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Apps chomp for Student Cluster Comp

Sisyphus had it easy

SC11 In this Register HPC channel webcast, we talk to Doug Fuller, a computational scientist at Oak Ridge National Lab, who's chairing the SC11 Student Cluster Competition. This takes place in Seattle in November.

We talk about how this competition is really a test of the real-world skills that HPC managers use daily. The students, like HPC managers, have to get the most out of their existing systems while dealing with resource and time constraints.

In the SCC, student teams must architect systems to roved the highest performance possible while staying under a 26 amp ceiling. They have 48 hours to run an HPCC benchmark plus four real-world HPC applications. The team that gets the most work done on their system wins.

Doug fills us in on the applications selected for competition this year. They include molecular dynamics with PFA, cosmology with Gadget, some heavy genome Monte Carlo with MrBayes, and predicting ocean currents with POP – a demanding mix of apps, to be sure.

Strategy plays a big role in determining the SCC winner. Students will have to understand the inner workings of their particular system and how the codes match up to their architectures in order to maximize output. Just like the real world, right?

Take a look at the webcast (no reg' req'd) to learn more about the SCC and how to participate. As always, let me know what you think via the comments box or a direct email.

And don't forget to tune in to The Register's HPC Community channel, for free-to-air news and views. Alternatively, you can sign up for our HPC Newsletter, delivered to your inbox every two weeks. ®

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