Quiz 1

What are the four reasons for performance degradation according to the accronym SLOW?

Maximum rate at which operations can be accomplished theoretically by the hardware resources of a supercomputer
Actual or real performance achieved by a supercomputer system in the performance of an application program
Sustained performance is considered a better indicator of the true value of a supercomputer than its specified peak performance
Peak performance is considered a better indicator of the true value of a supercomputer than its specified sustained performance
While sustained performance cannot exceed peak performance, it can be much less and often is.

Both the number of processors and the problem size are increased
Number of processors is increased while the problem size remains constant
Results in a reduced workload per processor
Results in a constant workload per processor
Mostly used for long-running CPU-bound
Mostly used for large memory-bound applications where the required memory cannot be satisfied by a single node.

What type of problem representatives are used for machine learning, fraud detection and security services?

What is the element that incorporates all the functional elements required for computation, and is highly replicated to achieve large scale in a supercomputer?

What type of problem representatives are used for Navier–Stokes equations, Black–Scholes equation and Weather prediction?

is a form of HPC assembled from commercially manufactured subsystems cluster “node” is a computer that can be directly employed individually as a PC.
Provides economy of scale to increase performance to cost dramatically compared to custom- designed MPPs of the same scale.
Examples are Touchstone Paragon (1994), the Thinking Machines Corporation CM-5 (1992), and the IBM SP-2

Stands for Floating-Point OperationS
is an addition or multiplication of two real (or floating-point) numbers
Stands for Floating-point operations per second
is an addition or multiplication of two integer numbers represented
We uses the greek prefixes kilo, mega, giga, tera, and peta to represent 1000, 1 million, 1 billion, 1 trillion, and 1 quadrillion

Historically supercomputers have been applied to science and engineering, and the methodology has been described as the “third pillar of science” alongside and complementing what other pillars?

Widely used supercomputer benchmark
Solves a set of linear equations in dense matrix form
Measures the rate at which the system can transpose a large array
Gives a means of comparative evaluation between two independent systems by measuring their respective times to perform the same calculation

The prediction that supercomputer performance would double every 5 years.
The hypothesis that device transistor density will double every decade.
The prediction by Intel’s Gordon Moore that device transistor density would increase by a factor of two every 2 years.
The law that all supercomputers should use Intel processors.
The guideline for assessing the efficiency of processors based on their energy consumption.

When assessing the performance of supercomputers using the Top 500 list, which benchmark is primarily used?

Sustained performance refers to the maximum rate theoretically possible by the hardware, while peak performance refers to the real-world application performance.
Sustained and peak performance are the same.
Sustained performance refers to the real-world application performance, while peak performance refers to the maximum rate theoretically possible by the hardware.
Peak performance is only relevant for supercomputers, while sustained performance is for personal computers.
Sustained performance is only achieved after a supercomputer has been operational for 5 years.

Which of the following is NOT a source of performance degradation in HPC systems?

With the potential end of Moore’s law in sight, which epoch of supercomputing evolution reflects a possible direction for HPC architecture?

Imagine you work for a company specializing in weather forecasting. The company’s predictions are crucial for several industries, like aviation and agriculture. To ensure accurate predictions, you rely on a supercomputer to process vast amounts of data. Which performance metric would you prioritize for real-time weather prediction?

Peak performance: the maximum rate that can be achieved theoretically by the hardware.
Sustained performance: the actual or real-world performance of the application.
Moore’s Law performance rate.
Performance as rated by the Top 500 list.
SIMD array evaluation speed.

A biomedical research institute is analyzing complex protein folding patterns. The process involves dense linear algebra calculations. To compare two supercomputers for potential acquisition, which benchmark would be the most relevant?

Von Neumann benchmark
SIMD performance metric
HPL or “Linpack” benchmark for dense linear algebra: a measure of a system’s floating-point computing power.
Moore’s performance rate
System stack throughput test

XYZ Corp., a leading AI research facility, just deployed a supercomputer. During initial testing, the system frequently suffers from delays and lags. As a troubleshooter, which source of performance degradation would you first investigate?

Starvation: a situation where a task is perpetually deprived of the resources or conditions it needs to proceed.
CPU brand compatibility
Moore’s law violation
The age of the machine
Vector processing alignment

BioTech Inc. is working on simulating the human brain. This project requires significant memory and processing power. Knowing that the company is going to require enhanced computational abilities soon, what would be a recommendation in light of Moore’s law?

Wait for two years before buying any new supercomputer.
Acquire multiple low-powered computers now.
Invest in a supercomputer with multicore petaflops architecture: a system with the ability to perform a large number of floating-point calculations simultaneously.
Focus on SIMD array systems.
Just upgrade the current software without changing the hardware.

The Oceanography Department of a university wants to model ocean currents to predict the spread of pollutants. They are looking at the Top 500 list to identify a suitable supercomputer. Why is this list relevant for their decision?

The list is updated biannually and ranks supercomputers based on a system’s floating-point computing power using the HPL or “Linpack” benchmark.
The list showcases the price of the top supercomputers.
It lists supercomputers based on their size and weight.
The list ranks computers according to Moore’s Law.
It shows the power consumption of each supercomputer.

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