Cluster Challenge at SC07

Did you know that a small cluster today (less than 1/2 rack) would top the Top500 list from just ten years ago? The computational power that is easily within reach today significantly surpasses that available only to the national labs from that time.

The SC07 Cluster Challenge showcases the significance of this and highlights how accessible clusters are to anyone today. In this Challenge, teams of undergraduate students will assemble a small cluster on the Exhibit floor and run benchmarks & applications selected by industry and HPC veterans.

During SC07 in Reno, teams will assemble, test and tune their machines until the green flag drops on Monday night as the Exhibit Opening Gala is winding down. The race now begins and teams are given data sets for the contest. With CPUs roaring, teams will be off to analyze and optimize the workload to achieve maximum points over the next two days.

During SC07 in Reno, teams will assemble, test and tune their machines until the green flag drops on Monday night as the Exhibit Opening Gala is winding down. The race now begins and teams are given data sets for the contest. With CPUs roaring, teams will be off to analyze and optimize the workload to achieve maximum points over the next two days.

In full view of conference attendees, teams will execute the prescribed workload while showing progress and science visualization output on large displays in their areas. As they race to the finish, the team with the most points will earn the checkered flag – presented at the awards ceremony on Thursday.

After the checkered flag drops, teams are invited to partake in the side-show, where they can spin their wheels and show off what they’ve learned and what they can do with the equipment. There are no rules, just curiosity as visitors will be looking for activities that defy gravity, solve the Ramsey number problem or perhaps even reverse global warming.

Clusters are to be provided by the team and must consist of a single full-height 19” rack. A monitoring power strip will be available into which all components of the cluster must be plugged. A single 30 amp, 110 volt circuit will be provided with a soft cap at 26 amps. Alarms will be sent electronically if power draw exceeds this amount and penalties may be assessed for excess draw.

The benchmarks will be familiar to the students:

• High Performance Computing Challenge (HPCChallenge): a well-known set of benchmarks among cluster developers.
• General Atomic and Molecular Electronic Structure System (GAMESS): a useful package for predicting the properties of polymers and other complex chemical substances.
• The Parallel Ocean Program (POP): A system for determing some of the effects of climate.
• The Persistence of Vision Raytracer (POV-Ray): a famous program that produces realistic lighting effects in three-dimensional scenes.

For more information, check the SC07 website.