Microwulf: Computational Efficiency

A computer's computational efficiency is its measured performance (R_Max) divided by its peak performance (R_Peak):

  compEff = R_Max / R_Peak

You can estimate a homogeneous cluster's peak performace as:

  R_Peak = #nodes x #cores-per-node x floating-point-units-per-core x clock-speed

For Microwulf, this computes to:

  R_Peak = 4 x 2 x 2 x 2.0 = 32.0

So Microwulf's computational efficiency is:

  compEff = 26.25 / 32.0 = 0.8203 ~= 82%

Generally, anything over 60 % efficiency is considered good, so Microwulf's 82% computational efficiency is excellent.

For comparison, the computational efficiency of a 1996 Cray T3D-256 was:

  compEff = 25.3 / 33.4 = 0.6588 ~= 66%

Joel Adams > Research > Microwulf > Computational Efficiency