Interpreting parallel processor performance measurements

Journal Article · Sun Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 1987 · SIAM J. Sci. Stat. Comput.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1137/0908022· OSTI ID:6560626

Jordan, H F

This paper discusses execution time versus number of simultaneous operations in parallel computing systems. The main focus is on shared memory multiprocessors. A model for execution time as a function of the number of processes used in a computation is developed. The model addresses the effect of sequential code, code which can be executed by only a limited number of processes, hardware limits to speedup, critical section synchronization overhead and the influence of task granularity. The model is shown to correspond very closely to experimental measurements of execution time on the HEP pipelined, shared memory multiprocessor. Use of the model as an analysis tool in complex parallel programs is indicated.

• Research Organization: Computer Science Dept., Indiana Univ., Bloomington, IN
• OSTI ID: 6560626
• Journal Information: SIAM J. Sci. Stat. Comput.; (United States), Journal Name: SIAM J. Sci. Stat. Comput.; (United States) Vol. 8:2; ISSN SIJCD
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
990210* -- Supercomputers-- (1987-1989)
ARRAY PROCESSORS
COMPUTER ARCHITECTURE
COMPUTER CODES
COMPUTERS
DATA-FLOW PROCESSING
DIGITAL COMPUTERS
EXECUTIVE CODES
MEMORY DEVICES
PARALLEL PROCESSING
PERFORMANCE
PROGRAMMING
SUPERCOMPUTERS
SYNCHRONIZATION
TIME DEPENDENCE
TIME MEASUREMENT