| Machine type | Vectorprocessor |
|---|---|
| Models | S3600/120, S3600/140, S3600/160, S3600/180 |
| Operating system | VOS3/HAP/ES (IBM MVS compatible) and OSF/1 |
| Compilers | FORT77/HAP vectorising Fortran 77 |
| Vendors information Web page | none. |
| Year of introduction | 1994. |
System parameters:
| Model | S3600/120 | S3600/140 | S3600/160 | S3600/180 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clock cycle VPU | 4 ns | 4 ns | 4 ns | 4 ns |
| Clock cycle scal. proc. | 8 ns | 8 ns | 8 ns | 8 ns |
| Theor. peak performance | 0.25 Gflop/s | 0.5 Gflop/s | 1.0 Gflop/s | 2 Gflop/s |
| Main memory | 128-256 MB | 256-512 MB | 256-512 MB | 512-1024 MB |
| Extended memory | <=6 GB | <=16 GB | <=16 GB | <=16 GB |
Remarks:
The speed differences between the different models stem from replication of the multiply/add pipe in the models S3600/120-180. The /160 and /180 models have respectively two- and four-fold sets of a separate add- and a multifunctional multiply/add vector pipes. This should lead to a maximum of 3 results per clock cycle per pipe set. So, contrary to the information given by the vendor, the maximum performance of, e.g., the /180 should in some situations be 3 Gflop/s instead of 2.
Note that the clock cycle of the scalar processor is twice that of the VPU. The memory bandwidth from the memory from/to the CPU is 2 operands per clock cycle via 1 load and 1 load/store pipe per arithmetic pipe set), which is somewhat less than optimal. It is not possible to load two operands and store one result in one cycle. The /120 model lacks a separate load pipe, only a load/store pipe is present.
A unique feature of the S3600, as in its direct predecessor the S-820, is that all machines of the series are air cooled. All other machines in this class relied at least on water cooling.
Unlike the S-820 series, the S3600 series is also marketed worldwide, not only in Japan. This is also the case for the S3800 SM-MIMD machines.
Measured performances: In [2] a speed of 851 Mflop/s for the solution of a full linear system of order 1000 is reported for the S3600/160. The S3600/180 attains a performance of 1672 Mflop/s on the same problem.