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[[File:NEC SX-5 supercomputer.jpg|thumb|An SX-5 on display at the [[Australian Technology Park]]]]
[[File:NEC SX-5 supercomputer.jpg|thumb|An SX-5 on display at the [[Australian Technology Park]]]]


The '''SX series''' are [[Vector processor|vector]] [[supercomputer]]s designed, manufactured, and marketed by [[NEC]]. The first models, the SX-1 and SX-2, were announced in April 1983.<ref name="IPSJ-SX-1-2" /><ref name="1985-computer-physics" /><ref name="1987-parallel-computing" /> The SX-2 was the first computer to exceed 1 [[gigaflop]]s.<ref name="IPSJ-SX-1-2" /> The [[Earth Simulator]], built from [[SX-6]] nodes, was the fastest supercomputer from 2002 to 2004 on the [[LINPACK]] benchmark, achieving 35.86 [[TFLOPS]].{{citation-needed|date=August 2018}} The current model, as of 2018, is the [[SX-Aurora TSUBASA]].
The '''SX series''' are [[Vector processor|vector]] [[supercomputer]]s designed, manufactured, and marketed by [[NEC]]. The first models, the SX-1 and SX-2, were announced in April 1983.<ref name="IPSJ-SX-1-2" /><ref name="1985-computer-physics" /><ref name="1987-parallel-computing" /><ref name="1999-parallel-computing" /> The SX-2 was the first computer to exceed 1 [[gigaflop]]s.<ref name="IPSJ-SX-1-2" /> The [[Earth Simulator]], built from [[SX-6]] nodes, was the fastest supercomputer from 2002 to 2004 on the [[LINPACK]] benchmark, achieving 35.86 [[TFLOPS]].{{citation-needed|date=August 2018}} The current model, as of 2018, is the [[SX-Aurora TSUBASA]].


For his work on the SX series, [[Tadashi Watanabe]] received the [[Eckert–Mauchly Award]] in 1998 and the [[Seymour Cray Computer Engineering Award]] in 2006. Starting in 2001, [[Cray]] marketed the SX-5 and SX-6 exclusively in the US and non-exclusively elsewhere for a short time.
For his work on the SX series, [[Tadashi Watanabe]] received the [[Eckert–Mauchly Award]] in 1998 and the [[Seymour Cray Computer Engineering Award]] in 2006. Starting in 2001, [[Cray]] marketed the SX-5 and SX-6 exclusively in the US and non-exclusively elsewhere for a short time.
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! System !! Introduction !! Max. CPUs !! Peak CPU double precision [[GFLOPS]] !! Peak system GFLOPS !! Max. main memory !! System memory B/W (GB/s) !! Memory B/W per CPU (GB/s)
! System !! Introduction !! Max. CPUs !! Peak CPU double precision [[GFLOPS]] !! Peak system GFLOPS !! Max. main memory !! System memory B/W (GB/s) !! Memory B/W per CPU (GB/s)
|-
|-
| SX-1E<ref name="1987-parallel-computing" /> || || || || 285 Mflops || 128 [[Megabyte|MB]] || ||
| SX-1E<ref name="1987-parallel-computing" /><ref name="1999-parallel-computing" /> || || || || 0.325<ref name="1988-supercomputing" /> || 128 [[Megabyte|MB]] || ||
|-
|-
| SX-1<ref name="1987-parallel-computing" /> || 1983 || || || 570 Mflops || 256 MB || ||
| SX-1<ref name="1987-parallel-computing" /> || 1985<ref name="1999-parallel-computing" /> || || || 0.570<ref name="1999-parallel-computing" /> / 0.650<ref name="1988-supercomputing" /> || 256 MB || ||
|-
|-
| SX-2<ref name="1987-parallel-computing" /> || 1983 || 1 || 1.3 || 1.3 || 256 MB || 11 || 11
| SX-2<ref name="1987-parallel-computing" /> || 1985<ref name="1999-parallel-computing" /> || 1 || 1.3<ref name="1999-parallel-computing" /> || 1.3 || 256 MB<ref name="1999-parallel-computing" /> || 11 || 11
|-
|-
| SX-3 || 1989 || 4 || 5.5 || 22 || 2 [[Gigabyte|GB]] || 44 || 22
| SX-3 || 1989 || 4 || 5.5 || 22 || 2 [[Gigabyte|GB]] || 44 || 22
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<ref name="1987-parallel-computing">{{cite journal |last1=Watanabe |first1=Tadashi |title=Architecture and performance of NEC supercomputer SX system |journal=Parallel Computing |date=July 1987 |volume=5 |issue=1-2 |pages=247–255 |doi=10.1016/0167-8191(87)90021-4 |accessdate=24 August 2018}}</ref>
<ref name="1987-parallel-computing">{{cite journal |last1=Watanabe |first1=Tadashi |title=Architecture and performance of NEC supercomputer SX system |journal=Parallel Computing |date=July 1987 |volume=5 |issue=1-2 |pages=247–255 |doi=10.1016/0167-8191(87)90021-4 |accessdate=24 August 2018}}</ref>
<ref name="NEC-SX-Aurora-TSUBASA">{{Cite web|url=http://www.nec.com/en/global/solutions/hpc/sx/vector_engine.html|title=NEC SX-Aurora TSUBASA - Vector Engine|website=www.nec.com|language=en|access-date=2018-03-14}}</ref>
<ref name="NEC-SX-Aurora-TSUBASA">{{Cite web|url=http://www.nec.com/en/global/solutions/hpc/sx/vector_engine.html|title=NEC SX-Aurora TSUBASA - Vector Engine|website=www.nec.com|language=en|access-date=2018-03-14}}</ref>
<ref name="1999-parallel-computing">{{cite journal |last1=Oyanagi |first1=Yoshio |title=Development of supercomputers in Japan: Hardware and software |journal=Parallel Computing |date=December 1999 |volume=25 |issue=13-14 |pages=1545–1567 |doi=10.1016/S0167-8191(99)00084-8 |accessdate=24 August 2018}}</ref>
<ref name="1988-supercomputing">{{cite journal |last1=Dongarra |first1=Jack J. |title=The LINPACK Benchmark: An explanation |journal=Supercomputing |date=1988 |pages=456–474 |doi=10.1007/3-540-18991-2_27 |accessdate=24 August 2018}}</ref>
}}
}}


Revision as of 19:47, 24 August 2018

An SX-5 on display at the Australian Technology Park

The SX series are vector supercomputers designed, manufactured, and marketed by NEC. The first models, the SX-1 and SX-2, were announced in April 1983.[1][2][3][4] The SX-2 was the first computer to exceed 1 gigaflops.[1] The Earth Simulator, built from SX-6 nodes, was the fastest supercomputer from 2002 to 2004 on the LINPACK benchmark, achieving 35.86 TFLOPS.[citation needed] The current model, as of 2018, is the SX-Aurora TSUBASA.

For his work on the SX series, Tadashi Watanabe received the Eckert–Mauchly Award in 1998 and the Seymour Cray Computer Engineering Award in 2006. Starting in 2001, Cray marketed the SX-5 and SX-6 exclusively in the US and non-exclusively elsewhere for a short time.

SX Series systems

Since the SX-4, SX series supercomputers are constructed in a doubly parallel manner. A number of central processing units (CPUs) are arranged into a parallel vector processing node. These nodes are then installed in a regular SMP arrangement.

Single node SX systems
System Introduction Max. CPUs Peak CPU double precision GFLOPS Peak system GFLOPS Max. main memory System memory B/W (GB/s) Memory B/W per CPU (GB/s)
SX-1E[3][4] 0.325[5] 128 MB
SX-1[3] 1985[4] 0.570[4] / 0.650[5] 256 MB
SX-2[3] 1985[4] 1 1.3[4] 1.3 256 MB[4] 11 11
SX-3 1989 4 5.5 22 2 GB 44 22
SX-4 1994 32 2 64 16 GB 512 16
SX-5 1998 16 8 128 128 GB 1024 64
SX-6 2001 8 8 64 64 GB 256 32
SX-7 2002 32 8.83 282 256 GB 1129 35.3
SX-8 2004 8 16 128 128 GB 512 64
SX-8R 8 35.2 281.6 256 GB 563.2 70.4
SX-9 2007 16 102.4 1638 1 TB 4096 256
SX-ACE 2013 1 256 256 1 TB 256 256
SX-Aurora TSUBASA 8 2450 19600 8 * 48GB 8 * 1200 1200
Multi-node SX systems
SX-4 SX-4A SX-5 SX-6 SX-8 SX-8R SX-9 SX-ACE
Max. nodes 16 16 32 128 512 512 512 512
Max. CPUs 512 256 512 1,024 4,096 4,096 8,192 512
Peak TFLOPS 1 0.5 4 8 65 140.8 839 131
Max. main memory 256 GB 512 GB 4 TB 8 TB 64 TB 128 TB 512 TB 32 TB
Total memory B/W (TB/s) 8 4 32 32 131 281.6 2,048 131

Software environment

Most SX supercomputers run the SUPER-UX operating system (OS), and come with Fortran and C++ compilers. Cray has also developed an Ada compiler which is available as an option. Some vertical applications are available through NEC, but in general customers are expected to develop much of their own software.

The Earth Simulator uses a custom OS called "ESOS" (Earth Simulator Operating System). It has many features custom designed for the Earth Simulator which are not in the regular SUPER-UX OS.

In addition to commercial applications, there is a wide body of free software for the UNIX environment which can be compiled and run on SUPER-UX, such as Emacs, and Vim. A port of GCC is also available for the platform.

The SX-Aurora TSUBASA PCIe card is running in a Linux machine, the Vector Host (VH), which provides operating system services to the Vector Engine (VE).[6] The VE operating system VEOS runs in user space on the VH. Applications compiled for the VE can use almost all Linux system calls, they are transparently forwarded and executed on the VH. The components of VEOS are licensed under the GNU General Public License.

References

  1. ^ a b "NEC SX-1, SX-2". IPSJ Computer Museum. Information Processing Society of Japan. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  2. ^ Uchida, Keiichiro; Itoh, Mikio (July 1985). "High speed vector processors in Japan". Computer Physics Communications. 37 (1–3): 7–13. doi:10.1016/0010-4655(85)90131-6. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  3. ^ a b c d Watanabe, Tadashi (July 1987). "Architecture and performance of NEC supercomputer SX system". Parallel Computing. 5 (1–2): 247–255. doi:10.1016/0167-8191(87)90021-4. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Oyanagi, Yoshio (December 1999). "Development of supercomputers in Japan: Hardware and software". Parallel Computing. 25 (13–14): 1545–1567. doi:10.1016/S0167-8191(99)00084-8. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  5. ^ a b Dongarra, Jack J. (1988). "The LINPACK Benchmark: An explanation". Supercomputing: 456–474. doi:10.1007/3-540-18991-2_27. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  6. ^ "NEC SX-Aurora TSUBASA - Vector Engine". www.nec.com. Retrieved 2018-03-14.

External links

Records
Preceded by
Fujitsu VP2600/10
4.0 gigaflops
 World's most powerful supercomputer
(NEC SX-3/44)
1992 		Succeeded by
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