jsh@tut.fi (Helin Jukka) (01/03/89)
Minisupers multi-user systems? ------------------------------ We are buing a Unix-minisupercomputer at Tampere University of Technology in Finland and we have tested several computers for analyzing the performance of these machines. The tested machines are Alliant FX/80, Ardent Titan, Convex C2, ETA-10P, FPS-500 (Celerity 6000) and Stellar GS1000. Considering the prices and performances for the systems Ardent Titan seems to be most cost-effective in our computing environment. However, we (or actually the manufacturer) have run all our these tests in single-user environment. Does anyone know how how well Titan or any of these systems support multiple users (both interactive and batch)? We are looking for a system for 10-30 users (jobs). What about the reliability of the hardware? And the quality of the software (compilers etc.)? Because the following performance figures might interest someone, I have compiled them below. Does anyone have same kind of figures? A more complete report will be available in short time for anyone who is interested. Thanks in advance, Jukka Helin Tampere University of Technology Computing Center P.O.Box 527 SF-33101 Tampere, FINLAND tel. +358-31-162388 telefax +358-31-162620 Internet: helin@rapola.tut.fi Bitnet: HELIN@FINTUTA uucp: helin@tut.uucp ...mcvax!tut!helin ---------------------------------------------------------------------- We have weighted 11 test programs according to the predicted computing environment which we will have here, that is: - 4% program development - 32% scalar floating point computing - 60% vector floating point computing - 4% I/O Using different weights for test programs we have been able to compile the following table: Computer Prog. Scalar Vector I/O Overall devel. fp fp perf. perf. perf. perf. perf. Alliant FX/80 0.33 1.18 3.06 1.63 2.01 Ardent Titan 0.96 1.01 8.14 0.49 3.42 Convex C220 (1 0.89 2.55 15.57 0.79 6.91 Convex C220 (2 0.89 2.55 15.57 11.64 7.69 ETA-10P 0.21 1.02 35.91 0.31 7.74 FPS-500 0.80 2.34 17.14 1.22 7.22 Stellar GS1030 0.48 0.95 6.41 1.96 3.00 (VAX 8700 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 ) 1) files created on the disks (I/O tests) 2) files created in the main memory (I/O tests) Table 1. Program development, scalar floating point, vector floating point, I/O and overall performances for single processors. All the speeds have been normalized to the speed of VAX 8700. Assuming that there are no bottlenecks in a multiprocessor system, we can also compute the overall performances for multiprocessor systems. We simply assume a linear speedup for throughput when we add more processors. In the following table we have listed some multiprocessor configurations: Computer system # of Perf./ Overall proc. proc. perf. Convex C240 4 6.9 27.6 Convex C230 3 6.9 20.7 Alliant FX/80 8 2.0 16.0 ETA-10P2 2 7.7 15.4 FPS-500 2 7.2 14.4 Convex C220 2 6.9 13.8 Ardent Titan-4 4 3.4 13.6 Alliant FX/80 6 2.0 12.0 Alliant FX/80 4 2.0 8.0 ETA-10P1 1 7.7 7.7 FPS-500 1 7.2 7.2 Convex C210 1 6.9 6.9 Ardent Titan-2 2 3.4 6.8 Alliant FX/80 2 2.0 4.0 Stellar GS1030 1 3.0 3.0 (VAX 8700 1 1.0 1.0 ) Table 2. Overall performances for some systems. ---