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Foil 96 Parallel Computer Architecture Memory Structure

From CPS615-Introduction-Course,Driving Technology and HPCC Current Status and Futures CPS615 Basic Simulation Track for Computational Science -- Fall Semester 96. by Geoffrey C. Fox *
Memory Structure of Parallel Machines
  • Distributed
  • Shared
  • Cached
and Heterogeneous mixtures
Shared (Global): There is a global memory space, accessible by all processors.
  • Processors may also have some local memory.
  • Algorithms may use global data structures efficiently.
  • However "distributed memory" algorithms may still be important as memory is NUMA (Nonuniform access times)
Distributed (Local, Message-Passing): All memory is associated with processors.
  • To retrieve information from another processors' memory a message must be sent there.
  • Algorithms should use distributed data structures.

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