National Center for Computational Sciences

In the future, 2010 may be known as the year of the GPU, or at least its big debut. China stole TOP500 glory using the massively parellel processing power of the graphics chip. And while the US can claim no GPU-based supercomputers among the top 10, GPGPU computing is having a big influence on US science and research.

In a piece over at Scientific Computing, Rob Farber examines the growing popularity of GPU computing. As a senior research scientist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Farber has a good vantage point to see how the evolution of computing technology affects science on the ground. Farber argues that multi-threaded and GPGPU technology are changing the dynamics of scientific computing, delivering fresh opportunities into the realms of academia, product development and HPC research. In particular, GPGPU computing has made it possible to do more science with fewer or cheaper resources.

Continue reading at hpcwire.com.