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by nzmsv 5322 days ago
There are some simulations that squeeze everything they can out of a GPU or a cluster or a TOP500 machine. And I don't think arbitrary precision can be done easily on a GPU; if someone knows more, I'd love to be corrected on this one.
1 comments
lucian1900 5322 days ago
TOP500 machines probably have CPU features that could help with that.

But yeah, afaik arbitrary precision on GPUs isn't possible with reasonable performance.

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ars 5322 days ago
I don't think he means arbitrary precision, I think he means fixed point.

And to answer him: Some programs can use it, some can't. IMO every program that can should, not not all do.

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nl 5322 days ago
Top500 machine CPUs are usually your standard Intel or AMD CPUs[1].

In the current top 10, 5 are Intel, 4 are AMD (and 1 SPARC64). Many have Nvidia GPU co-processors.

The only slightly exotic architecture in the top 10 is number 10, which supplements its AMD CPUs with Cell co-processors.

[1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TOP500#November_2011

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