FireStream processor 9250 hits 1 teraflop

[Larry ward]

AMD HAS ANNOUNCED the arrival of its next-generation stream processor, the Firestream 9250. Advanced Micro Devices previewed the latest version of its high-performance chip package, the FireStream 9250. It breaks the one teraflop barrier for single precision performance at the International Supercomputing Conference in Germany. Chips in the FireStream line offer much faster performance for mathematical calculations than other processors. FireStream can take a single instruction and execute it using multiple sources of data in parallel.

The proc takes advantage of AMD's GPU expertise to augment the processing power of your rig's CPU with an additional 8-gigaflops per watt of processing from this 150 watt processor. A 55x performance bump, say developers, when compared to crunching financial analysis code, for example, on a CPU alone. The 9250 Stream fits into a single PCI slot and includes double-precision floating point hardware performing at more than 200 gigaflops. The processor and supporting SDK are due for release in Q3 for $999.

The stream processor, which features 1GB of GDDR3 memory, uses second-generation double-precision floating point hardware to deliver more than 200 gigaflops of number crunching power and it's compact size should see it used in small 1U servers as well as desktop systems, workstations, and larger servers.

The card allows users to pass critical workloads away from the main CPU and early developers have reported speed increases of up to 55 times whilst crunching financial data compared to using the CPU alone, apparently.

[aalbaiz]

The processor, which AMD refers to as a "stream processor" or General-Purpose General-Processing Unit (GP GPU) is capable of up to hundreds of parallel calculations per clock cycle, whereas other more general-purpose processors can only do a handful.

The AMD FireStream 9250 stream processor includes a second-generation double-precision floating point hardware implementation delivering more than 200 gigaflops, building on the capabilities of the earlier AMD FireStream 9170, the industry’s first GP-GPU with double-precision floating point support. The AMD FireStream 9250’s compact size makes it ideal for small 1U servers as well as most desktop systems, workstations, and larger servers and it features 1GB of GDDR3 memory, enabling developers to handle large, complex problems.

[Alexxx]

The FireStream chips can also perform "double precision" floating-point calculations. AMD says that helps runs intensive tasks such financial analyses and seismic processing much faster.

The 9250 will fit in a single PCI slot, making it compatible with most desktop systems, workstations and servers. Power consumption is less than 150 watts, similar to the 9170. Performance is rated at eight gigaflops per watt.

it is the first such chip in the line that is capable of up to 500 gigaflops of computing power. A gigaflop is 1 billion floating-point operations per second. For single-precision calculations, the 9250 tops 1 teraflop, or 1 trillion floating-point operations per second.

AMD has a software development kit, the AMD Stream SDK, to help developers create applications that use the full abilities of the FireStream chips. AMD says the FireStream line is not only for high-performance computing but also more mainstream and consumer applications and will be available for US$999