Re: [Beowulf] difference between accelerators and co-processors

2013-03-18 Thread Christopher Samuel
-BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE- Hash: SHA1 On 12/03/13 14:22, Mark Hahn wrote: > hey! I said IMO, so technically you can't disagree! :) Grin, and technically having read the rest of that email (yes, I'm really lagged at the moment) I have to agree. cheers! Chris - -- Christopher Samuel

Re: [Beowulf] difference between accelerators and co-processors

2013-03-14 Thread Vincent Diepeveen
On Mar 12, 2013, at 5:45 AM, Mark Hahn wrote: >>> I don't think it is a useful distinction: both are basiclly >>> independent >>> computers. obviously, the programming model of Phi is dramatically >>> more >>> like a conventional processor than Nvidia. >>> >> >> Mark, that's the marketing talk a

Re: [Beowulf] difference between accelerators and co-processors

2013-03-14 Thread Vincent Diepeveen
hi Amjad, I would like to point to 1 really important practical difference. co-processors can have magnificent latency from the co-processor to the cpu. In the nano-seconds. Accelerators i'd argue typically go via pci-e or similar, so have horrible latency, in the microseconds or slower. Acc

Re: [Beowulf] difference between accelerators and co-processors

2013-03-12 Thread Lux, Jim (337C)
owulf-boun...@beowulf.org [mailto:beowulf-boun...@beowulf.org] On Behalf Of Brendan Moloney Sent: Monday, March 11, 2013 9:02 PM To: Joshua mora acosta Cc: Beowulf List; Mark Hahn Subject: Re: [Beowulf] difference between accelerators and co-processors I think this analysis is missing some important

Re: [Beowulf] difference between accelerators and co-processors

2013-03-12 Thread Lux, Jim (337C)
0, 2013 9:36 AM To: Beowulf Mailing List Subject: [Beowulf] difference between accelerators and co-processors Hello All, Is there any line/point to make distinction between accelerators and co-processors (that are used in conjunction with the primary CPU to boost up the performance)? or these terms

Re: [Beowulf] difference between accelerators and co-processors

2013-03-12 Thread Mark Hahn
>> 1) Comparing a single low power APU to a single high power discrete GPU >> doesn't make sense for HPC. Rather we should compare a rack of equipment >> that can operate in the same power envelope. > [Joshua] I was comparing, or the paper compares a system (APU) vs a system > (CPU+GPU). and I wa

Re: [Beowulf] difference between accelerators and co-processors

2013-03-12 Thread Joshua mora acosta
Good comments. My comments inline. Joshua -- Original Message -- Received: 11:02 PM CDT, 03/11/2013 From: Brendan Moloney To: Joshua mora acosta Cc: Vincent Diepeveen , Mark Hahn , Beowulf List Subject: Re: [Beowulf] difference between accelerators and co-processors > I think t

Re: [Beowulf] difference between accelerators and co-processors

2013-03-11 Thread Mark Hahn
>> I don't think it is a useful distinction: both are basiclly >> independent >> computers. obviously, the programming model of Phi is dramatically >> more >> like a conventional processor than Nvidia. >> > > Mark, that's the marketing talk about Xeon Phi. I have no idea what this means. Nvidia'

Re: [Beowulf] difference between accelerators and co-processors

2013-03-11 Thread Brendan Moloney
> > -- Original Message -- > Received: 04:06 PM CDT, 03/10/2013 > From: Vincent Diepeveen > To: Mark Hahn Cc: Beowulf List > Subject: Re: [Beowulf] difference between accelerators and co-processors > > > > > On Mar 10, 2013, at 9:03 PM, Mark Hahn wrote: >

Re: [Beowulf] difference between accelerators and co-processors

2013-03-11 Thread Mark Hahn
>> IMO, a coprocessor executes the same instruction stream as the >> "primary" processor. > > I'm not so sure about that, the first thing I came across described as hey! I said IMO, so technically you can't disagree! :) > a coprocessor was the "Tube" for the BBC Micro in the mid 1980's. It > w

Re: [Beowulf] difference between accelerators and co-processors

2013-03-11 Thread Christopher Samuel
-BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE- Hash: SHA1 On 11/03/13 07:03, Mark Hahn wrote: > IMO, a coprocessor executes the same instruction stream as the > "primary" processor. I'm not so sure about that, the first thing I came across described as a coprocessor was the "Tube" for the BBC Micro in the

Re: [Beowulf] difference between accelerators and co-processors

2013-03-10 Thread Joshua mora acosta
Mark Hahn Cc: Beowulf List Subject: Re: [Beowulf] difference between accelerators and co-processors > > On Mar 10, 2013, at 9:03 PM, Mark Hahn wrote: > > >> Is there any line/point to make distinction between accelerators and > >> co-processors (that are used in

Re: [Beowulf] difference between accelerators and co-processors

2013-03-10 Thread Vincent Diepeveen
On Mar 10, 2013, at 9:03 PM, Mark Hahn wrote: >> Is there any line/point to make distinction between accelerators and >> co-processors (that are used in conjunction with the primary CPU >> to boost >> up the performance)? or these terms can be used interchangeably? > > IMO, a coprocessor execut

Re: [Beowulf] difference between accelerators and co-processors

2013-03-10 Thread Mark Hahn
> Is there any line/point to make distinction between accelerators and > co-processors (that are used in conjunction with the primary CPU to boost > up the performance)? or these terms can be used interchangeably? IMO, a coprocessor executes the same instruction stream as the "primary" processor.

[Beowulf] difference between accelerators and co-processors

2013-03-10 Thread amjad ali
Hello All, Is there any line/point to make distinction between accelerators and co-processors (that are used in conjunction with the primary CPU to boost up the performance)? or these terms can be used interchangeably? Specifically, the word "accelerator" is used commonly with GPU. On the other h