CSIRO supercomputer is Australia’s ‘greenest’

CSIRO’s graphics processing unit (GPU) cluster is Australia’s ‘greenest’ supercomputer, ranking 11th on an internationally recognised list of the world’s 500 fastest and most energy-efficient supercomputers - the Green500 List.

Announced recently at the international SC10 supercomputing conference in New Orleans, the Green500 List is a ranking of the Top 500 supercomputers by energy efficiency (performance speed per watt of energy consumed). It highlights the growing power consumption of computers and encourages owners to reduce their carbon footprint by using technology that improves energy efficiency.

CSIRO’s GPU cluster performed the Linpack benchmark at 52.55 Teraflops in double precision, with an energy efficiency of 555.5 MegaFlops/W.

“We are delighted to near the top of the Green500 List,” said Group Executive Information Sciences CSIRO, Dr Alex Zelinsky. “GPU computing really fits well with our e-Research strategy and has proven to be a great success for CSIRO over the past year.”

CSIRO stated that GPU-based supercomputers are twice as energy efficient as regular CPU supercomputers, completing calculations around 10 to 100 times faster than CPUs. GPUs are also much cheaper to purchase and occupy half the rack space, which reduces cooling and data centre costs.

CSIRO’s Computational and Simulation Science leader, Dr John Taylor, said energy efficiency and value for money were big drawcards for CSIRO: “We were able to build a faster, greener supercomputer at a fraction of the cost using GPUs. We’re solving big national research problems at CSIRO, particularly in climate and environmental science, so it’s important that we walk the talk when it comes to sustainability.”