Cray Adds GPU Powerhouse to CS Supercomputer Lot

By Nicole Hemsoth

August 26, 2014

The CS family of Cray systems was graced with a new addition today with the arrival of a dense, memory-loaded GPU offering that adds big acceleration to select HPC workloads.

The new CS-Storm, which offers up to 8 NVIDIA K40s per 2U server and a peak performance of 11 teraflops per Ivy Bridge-outfitted node, is set to push key applications that require more GPU scalability to new heights.

The system, which is based on the Cray CS300 super, is designed to keep the accelerators cool enough to operate at full speed. The 48U standard rack can accommodate 22 of the 2U nodes, which means that with 2 Ivy Bridges and the GPUs, users are looking at around 250 teraflops per rack or a petaflop of performance for a 4-cabinet purchase. Cray’s Barry Bolding told us that the company will release more information on future Intel generations for the host processor.

It’s not just about adding GPUs into the dense mix with this system, however. Cray has tuned the GPU workloads they’re targeting for maximum bandwidth and accelerator performance on the cooling and data movement fronts with a couple of notable features.

While these are air-cooled systems, as the graphic below shows, the emphasis is on cooling through front to back airflow to keep the GPUs humming without overheating or without having to run them at reduced wattage. In addition to airflow, this allows for expandability options since it will be possible to add future generations of accelerators into the box while still allowing the desired density and the ability to cool all 8 of the GPUs at the same time.

crayconfig

 

As you can see, these are also outfitted with more memory than the CS systems and features bandwidth-maximizing for these applications via the centered mothered with 2 CPUs and 4 GPUs on either side of the 2U configuration. Again, this aids in cooling and expandability but also note how they are running the PCI off each side of both sockets, which means they can run these through a PCI switch and split the PCI Gen 3s into 8s to run them at full bandwidth. While this isn’t a novel design necessarily, for the purposes of a system like this, it’s required.

csarch

“We’ve seen a number of customer requirements in the energy, high frequency trading, and government sectors as well as for a number of different use cases,” said Bolding. He pointed to other areas that are feeding demand for high-density GPU systems, including machine learning, seismic processing, and image processing.

Although pressed for a sense of pricing on the new CS-Storm supercomputer system, Bolding merely said that these are in early manufacturing and production and will be available for limited shipping immediately with volume shipping in Q4 of this year. He said that when compared to their CS system line in general, the GPUs will add to the cost of any configuration—meaning these are likely about the same cost of the air-cooled CS line, with the addition of the GPUs since aside from this addition and some of the software additions (OpenACC support and other GPU-based features) there isn’t a lot of custom engineering cooked in.

On that note, Cray is using essentially the same software environment one would expect with a CS300, but there are libraries that are GPU accelerated with adapted runtimes that will allow for GPU acceleration. While it’s not shown, as one would expect, they are carrying compilers that are OpenACC optimized and also supporting the expected Intel and NVIDIA software required for running accelerated workloads.

When Cray sets about designing a new product for a larger set of users, the company evaluates demand potential based on customer conversations and market data. Bolding says this is not a one-customer or custom designed product and that GPUs are a mature offering that is pushing customers to look to larger, more powerful accelerated systems now that they’ve had success with adding GPU nodes and tuning their applications.

“The CS family is a market-driven one, but it’s flexible, which means we can quickly design new form factor boards and server units. What we’ve seen is a growing demand for 8 GPUs and internally, we ran a business case on how big we think that market is see if it justified the development of a new offering,” said Bolding.

“This one was relatively new as a design,” he continued, “it was not in our portfolio before but we thought we could combine the hardware and software better than the competition.”

“Adding a GPU-dense, air-cooled option to the already-extensive lineup of Cray’s CS300 offerings will further expand the market for this standards-based cluster supercomputer product,” said Steve Conway, IDC research vice president for high performance computing. “IDC research showed that the proportion of sites employing accelerators and other coprocessors in their HPC systems jumped from 28.2 percent in 2011 to 76.9 percent in 2013, and GPUs are the clear leaders in this category. Cray has been on a roll, and ramped-up sales of its Cray CS300 line have helped.”

 

Subscribe to HPCwire's Weekly Update!

Be the most informed person in the room! Stay ahead of the tech trends with industry updates delivered to you every week!

Nvidia’s New Blackwell GPU Can Train AI Models with Trillions of Parameters

March 18, 2024

Nvidia's latest and fastest GPU, code-named Blackwell, is here and will underpin the company's AI plans this year. The chip offers performance improvements from its predecessors, including the red-hot H100 and A100 GPUs. Read more…

Nvidia Showcases Quantum Cloud, Expanding Quantum Portfolio at GTC24

March 18, 2024

Nvidia’s barrage of quantum news at GTC24 this week includes new products, signature collaborations, and a new Nvidia Quantum Cloud for quantum developers. While Nvidia may not spring to mind when thinking of the quant Read more…

2024 Winter Classic: Meet the HPE Mentors

March 18, 2024

The latest installment of the 2024 Winter Classic Studio Update Show features our interview with the HPE mentor team who introduced our student teams to the joys (and potential sorrows) of the HPL (LINPACK) and accompany Read more…

Houston We Have a Solution: Addressing the HPC and Tech Talent Gap

March 15, 2024

Generations of Houstonian teachers, counselors, and parents have either worked in the aerospace industry or know people who do - the prospect of entering the field was normalized for boys in 1969 when the Apollo 11 missi Read more…

Apple Buys DarwinAI Deepening its AI Push According to Report

March 14, 2024

Apple has purchased Canadian AI startup DarwinAI according to a Bloomberg report today. Apparently the deal was done early this year but still hasn’t been publicly announced according to the report. Apple is preparing Read more…

Survey of Rapid Training Methods for Neural Networks

March 14, 2024

Artificial neural networks are computing systems with interconnected layers that process and learn from data. During training, neural networks utilize optimization algorithms to iteratively refine their parameters until Read more…

Nvidia’s New Blackwell GPU Can Train AI Models with Trillions of Parameters

March 18, 2024

Nvidia's latest and fastest GPU, code-named Blackwell, is here and will underpin the company's AI plans this year. The chip offers performance improvements from Read more…

Nvidia Showcases Quantum Cloud, Expanding Quantum Portfolio at GTC24

March 18, 2024

Nvidia’s barrage of quantum news at GTC24 this week includes new products, signature collaborations, and a new Nvidia Quantum Cloud for quantum developers. Wh Read more…

Houston We Have a Solution: Addressing the HPC and Tech Talent Gap

March 15, 2024

Generations of Houstonian teachers, counselors, and parents have either worked in the aerospace industry or know people who do - the prospect of entering the fi Read more…

Survey of Rapid Training Methods for Neural Networks

March 14, 2024

Artificial neural networks are computing systems with interconnected layers that process and learn from data. During training, neural networks utilize optimizat Read more…

PASQAL Issues Roadmap to 10,000 Qubits in 2026 and Fault Tolerance in 2028

March 13, 2024

Paris-based PASQAL, a developer of neutral atom-based quantum computers, yesterday issued a roadmap for delivering systems with 10,000 physical qubits in 2026 a Read more…

India Is an AI Powerhouse Waiting to Happen, but Challenges Await

March 12, 2024

The Indian government is pushing full speed ahead to make the country an attractive technology base, especially in the hot fields of AI and semiconductors, but Read more…

Charles Tahan Exits National Quantum Coordination Office

March 12, 2024

(March 1, 2024) My first official day at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) was June 15, 2020, during the depths of the COVID-19 loc Read more…

AI Bias In the Spotlight On International Women’s Day

March 11, 2024

What impact does AI bias have on women and girls? What can people do to increase female participation in the AI field? These are some of the questions the tech Read more…

Alibaba Shuts Down its Quantum Computing Effort

November 30, 2023

In case you missed it, China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba has shut down its quantum computing research effort. It’s not entirely clear what drove the change. Read more…

Nvidia H100: Are 550,000 GPUs Enough for This Year?

August 17, 2023

The GPU Squeeze continues to place a premium on Nvidia H100 GPUs. In a recent Financial Times article, Nvidia reports that it expects to ship 550,000 of its lat Read more…

Analyst Panel Says Take the Quantum Computing Plunge Now…

November 27, 2023

Should you start exploring quantum computing? Yes, said a panel of analysts convened at Tabor Communications HPC and AI on Wall Street conference earlier this y Read more…

DoD Takes a Long View of Quantum Computing

December 19, 2023

Given the large sums tied to expensive weapon systems – think $100-million-plus per F-35 fighter – it’s easy to forget the U.S. Department of Defense is a Read more…

Shutterstock 1285747942

AMD’s Horsepower-packed MI300X GPU Beats Nvidia’s Upcoming H200

December 7, 2023

AMD and Nvidia are locked in an AI performance battle – much like the gaming GPU performance clash the companies have waged for decades. AMD has claimed it Read more…

Synopsys Eats Ansys: Does HPC Get Indigestion?

February 8, 2024

Recently, it was announced that Synopsys is buying HPC tool developer Ansys. Started in Pittsburgh, Pa., in 1970 as Swanson Analysis Systems, Inc. (SASI) by John Swanson (and eventually renamed), Ansys serves the CAE (Computer Aided Engineering)/multiphysics engineering simulation market. Read more…

Intel’s Server and PC Chip Development Will Blur After 2025

January 15, 2024

Intel's dealing with much more than chip rivals breathing down its neck; it is simultaneously integrating a bevy of new technologies such as chiplets, artificia Read more…

Baidu Exits Quantum, Closely Following Alibaba’s Earlier Move

January 5, 2024

Reuters reported this week that Baidu, China’s giant e-commerce and services provider, is exiting the quantum computing development arena. Reuters reported � Read more…

Leading Solution Providers

Contributors

Choosing the Right GPU for LLM Inference and Training

December 11, 2023

Accelerating the training and inference processes of deep learning models is crucial for unleashing their true potential and NVIDIA GPUs have emerged as a game- Read more…

Training of 1-Trillion Parameter Scientific AI Begins

November 13, 2023

A US national lab has started training a massive AI brain that could ultimately become the must-have computing resource for scientific researchers. Argonne N Read more…

Shutterstock 1179408610

Google Addresses the Mysteries of Its Hypercomputer 

December 28, 2023

When Google launched its Hypercomputer earlier this month (December 2023), the first reaction was, "Say what?" It turns out that the Hypercomputer is Google's t Read more…

Comparing NVIDIA A100 and NVIDIA L40S: Which GPU is Ideal for AI and Graphics-Intensive Workloads?

October 30, 2023

With long lead times for the NVIDIA H100 and A100 GPUs, many organizations are looking at the new NVIDIA L40S GPU, which it’s a new GPU optimized for AI and g Read more…

AMD MI3000A

How AMD May Get Across the CUDA Moat

October 5, 2023

When discussing GenAI, the term "GPU" almost always enters the conversation and the topic often moves toward performance and access. Interestingly, the word "GPU" is assumed to mean "Nvidia" products. (As an aside, the popular Nvidia hardware used in GenAI are not technically... Read more…

Shutterstock 1606064203

Meta’s Zuckerberg Puts Its AI Future in the Hands of 600,000 GPUs

January 25, 2024

In under two minutes, Meta's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, laid out the company's AI plans, which included a plan to build an artificial intelligence system with the eq Read more…

Google Introduces ‘Hypercomputer’ to Its AI Infrastructure

December 11, 2023

Google ran out of monikers to describe its new AI system released on December 7. Supercomputer perhaps wasn't an apt description, so it settled on Hypercomputer Read more…

China Is All In on a RISC-V Future

January 8, 2024

The state of RISC-V in China was discussed in a recent report released by the Jamestown Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank. The report, entitled "E Read more…

  • arrow
  • Click Here for More Headlines
  • arrow
HPCwire