.net" rel="nofollow">clusteradmin.net</a> :: a blog about building and administering clusters Unless you run large distributed jobs with lots of communication (in which case you should consider getting a large SMP anyway) I suggest you make price/performance benchmarks of your applications before jumping on the new Itanium.

Perhaps for the same X amount of money you can get way more nodes with slower cpus, but all together they will provide your cluster with higher throughput than a smaller number of nodes with top-shelf IA-64 on board.

-marek

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clusteradmin.net :: a blog about building and administering clusters

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