Application-driven computers for Lattice Gauge

QPACE is a novel massively parallel architecture optimized for lattice QCD simulations. Each node comprises an IBM PowerXCell 8i processor. The nodes are interconnected by a custom 3-dimensional torus network implemented on an FPGA. The architecture was systematically optimized with respect to power consumption. This put QPACE in the number one spot on the Green500 List published in November 2009. In this paper we give an overview

QPACE is a novel parallel computer which has been developed to be primarily used for lattice QCD simulations. The compute power is provided by the IBM PowerXCell 8i processor, an enhanced version of the Cell processor that is used in the Playstation 3. The QPACE nodes are interconnected by a custom, application optimized 3-dimensional torus network implemented on an FPGA. To achieve the very high packaging density of 26 TFlops per rack a new water cooling concept has been developed and successfully realized. In this paper we give an overview of the architecture and highlight some important technical details of the system. Furthermore, we provide initial performance results and report on the installation of 8 QPACE racks providing an aggregate peak performance of 200 TFlops.

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