The newly released 32nd TOP500 supercomputers list also makes the world's second largest chip manufacturer, Advanced Micro Devices, proud of the capabilities of its technology. To be more precise, seven of the Top 10 fastest supercomputer systems in the world are powered by AMD Opteron processors, including the second fastest system called Jaguar, the first entirely x86-based supercomputer to achieve the petaflop performance milestone.

 

The new TOP500 list has the AMD Opteron processor-based and IBM PowerXCell processor-based “Roadrunner” system from the Los Alamos National Labs on the first position. The second fastest system is located at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The supercomputer is based on Cray XT4 and XT5 systems, and includes over 45,000 Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors, enabling a balanced system with unrivaled x86 performance.

 

“Today’s TOP500 Supercomputing Sites list reaffirms AMD’s leadership and the tremendous performance capability that HPC customers have enjoyed for years,” said Patrick Patla, vice president and general manager, Server Workstation Division, AMD. “Seven of the ten most powerful computing systems in the world now leverage the balanced platform of our Direct Connect Architecture. Our commitment to the HPC community only gets stronger with the recent launch of our 45nm Quad-Core AMD Opteron processor which has already set new standards in HPC performance.”

 

Beside the seven systems in the top ten, the Sunnyvale company also powers 53 other global supercomputers on the TOP500. The systems based on the AMD technology are used in a wide range of areas, including by IT service providers, financial institutions, automotive designers, and researchers in energy, geology, meteorology, social sciences, astronomy, and many other disciplines.

 

The chip manufacturer is now more proud than ever of its Opteron processors, especially given the fact that it has recently released the new 45nm Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors, codenamed “Shanghai,” which are meant to leverage performance even more, while offering enhanced virtualization capabilities, so as to meet the latest market demands.

 

The TOP500 list, as well as additional information on the systems, can be found here.