Comparing the Performance of Blue Gene/Q with Leading Cray XE6 and InfiniBand Systems

Conference · Mon Jan 21 04:00:00 EST 2013

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/ICPADS.2012.81· OSTI ID:1089075

Kerbyson, Darren J.; Barker, Kevin J.; Vishnu, Abhinav; Hoisie, Adolfy

Abstract—Three types of systems dominate the current High Performance Computing landscape: the Cray XE6, the IBM Blue Gene, and commodity clusters using InfiniBand. These systems have quite different characteristics making the choice for a particular deployment difficult. The XE6 uses Cray’s proprietary Gemini 3-D torus interconnect with two nodes at each network endpoint. The latest IBM Blue Gene/Q uses a single socket integrating processor and communication in a 5-D torus network. InfiniBand provides the flexibility of using nodes from many vendors connected in many possible topologies. The performance characteristics of each vary vastly along with their utilization model. In this work we compare the performance of these three systems using a combination of micro-benchmarks and a set of production applications. In particular we discuss the causes of variability in performance across the systems and also quantify where performance is lost using a combination of measurements and models. Our results show that significant performance can be lost in normal production operation of the Cray XT6 and InfiniBand Clusters in comparison to Blue Gene/Q.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (US)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 1089075
• Report Number(s): PNNL-SA-91632; KJ0403000
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

-High Performance Computing
Performance Evaluation
Performance Modeling
Application Analysis