From all-round academic master to chief scientist

When Lin Xiao returned to the office, he opened his Sunway TaihuLight running software and saw many error notifications popping up on it, at least twenty, all of which displayed [The current node is abnormal, trying Reconnect] and [Due to an error in the currently connected node, it has been automatically connected to another node], and there are a total of eight nodes to be replaced.

Until the end, the final termination notice appeared above: [Due to your abnormal behavior, the background has stopped your connection. If you want to reconnect, please consult the relevant personnel. 】

The last notification obviously marked that his internal VIP account had been blacklisted.

Lin Xiao was helpless, what's going on?

He looked at the specific situation again, and it turned out that it was a good thing, and he only lasted about three minutes at each point.

Supercomputing is calculated based on nodes. It does not mean that after applying for a supercomputer, you can use the entire computing power of the supercomputer. Unless there is a major task, the entire computing power of a supercomputer will be used to calculate a project. , usually, it is basically divided into many nodes for calculation.

Sunway TaihuLight has 40,960 nodes, and with so many nodes, the computing power of a single node is less on average. The Summit supercomputer in the United States only has more than 4,000 nodes, on average. nodes can achieve more computing power.

But at this point, there is really no way around it. Who makes the processor used by Sunway TaihuLight have poorer performance?

The difference between a 28nm process processor and a 14nm process processor is two generations.

Looking at this scene, Lin Xiao frowned slightly. This was a bit surprising. In this case, how could his program run?

"Director Wang, I have seen here that the procedure has indeed been terminated."

Picking up the phone again, he said.

"Oh, I know."

As for Wang Wenguang on the other side of the phone, his tone returned to normal at this time, not as urgent as before. Perhaps the anxiety just now was due to a temporary accident, so his tone was a bit bad.

He said: "I'm sorry, Academician Lin, my tone was a bit bad just now. It's actually because something happened suddenly."

Lin Xiao was stunned. Wang Wenguang's tone just now was a bit bad?

In fact, he didn't even notice much, his attention was completely attracted by what Wang Wenguang said.

So he smiled and said: "Oh...oh, it's okay. I actually didn't pay much attention to it."

"That's good." Wang Wenguang sighed and said: "Now the general reason is basically clear. The main reason is that the program you ran, Academician Lin, is a bit too complicated, and the computing power requirements of a single node are relatively high. "

"The nodes assigned to you are basically unable to meet the computing requirements, so there is a situation where it enters self-test because it exceeds the computing power requirements."

"But to be honest, this situation has rarely happened in the past. Fortunately, it has happened several times before. Our maintenance system has relevant response plans, so we can prevent problems from occurring on single-digit nodes. Even if a response is made later, if it had been done before when there was no alternative plan, I’m afraid it would have taken longer.”

"However, despite this, your program still killed several of our nodes. This is still a bit unexpected."

Lin Xiao said helplessly: "This is not something to be proud of."

"Haha, that's true." Wang Wenguang smiled, and then asked: "Well, Academician Lin, it seems that our Shenwei Taihu Light can no longer help you. What are your plans?"

Lin Xiao said helplessly: "We can no longer use the Divine Power Taihu Light, so there is nothing we can do."

"Then use Tianhe-2. The single-node computing power of Tianhe-2 is higher than that of Sunway. Maybe it can meet your requirements." Wang Wenguang said: "After all, the chip on Tianhe-2 is 22 nanometers, which is better than Sunway's." It’s even higher, and it’s Intel’s chip, the X86 architecture, which is better than the Alpha architecture we use.”

Lin Xiao then asked: "Didn't it mean that Tianhe-2 is always running at full capacity? The National University of Defense Technology's own supercomputer can't spare any nodes for use?"

"Uh...well, it seems like this." Wang Wenguang said.

Tianhe-2 does not have as many nodes as Sunway TaihuLight, only 16,000, so it is basically running at full capacity. Although Lin Xiao has face, he probably has to queue up honestly this time, after all, everyone is running at full capacity. , you can't just kick it out when others are using it, and then give it to him to use.

Lin Xiao sighed helplessly again, this is not going to be easy.

Is it necessary to use the truth point to let the system take on this supercomputing task?

But just when he had this idea, suddenly, Wang Wenguang said: "Hey, by the way, Academician Lin, I thought of a good way."

Lin Xiao was stunned and said, "You tell me."

"Do you have any news about the supercomputer we are building?"

"I know, it's called Pangu. Your processor has been designed. I heard the effect is pretty good?"

Lin Xiao naturally knew this. Just kidding, the funders of this new supercomputer were all funded by their research institute. After all, it was Lin Xiao who wrote the application letter himself. In the end, the total investment amounted to more than 2 billion.

"Yes." Wang Wenguang said with a smile: "Our Pangu processor is the most advanced 5nm process in the world. Although it still uses the Alpha structure, in terms of chip manufacturing technology, it is enough to widen the gap with Intel."

"So I thought, maybe your program can be run on our Pangu."

The Pangu processor is a new domestic supercomputing processor independently developed by them after Sunway TaihuLight's Sunway processor.

Although Sunway processors lag behind foreign advanced processes in terms of manufacturing process, it has proven that their domestic chip designers have sufficient chip design capabilities to compete in this industry where they will not be subject to patent barriers and technical sanctions. In each field, the abilities of Chinese talents are often reliable.

Therefore, the Pangu processor can already be called the best supercomputing processor in the world.

Coming from the most advanced 5nm process, it is enough for Pangu processor to achieve such glory.

Of course, these are currently known information, but Lin Xiao still feels a little confused about Wang Wenguang's proposal: "Is it the Pangu processor? But doesn't it mean that it hasn't been built yet?"

Wang Wenguang smiled and said: "Completely built means completely built, but this does not affect running a separate program first."

"Next week, we will set up the first batch of five computing nodes. In order to test the performance of these processors, we will also use them to run a few programs, just like a new computer roaster. , Academician Lin should also know that now that your program can’t even withstand our Divine Power Taihu Light, maybe you can unleash the full performance of our first batch of nodes?”

"How about it?"

Upon hearing Wang Wenguang's proposal, Lin Xiao immediately said: "Of course there is no problem."

Not only could they test their processors, but they could also solve his problems. He certainly had no reason to refuse such a thing that killed two birds with one stone.

"Okay, then wait until next week, Academician Lin, to come to our Pangu Supercomputing Center. Then, you can test it yourself."

"OK."

…

Time quickly came to the second week.

Lin Xiao brought the USB flash drive to the Pangu Supercomputing Center.

Although the Pangu Supercomputing Center is not located in the city center, it does look quite impressive from the outside. After all, it is called Pangu, so it is better to be more impressive.

When he came here, Lin Xiao met Wang Wenguang and other related personnel, including Kong Huaan.

Today, Kong Huaan has become an important technical figure in the Pangu supercomputer team, serving as an important technical staff member of the processor architecture group.

As for Kong Huaan's development track, Lin Xiao could only say with emotion, maybe this person is a real genius, who can jump from the original mathematics CMO gold medal to a master in the computer field. , and even now he has become an important member of the national supercomputer project. This kind of span is probably a life of cheating.

Of course, Lin Xiao didn't say much about these things, just saying hello. Of course, friends with good relationships don't have that much to say.

Then, they went directly to the computer room, and Lin Xiao also inserted the USB flash drive into the computer.

"Okay, now let's get ready to run. Check whether the power supply is OK. This is the first time our Pangu processor has run a program with this amount of calculations. Please check it carefully."

Wang Wenguang directed the inspection of the staff.

Soon, everything is ready.

Wang Wenguang directly issued the order: "Start running the program!"

As the staff sitting in front of the computer pressed Enter, a moment later, there was a violent sound of wind in the cabinet in front of them.

That's exactly what the fan sounds like.

Pangu supercomputer uses a combination of air cooling and water cooling for heat dissipation. For processors with a 5nm process, heat dissipation is very important.

And a lot of data flashed on the screen in front of him in an instant.

At the same time, these data also include data on current computing power, average computing power, and peak computing power!

Looking at these data, the staff nearby were dumbfounded: "The average number of floating point operations per second on a single node...512TFLOPS! Is this...so powerful?"

Others around him were stunned when they saw this result.

512TFLOPS!

It is nearly five times that of a single node of the US Summit supercomputer, which ranks fourth in the world!

What is the concept of five times?

Everyone present knew that this meant that they only needed the same number of nodes and their total computing power could easily exceed Summit’s by nearly five times.

However, the total number of nodes in their plan is fifteen thousand!

It is almost equivalent to three times the number of nodes of Smmit, which means that the total computing power will be fifteen times that of Summit!

The total computing power of the world's number one US Border supercomputer is only about seven times that of Summit. There is still a gap of more than two times!

By then, all the supercomputers in the world will not even be able to see their backs, let alone their comparison.

"Are we creating a myth?"

Some people couldn't help but exclaimed.

Wang Wenguang also recovered from the shock at this time, and then said with a hearty laugh: "We are just creating myths. We are called Pangu, but aren't we just creating myths?"

Everyone present couldn't help laughing when they heard this. This statement makes sense. Isn't Pangu just a myth?

Suddenly, these supercomputing people all became happy.

After all, the world's most unrivaled supercomputer will be born in their hands. How can they not be excited about it?

Of course, except for those who were particularly happy, Lin Xiao was staring closely at the other side, which was the calculation of his program.

This time, the Pangu processor successfully withstood the huge computing power requirements of his program. So, how long will it take to complete?

Lin Xiao will wait and see.