What is a supercomputer? in today’s article we will study supercomputers.
So, when we talk about a computer we mean “personal computer” (PC).
However, beyond these personal computers (PCs) commonly used in homes and offices, there are other types of computers.
One of these different types of computers what is “Supercomputer“.
The performance and efficiency of these supercomputers are extremely high compared to computers for general use.
But don’t worry, through today’s article we will try to know everything about supercomputers.
For example,
What is a supercomputer?
How does a supercomputer work?
Where are supercomputers used?
And, features and benefits of supercomputers.
If you have a lot of interest in technology, then you probably know a lot about computers.
Nowadays, a computer is used for any small or large task.
So, there might be very few of you who are not very computer literate.
Remember, what kind of work you want to do with the computer,
Depending on that you have to keep your computer speed, processing power, and hardware.
And so, many times you will see people spend millions of dollars to make a very powerful computer with an advanced and powerful processing unit for heavy gaming on their computer.
A supercomputer is thousands of times more powerful than these types of computers.
Because many tasks require much more powerful computers to perform.
And, to do those tasks, the computer needs a huge amount of processing power.
And, it is not possible to have such powerful processing power in a personal computer (PC).
Therefore, these powerful supercomputers are used for large tasks such as production, new scientific discoveries, research, etc.
Table of Contents
What is supercomputer?
Before knowing what a supercomputer is, I would suggest that you first know a little about “what is a computer” and “how a computer work”.
Speaking of a normal computer,
A computer is a “general purpose machine”, whose job is to receive data through the input device and process them as needed and provide solutions through the output device.
It is a simple computer with limited power and speed but can be expanded somewhat.
But, supercomputers are completely different from these normal computer systems.
Along with being very fast and powerful, these types of computers are very large.
A normal computer system works through serial processing whereas in the case of supercomputers parallel processing is used.
This is the reason why a supercomputer can perform multiple tasks at the same time.
Simply put, a supercomputer is a computer that is significantly more powerful than a normal computer.
These types of computers work using their highest operational rate, which is currently considered among the fastest high-performance systems.
These types of powerful computers are mainly used in scientific and engineering-related tasks so that these computers can handle large numbers of databases.
In addition, these types of tasks require more computational operations than are possible with these supercomputers.
In terms of performance, a supercomputer can work thousands of times faster and more accurately than a normal computer.
The performance of a SUPERCOMPUTER is measured by FLOPS, whose full form is – “floating-point operations per second“.
Therefore, the more FLOPS the computer has, the more powerful the supercomputer is.
So I hope you have understood what a supercomputer is.
What are Serial and Parallel Processing?
We have said above that a typical work computer uses “serial processing” and a supercomputer uses “parallel processing”.
But what is the difference between these two types of processing power? Let’s get to the point.
In a typical computer system, only one task can be completed at a time.
Because, in the case of this common computer, only one machine-level operation is collected or accepted at a time by a CPU (central processing unit).
This means, in the case of this processing, after completing one task, the next task or another task will be done.
And this type of processing is called “Serial Processing”.
However, parallel processing works opposite to serial processing.
Modern supercomputers work very fast and divide big problems into small parts.
Parallel processing is a process or type of calculation where multiple calculations or processes are collected together.
Now, by executing the calculations or processes together, it is possible to solve multiple tasks or problems at the same time.
Because, in this processing, big tasks are divided into small parts and the tasks are done simultaneously through multiple CPUs.
Since, in this processing, large tasks are divided into small parts and the tasks are done simultaneously,
So, with this type of processing, a supercomputer can perform tasks much faster and in much less time.
Parallel processing is used in the largest and most powerful supercomputers.
In this, computers can perform complex processes much faster and easier.
In the case of weather forecasting, gene synthesis, mathematical model, etc., supercomputers need parallel processing.
What are the benefits of a supercomputer?
Today’s computers are incredibly fast and powerful.
Moreover, today’s computers are being built to process complex and large-scale tasks.
Also, there are many types of tasks that today’s computers are not capable of doing.
Some tasks require extreme processing power and for which these supercomputers are made.
A supercomputer is a system that can complete large and complex calculations or tasks easily and quickly.
Beyond weather forecasts, the nuclear industry and the airline industry, etc.
Supercomputers can also be used to render video games and 3D graphics.
As a result of its “supreme computing power”, large-scale organizations use these supercomputers.
Let us directly know the benefits and advantages of supercomputers below.
Cost-effective
Companies can save a lot of time in working.
Using a supercomputer will give you a lot of benefits in time management.
Multiple tasks can be done simultaneously through these powerful computers.
In this, the amount of expenses is controlled over time and the expenses are fully effective.
Security
A supercomputer provides enhanced security by decrypting passwords.
Besides, a supercomputer can easily guess passwords.
Speed
A supercomputer takes much less time to perform complex calculations.
Meaning, these types of powerful computers work thousands of times faster than normal computers.
Tasks that may take hours can be done in seconds by a supercomputer.
Complex Tasks
As I have said before, the processing power in a supercomputer is thousands of times more than in a normal computer.
Therefore, a supercomputer can easily perform complex tasks within a short period.
Such computationally intensive tasks as rendering animations, quantum mechanics, weather forecasting, climate research, oil and gas exploration, molecular modeling, etc. are done by a supercomputer.
Besides, these types of powerful computers also play a role in research & development.
What is the use of a supercomputer?
A supercomputer is mostly used in various scientific and engineering applications.
Also, it is used in research & development.
Because, in these types of work, many high-level databases and calculations have to be processed which is not possible with ordinary computers.
However, to take advantage of the great power and speed of a supercomputer,
Nowadays supercomputers are used in almost all tasks.
For example,
1. Graphics and animation
2. Code breaking
3. weather forecast
4. Genetic analysis
5. Quantum mechanics
5. Fluid dynamic calculations
6. Oil and gas exploration
7. Research and development
A supercomputer is used for the various tasks mentioned above.
Because a small personal computer cannot do these complex tasks.
Also, many types of tasks are not possible or convenient to do with a normal computer.
And so, these supercomputers are used in those cases as well.
A supercomputer is much faster, more powerful, and much more expensive.
Which operating system (OS) is used in supercomputers?
A supercomputer usually uses the “Linux” operating system.
The function of the operating system is to manage the software and hardware in the computer.
Also, this operating system provides a platform for the user to control or manage the system.
Windows, Android, macOS, etc. are used in computers in our homes or office.
However, the main reason for using Linux OS in supercomputers is that “it creates a very convenient platform for developers”.
Developers can manage and control the system by coding themselves.
It is possible to have complete control over the system through this Linux OS.
Apart from Linux, many types of OS are used in these supercomputers.
For example, bull SCS, SUSE CentOS and cray, etc.
Working with each of these operating systems requires different knowledge and skills.
Using these types of advanced operating systems, a developer can direct the computer according to his wishes.
How much does a supercomputer cost?
In general, a supercomputer costs much more than a normal computer.
The price of a supercomputer depends on several factors.
The price of the computer will be charged according to the requirement and hardware configuration of the person who builds the computer.
The faster and more powerful the computer, the more expensive it will be.
The price depends on how fast the computer can perform floating point calculations per second.
See, the faster a supercomputer works, the better it is, and the more processors and RAM it uses.
And as a result, the price of that system is increasing a lot.
The world’s fastest supercomputer is named “summit”, and it cost 200 million dollars to build.
From this, you can estimate that building a fast and powerful supercomputer can cost around 200 to 300 million US dollars.
What are the fastest supercomputers in the world?
Now, after knowing what supercomputer means and other facts about them,
Now, you might be wondering about each of the best fast supercomputers.
At present America has two of the world’s fastest supercomputers named “Summit” and “Sierra”.
Summit was named the world’s fastest supercomputer in June 2018.
By Summit, the mathematical test demonstration, called LINPACK, was performed at a speed of 122.3 petaFLOPS per second.
We have already said that the summit cost about 200 million US dollars to build.
But before this summit, the world’s fastest supercomputer was “Sunway TaihuLight“.
It is a supercomputer made in China.
In 2018, this supercomputer was called the third fastest supercomputer.
List of Top 10 Supercomputers
In the list of fastest supercomputers in the world,
Among them 5 American and 2 Chinese made computers.
Besides, Switzerland, Japan, and Germany have one supercomputer on the list.
Below I am telling you the names of the top 10 supercomputers in the world.
Summit, USA
Sierra, USA
Sunway Taihu Light, China
Tianhe-2, China
Frontera, USA
Piz Daint, Europe
Trinity, USA
Al Bridging Cloud Infrastructure (ABCI), Japan
SuperMUC-NG, Germany
Lassen, USA
India’s supercomputers are currently not included in this list, although India has a few supercomputers of its own.
Names of supercomputers in India
In India too, supercomputers are currently being used in many tasks.
And so, it can be said that India is not behind in technology at present.
According to a 2018 report, “Pratyush” and “Mihir” are the fastest supercomputers in India.
There are also other supercomputers like, “Param Yuva 2″, “SahasraT (Cray XC40)”, “TIFR Color Boson”, “IIT Delhi HPC” and “PARAM-Siddhi AI“.
“PARAM-Siddhi AI”, has taken 63 places in the list of the 500 most powerful supercomputers in the world.
Our last words,
I hope that I have been able to give you all the essential information about supercomputers and what is supercomputer.
If you have any questions or suggestions regarding today’s article, “What is a Supercomputer”,
Then let us know by commenting.
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