The Graphics Supercomputer: a New Class of Computer
INFORMATION PROCESSING 89, G.X. Ritter (ed.) Elsevier Science Publishers B.V. (North-Holland) O IFIP, 1989 THE GRAPHICS SUPERCOMPUTER: A NEW CLASS OF COMPUTER Gordon BELL and William S. WORLEY Jr. Ardent Computer Company, Sunnyvale, California, U.S.A. Invited Paper In 1988 a new class of computer, the graphics supercom- tion-set, large memory, microprogrammed, cache mem- puter, was introduced by two start-up companies. As a ory, virtual memory operation, multiprocessors for multi- member of both the supercomputer and workstation fami- programmed use, and, finally, vector processing); to the lies, the graphics supercomputer enables both high-per- VAX "minicomputer"; and to the truly interactive "per- formance computation and high-speed, threedimensional, sonal computers" and "workstations." interactive visualization to be performed on a single, inte- grated system. In Ardent's TITAN system, high floating peak computational power as measured in millions or point operation rates are provided by combining the fastest billions of floating point operations per second for scien- RISC microprocessors with traditional supercomputer tific use. This line has been characterized by the Seymour components such as multiple, pipelined vector processors Cray designs which employ the fastest clocks, hardwired and interleaved memory systems. This has resulted in much logic, and extensive parallelism through pipelining and more cost-effective computation and a clear diseconomy of multiple functional units. These systems evolved to vec- scale over supercomputers and minisupercomputers. For tor processing, multiple processors for multiprogram- users ofworkstations that lack the benefits of supercomputer med use, and finally to the parallel processing of a single components, the graphics supercomputer can be used sim- computation.
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