6 Myths of High-Performance Computing
1
Advances have made tasks that were previously solvable only by a supercomputer tractable for SMALLER COMPUTERS. CFD simulations can clearly scale up to higher core counts than structural mechanics or electromagnetics simulations because of the nature of the underlying numerical algorithms. But this does not mean that structural and electromagnetics simulations are not amenable to HPC solutions. In a recent ANSYS survey, about ONE THIRD OF THE ALMOST 3,000 RESPONDENTS said that they limit the size or amount of detail for nearly every model they run due to compute capacity and/or turnaround time limitations. An additional 57 PERCENT OF RESPONDENTS said they impose these limits on at least some of their models. Twenty years ago, HIGH-PERFORMANCE COMPUTING (HPC) was primarily used by the larger enterprise organizations for engineering simulations. HPC is now gradually becoming more common in smaller and mid-sized companies as well. Nevertheless, many misconceptions still surround HPC, preventing its adoption and/or growth in product development scenarios where it could clearly provide a higher return on investment. Years ago, only SUPERCOMPUTERS had enough computing power and capacity to perform even routine simulations. HIGH-PERFORMANCE COMPUTING IS AVAILABLE ON SUPERCOMPUTERS ONLY myth #1 SOLUTION: ANSYS has teamed up with HPC strategic partners to make specification and deployment of HPC easier for you. PROBLEM: Lack of expertise and time to specify hardware configurations is a leading barrier. WITHOUT INTERNAL IT SUPPORT, HPC CLUSTER ADOPTION IS UNDOABLE myth #4 AVERAGE OF 10 DIFFERENT ANSYS MECHANICAL BENCHMARKS HPC IS USEFUL ONLY FOR CFD SIMULATIONS myth #2 I DON’T NEED HPC— MY JOB IS RUNNING FAST ENOUGH myth #3 MORE COMPUTING CORES PER CPU INTEGRATED I/O ON A PROCESSOR DIE (YIELDING HIGHER MEMORY BANDWIDTH) MORE AND FASTER MEMORY CHANNELS LARGER L3 CACHE SIZE, FASTER DISK STORAGE FASTER INTERCONNECTS AVX SUPPORT SOLVER SPEED UP 2 cores (1 node) 16 cores (1 node) 32 cores (2 nodes) 64 cores (4 nodes) 128 cores (8 nodes) Continually Improving Core Solver Rating To 128 Cores FREQUENCY OF LIMITING SIZE/DETAIL IN SIMULATION MODELS DUE TO COMPUTER INFRASTRUCTURE OR TURNAROUND TIME LIMITATIONS 57% 34% 9% For some models Nearly every model Almost never At ANSYS, an intense focus on HPC software development has produced capabilities that set us apart and enabled breakthrough productivity on current and emerging hardware solutions. If your CFD software can only scale down to about 100,000 cells per core, then a typical two million cell model can only run on 20 cores efficiently. Having more cores available is useless in this case because they do not increase the simulation speed. However, if the CFD software can scale to about 5,500 cells per core (like ANSYS Fluent) the same two million cell model can then run on 360 cores, resulting in an almost 18-fold faster turnaround! PARALLEL SCALABILITY IS ALL ABOUT THE SAME, RIGHT? myth #5 The key is that the cost of HPC is matched to value — and HPC offers one of the greatest returns on investment possible. ANSYS HPC software licensing is designed on pricing models that ensure the highest value for engineering simulation workloads while allowing ANSYS to continue our HPC software developments. HPC SOFTWARE AND HARDWARE ARE RELATIVELY EXPENSIVE myth #6 WRONG AVX VALUE PROPOSITION OF HPC ENHANCES ENGINEERING PRODUCTIVITY BY ACCELERATING SIMULATION THROUGHOUT ENABLES ENGINEERS TO CONSIDER MORE DESIGN IDEAS AND MAKE EFFICIENT PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT DECISIONS ALLOWS ENGINEERS TO SIMULATE LARGER, MORE COMPLEX MODELS SO THAT MORE ACCURATE DESIGN DECISIONS CAN BE MADE CUMULATIVE TIME SAVINGS USING MULTIPLE MULTI-CORE JOBS LICENSE FEE PER MULTIPLE MULTI-CORE JOB ABSOLUTE TIME SAVINGS PER JOB LICENSE FEE PER CORE PER JOB NUMBER OF CORES NUMBER OF CORES NUMBER OF CORES NUMBER OF CORES Ideal scalability HPC Pack HPC Workgroup to read the full white paper visit ansys.com/hpc-myths Brought to you by Demonstrated scalability of ANSYS Fluent above 80 percent efficiency with as low as 5,500 cells per compute core Speedup Ideal 11.1K cells/core 7.4K cells/core 5.5K cells/core 4,096 8,192 12,288 16,384 16,000 14,000 12,000 10,000 8,000 6,000 4,000 2,000 0
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Transcript of 6 Myths of High-Performance Computing
Advances have made tasks that were previously solvable only by a
supercomputer tractable for SMALLER COMPUTERS.
CFD simulations can clearly scale up to higher core counts than structural
mechanics or electromagnetics simulations because of the nature of the
underlying numerical algorithms. But this does not mean that structural and
electromagnetics simulations are not amenable to HPC solutions.
In a recent ANSYS survey, about ONE THIRD OF THE ALMOST 3,000 RESPONDENTS said that they limit the size or amount of detail for nearly
every model they run due to compute capacity and/or turnaround time
limitations. An additional 57 PERCENT OF RESPONDENTS said they
impose these limits on at least some of their models.
Twenty years ago, HIGH-PERFORMANCE COMPUTING (HPC) was primarily used
by the larger enterprise organizations for engineering simulations. HPC is now gradually
becoming more common in smaller and mid-sized companies as well. Nevertheless, many
misconceptions still surround HPC, preventing its adoption and/or growth in product
development scenarios where it could clearly provide a higher return on investment.
Years ago, only SUPERCOMPUTERS had enough
computing power and capacity to perform even routine simulations.
HIGH-PERFORMANCE COMPUTING IS AVAILABLE ON SUPERCOMPUTERS ONLY
myth #1
SOLUTION: ANSYS has teamed up with HPC strategic partners
to make specification and deployment of HPC easier for you.
PROBLEM: Lack of expertise
and time to specify hardware
configurations is a leading barrier.
WITHOUT INTERNAL IT SUPPORT, HPC CLUSTER ADOPTION IS UNDOABLE
myth #4
AVERAGE OF 10 DIFFERENT ANSYS MECHANICAL BENCHMARKS
HPC IS USEFUL ONLY FOR CFD SIMULATIONS
myth #2
I DON’T NEED HPC—MY JOB IS RUNNING FAST ENOUGH
myth #3
MORE COMPUTING
CORES PER CPU
INTEGRATED I/O ON A PROCESSOR
DIE (YIELDING HIGHER MEMORY
BANDWIDTH)
MORE AND FASTER MEMORY
CHANNELS
LARGER L3 CACHE SIZE, FASTER DISK
STORAGE
FASTER INTERCONNECTS
AVX SUPPORT
SO
LVE
R S
PE
ED
UP
2 cores (1 node) 16 cores (1 node) 32 cores (2 nodes) 64 cores (4 nodes) 128 cores (8 nodes)
Continually Improving Core Solver Rating To 128 Cores
FREQUENCY OF LIMITING SIZE/DETAIL IN SIMULATION MODELS DUE TO COMPUTER INFRASTRUCTURE OR TURNAROUND TIME LIMITATIONS
57%
34%
9%
For some models
Nearly every model
Almost never
At ANSYS, an intense focus on HPC software development has
produced capabilities that set us apart and enabled breakthrough productivity
on current and emerging hardware solutions.
If your CFD software can only scale down to about 100,000 cells per core, then a typical two million cell model can only run on 20 cores efficiently.
Having more cores available is useless in this case because they do not increase the
simulation speed. However, if the CFD software can scale to about 5,500 cells per
core (like ANSYS Fluent) the same two million cell model can then run on 360 cores, resulting in an almost 18-fold faster turnaround!
PARALLEL SCALABILITY IS ALLABOUT THE SAME, RIGHT?
myth #5
The key is that the cost of HPC is matched to value — and HPC offers one of the
greatest returns on investment possible.
ANSYS HPC software licensing is designed on pricing models that ensure the
highest value for engineering simulation workloads while allowing ANSYS to
continue our HPC software developments.
HPC SOFTWARE AND HARDWAREARE RELATIVELY EXPENSIVE
myth #6
WRONG
AVX
VALUE PROPOSITION OF HPC
ENHANCES ENGINEERING
PRODUCTIVITY BY
ACCELERATING SIMULATION
THROUGHOUT
ENABLES ENGINEERS TO
CONSIDER MORE DESIGN
IDEAS AND MAKE EFFICIENT
PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
DECISIONS
ALLOWS ENGINEERS TO
SIMULATE LARGER, MORE
COMPLEX MODELS SO THAT
MORE ACCURATE DESIGN
DECISIONS CAN BE MADE
CU
MU
LA
TIV
E T
IME
SA
VIN
GS
US
ING
MU
LTIP
LE
MU
LTI-
CO
RE
JO
BS
LIC
EN
SE
FE
E P
ER
MU
LTIP
LE
MU
LTI-
CO
RE
JO
B
AB
SO
LUT
E T
IME
SA
VIN
GS
PE
R J
OB
LIC
EN
SE
FE
E P
ER
CO
RE
PE
R J
OB
NUMBER OF CORES NUMBER OF CORES
NUMBER OF CORES NUMBER OF CORES
Ideal s
calabili
ty HPC Pack
HPC Workgroup
to read the full white paper visit ansys.com/hpc-myths
Brought to you by
Demonstrated scalability of ANSYS Fluent above 80 percent efficiency with as low as 5,500 cells per compute core
Speedup
Ideal
11.1Kcells/core
7.4Kcells/core
5.5Kcells/core
4,096 8,192 12,288 16,384
16,000
14,000
12,000
10,000
8,000
6,000
4,000
2,000
0
