All Topics  
NEC SX-6

 
NEC SX 6

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

NEC SX-6
 
 
  Topics NEC SX-6 Topic Home

The SX-6 is a supercomputer
Supercomputer

A supercomputer is a computer that is at the frontline of current processing capacity, particularly speed of calculation. Supercomputers introduced in the 1960s were designed primarily by Seymour Cray at Control Data Corporation , and led the market into the 1970s until Cray left to form his own company, Cray Research....
 built by NEC Corporation that debuted in 2001; the SX-6 was sold under license by Cray Inc. in the U.S. Each SX-6 single-node
Node (networking)

In communication networks, a node is an active electronic device that is attached to a network, and is capable of sending, receiving, or forwarding information over a communications channel....
 system contains up to eight vector processor
Vector processor

A vector processor, or array processor, is a Central processing unit design where the instruction set includes operations that can perform mathematical operations on multiple data elements simultaneously....
s, which share up to 64 GB of computer memory
Computer memory

Computer memory is usually meant to refer to the semiconductor technology that is used to store information in Electronics devices. Current primary computer memory makes use of integrated circuits consisting of silicon-based transistors....
. The SX-6 processor is a single chip implementation containing a vector processor
Vector processor

A vector processor, or array processor, is a Central processing unit design where the instruction set includes operations that can perform mathematical operations on multiple data elements simultaneously....
 unit and a scalar processor
Scalar processor

Scalar processors represent the simplest class of computer processors. A scalar processor processes one data item at a time . In a vector processor, by contrast, a single instruction operates simultaneously on multiple data items....
 fabricated in a 0.15 µm CMOS
CMOS

Complementary metal?oxide?semiconductor , is a major class of integrated circuits. CMOS technology is used in microprocessors, microcontrollers, Static Random Access Memory, and other digital logic circuits....
 process with copper interconnects
Copper-based chips

Copper-based chips are semiconductor integrated circuits, usually microprocessors, which use copper for interconnections. Since copper is a better conductor than aluminium, chips using this technology can have smaller metal components, and use less energy to pass electricity through them....
, whereas the SX-5 was a multi-chip implementation.

The vector processor is made up of eight vector pipeline units each with seventy-two 256-word vector registers.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'NEC SX-6'
Start a new discussion about 'NEC SX-6'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


The SX-6 is a supercomputer
Supercomputer

A supercomputer is a computer that is at the frontline of current processing capacity, particularly speed of calculation. Supercomputers introduced in the 1960s were designed primarily by Seymour Cray at Control Data Corporation , and led the market into the 1970s until Cray left to form his own company, Cray Research....
 built by NEC Corporation that debuted in 2001; the SX-6 was sold under license by Cray Inc. in the U.S. Each SX-6 single-node
Node (networking)

In communication networks, a node is an active electronic device that is attached to a network, and is capable of sending, receiving, or forwarding information over a communications channel....
 system contains up to eight vector processor
Vector processor

A vector processor, or array processor, is a Central processing unit design where the instruction set includes operations that can perform mathematical operations on multiple data elements simultaneously....
s, which share up to 64 GB of computer memory
Computer memory

Computer memory is usually meant to refer to the semiconductor technology that is used to store information in Electronics devices. Current primary computer memory makes use of integrated circuits consisting of silicon-based transistors....
. The SX-6 processor is a single chip implementation containing a vector processor
Vector processor

A vector processor, or array processor, is a Central processing unit design where the instruction set includes operations that can perform mathematical operations on multiple data elements simultaneously....
 unit and a scalar processor
Scalar processor

Scalar processors represent the simplest class of computer processors. A scalar processor processes one data item at a time . In a vector processor, by contrast, a single instruction operates simultaneously on multiple data items....
 fabricated in a 0.15 µm CMOS
CMOS

Complementary metal?oxide?semiconductor , is a major class of integrated circuits. CMOS technology is used in microprocessors, microcontrollers, Static Random Access Memory, and other digital logic circuits....
 process with copper interconnects
Copper-based chips

Copper-based chips are semiconductor integrated circuits, usually microprocessors, which use copper for interconnections. Since copper is a better conductor than aluminium, chips using this technology can have smaller metal components, and use less energy to pass electricity through them....
, whereas the SX-5 was a multi-chip implementation.

The vector processor is made up of eight vector pipeline units each with seventy-two 256-word vector registers. The vector unit performs add/shift, multiply, divide and logical operations. The scalar unit is 64 bits wide and contains a 64 KB cache
Cache

In computer science, a cache is a collection of data duplicating original values stored elsewhere or computed earlier, where the original data is expensive to fetch or to compute, compared to the cost of reading the cache....
. The scalar unit can decode, issue and complete four instructions per clock cycle. Branch prediction and speculative execution
Speculative execution

In computer science, speculative execution is the execution of Code , the result of which may not be needed. In the context of functional programming, the term "speculative evaluation" is used instead....
 is supported. A multi-node system is configured by interconnecting up to 128 single-node systems via a high-speed, low-latency IXS (Internode Crossbar Switch
Crossbar switch

A crossbar switch is a switch connecting multiple inputs to multiple outputs in a matrix manner.Originally the term was used literally, for a matrix switch controlled by a grid of crossing metal bars, and later was broadened to matrix switches in general....
).

The peak performance of the SX-6 series vector processors is 8 GFLOPS. Thus a single-node system provides a peak performance of 64 GFLOPS, while a multi-node system provides up to 8 TFLOPS of peak floating-point performance.

The SX-6 uses SUPER-UX
SUPER-UX

SUPER-UX, sometimes also annotated SuperUx or Super-UX, is the version of the Unix operating system that is used on NEC Corporation SX architecture supercomputers....
, a Unix-like
Unix-like

A Unix-like operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, while not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification....
 operating system
Operating system

An operating system is an interface between hardware and applications; it is responsible for the management and coordination of activities and the sharing of the limited resources of the computer....
 developed by NEC. A SAN-based global file system (NEC's GFS) is available for a multinode installation. The default batch processing
Batch processing

Batch processing is execution of a series of Computer programs on a computer without human interaction.Batch jobs are set up so they can be run to completion without human interaction, so all input data is preselected through Script s or command-line parameters....
 system is NQSII, but open source
Open source

Open source is an approach to design, development, and distribution offering practical accessibility to a product's source . Some consider open source as one of various possible design approaches, while others consider it a critical Strategy element of their business operations....
 batch systems such as Sun Grid Engine
Sun Grid Engine

Sun Grid Engine , previously known as CODINE or GRD , is an open source batch-queuing system, developed and supported by Sun Microsystems....
 are also supported.

See also

  • Earth Simulator
    Earth Simulator

    The Earth Simulator was the fastest supercomputer in the world from 2002 to 2004. The system was developed for Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute, and Japan Marine Science and Technology Center in 1997 for running global climate models to evaluate the effects of global warming and problems in solid ear...
  • NEC SX-8
  • NEC SX-9
    NEC SX-9

    The SX-9 is a supercomputer built by NEC Corporation. The SX-9 Series implements an Symmetric multiprocessing system in a compact node module and uses an enhanced version of the single chip vector processor that was introduced with the NEC SX-6....


External links