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Manycore processors are special kinds of
multi-core processor A multi-core processor (MCP) is a microprocessor on a single integrated circuit (IC) with two or more separate central processing units (CPUs), called ''cores'' to emphasize their multiplicity (for example, ''dual-core'' or ''quad-core''). Ea ...
s designed for a high degree of parallel processing, containing numerous simpler, independent
processor core A central processing unit (CPU), also called a central processor, main processor, or just processor, is the primary Processor (computing), processor in a given computer. Its electronic circuitry executes Instruction (computing), instructions ...
s (from a few tens of cores to thousands or more). Manycore processors are used extensively in embedded computers and
high-performance computing High-performance computing (HPC) is the use of supercomputers and computer clusters to solve advanced computation problems. Overview HPC integrates systems administration (including network and security knowledge) and parallel programming into ...
.


Contrast with multicore architecture

Manycore processors are distinct from
multi-core processor A multi-core processor (MCP) is a microprocessor on a single integrated circuit (IC) with two or more separate central processing units (CPUs), called ''cores'' to emphasize their multiplicity (for example, ''dual-core'' or ''quad-core''). Ea ...
s in being optimized from the outset for a higher degree of explicit parallelism, and for higher throughput (or lower power consumption) at the expense of latency and lower single-thread performance. The broader category of
multi-core processor A multi-core processor (MCP) is a microprocessor on a single integrated circuit (IC) with two or more separate central processing units (CPUs), called ''cores'' to emphasize their multiplicity (for example, ''dual-core'' or ''quad-core''). Ea ...
s, by contrast, are usually designed to efficiently run ''both'' parallel ''and'' serial code, and therefore place more emphasis on high single-thread performance (e.g. devoting more silicon to
out-of-order execution In computer engineering, out-of-order execution (or more formally dynamic execution) is an instruction scheduling paradigm used in high-performance central processing units to make use of instruction cycles that would otherwise be wasted. In t ...
, deeper
pipeline A pipeline is a system of Pipe (fluid conveyance), pipes for long-distance transportation of a liquid or gas, typically to a market area for consumption. The latest data from 2014 gives a total of slightly less than of pipeline in 120 countries ...
s, more
superscalar A superscalar processor (or multiple-issue processor) is a CPU that implements a form of parallelism called instruction-level parallelism within a single processor. In contrast to a scalar processor, which can execute at most one single in ...
execution units, and larger, more general caches), and shared memory. These techniques devote runtime resources toward figuring out implicit parallelism in a single thread. They are used in systems where they have evolved continuously (with backward compatibility) from single core processors. They usually have a 'few' cores (e.g. 2, 4, 8) and may be complemented by a manycore accelerator (such as a GPU) in a heterogeneous system.


Motivation

Cache coherency is an issue limiting the scaling of multicore processors. Manycore processors may bypass this with methods such as
message passing In computer science, message passing is a technique for invoking behavior (i.e., running a program) on a computer. The invoking program sends a message to a process (which may be an actor or object) and relies on that process and its supporting ...
, scratchpad memory, DMA, partitioned global address space, or read-only/non-coherent caches. A manycore processor using a network on a chip and local memories gives software the opportunity to explicitly optimise the spatial layout of tasks (e.g. as seen in tooling developed for TrueNorth). Manycore processors may have more in common (conceptually) with technologies originating in
high-performance computing High-performance computing (HPC) is the use of supercomputers and computer clusters to solve advanced computation problems. Overview HPC integrates systems administration (including network and security knowledge) and parallel programming into ...
such as clusters and vector processors. GPUs may be considered a form of manycore processor having multiple
shader processing units Graphics Core Next (GCN) is the codename for a series of microarchitectures and an instruction set architecture that were developed by AMD for its GPUs as the successor to its TeraScale microarchitecture. The first product featuring GCN was l ...
, and only being suitable for highly parallel code (high throughput, but extremely poor single thread performance).


Programming models

*
Message passing interface The Message Passing Interface (MPI) is a portable message-passing standard designed to function on parallel computing architectures. The MPI standard defines the syntax and semantics of library routines that are useful to a wide range of use ...
*
OpenCL OpenCL (Open Computing Language) is a software framework, framework for writing programs that execute across heterogeneous computing, heterogeneous platforms consisting of central processing units (CPUs), graphics processing units (GPUs), di ...
or other APIs supporting compute kernels * Partitioned global address space *
Actor model The actor model in computer science is a mathematical model of concurrent computation that treats an ''actor'' as the basic building block of concurrent computation. In response to a message it receives, an actor can: make local decisions, create ...
*
OpenMP OpenMP is an application programming interface (API) that supports multi-platform shared-memory multiprocessing programming in C, C++, and Fortran, on many platforms, instruction-set architectures and operating systems, including Solaris, ...
*
Dataflow In computing, dataflow is a broad concept, which has various meanings depending on the application and context. In the context of software architecture, data flow relates to stream processing or reactive programming. Software architecture Dat ...


Classes of manycore systems

* GPUs, which can be described as manycore vector processors * Massively parallel processor array * Asynchronous array of simple processors


Specific manycore architectures

* ZettaScale

Japanese PEZY Computing 2,048-core modules * Xeon Phi coprocessor, which has MIC (''Many Integrated Cores'') architecture * Tilera * Adapteva Epiphany Architecture, a manycore chip using PGAS scratchpad memory * Coherent Logix hx3100 Processor, a 100-core DSP/GPP processor based on HyperX Architecture * Movidius Myriad 2, a manycore vision processing unit (VPU) * Kalray, a manycore PCI-e accelerator for data-intensive tasks * Teraflops Research Chip, a manycore processor using message passing * TrueNorth, an
AI accelerator A neural processing unit (NPU), also known as AI accelerator or deep learning processor, is a class of specialized hardware accelerator or computer system designed to accelerate artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning applications, inc ...
with a manycore network on a chip architecture * Green arrays, a manycore processor using message passing aimed at low power applications * Sunway SW26010, a 260-core manycore processor used in the then top 1 supercomputer
Sunway TaihuLight The Sunway TaihuLight ( ''Shénwēi·tàihú zhī guāng'') is a Chinese supercomputer which, , is ranked 11th in the TOP500 list, with a LINPACK benchmark rating of 93 petaflops. The name is translated as ''divine power, the light of Taihu Lake ...
** SW52020, an improved 520-core variant of SW26010, with 512-bit SIMD (also adding support for half-precision), used in a prototype, meant for an exascale system (and in the future 10 exascale system), and according to datacenterdynamics China is rumored to already have two separate exascale systems secretly * Eyeriss, a manycore processor designed for running convolutional neural nets for embedded vision applications * Graphcore, a manycore
AI accelerator A neural processing unit (NPU), also known as AI accelerator or deep learning processor, is a class of specialized hardware accelerator or computer system designed to accelerate artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning applications, inc ...


Specific manycore computers with 1M+ CPU cores

A number of computers built from multicore processors have one million or more individual CPU cores. Examples include: * Gyoukou ( Japanese: 暁光 Hepburn: ''gyōkō'', dawn light), a
supercomputer A supercomputer is a type of computer with a high level of performance as compared to a general-purpose computer. The performance of a supercomputer is commonly measured in floating-point operations per second (FLOPS) instead of million instruc ...
developed by ExaScaler and PEZY Computing, with 20,480,000 processing elements total plus the 1,250 Intel Xeon D host processors. *
SpiNNaker A spinnaker is a sail designed specifically for sailing off the wind on courses between a Point of sail#Reaching, reach (wind at 90° to the course) to Point of sail#Running downwind, downwind (course in the same direction as the wind). Spinna ...
, a massively parallel (1 million CPU cores) manycore processor (ARM-based) built as part of the Human Brain Project.


Specific computers with 5 million or more CPU cores

Quite a few
supercomputer A supercomputer is a type of computer with a high level of performance as compared to a general-purpose computer. The performance of a supercomputer is commonly measured in floating-point operations per second (FLOPS) instead of million instruc ...
s have over 5 million CPU cores. When there are also coprocessors, e.g. GPUs used with, then those cores are not listed in the core-count, then quite a few more computers would hit those targets. *
Frontier A frontier is a political and geographical term referring to areas near or beyond a boundary. Australia The term "frontier" was frequently used in colonial Australia in the meaning of country that borders the unknown or uncivilised, th ...
* Fugaku, a Japanese
supercomputer A supercomputer is a type of computer with a high level of performance as compared to a general-purpose computer. The performance of a supercomputer is commonly measured in floating-point operations per second (FLOPS) instead of million instruc ...
using Fujitsu A64FX ARM-based cores, 7,630,848 in total. *
Sunway TaihuLight The Sunway TaihuLight ( ''Shénwēi·tàihú zhī guāng'') is a Chinese supercomputer which, , is ranked 11th in the TOP500 list, with a LINPACK benchmark rating of 93 petaflops. The name is translated as ''divine power, the light of Taihu Lake ...
, a massively parallel (10 million CPU cores) Chinese
supercomputer A supercomputer is a type of computer with a high level of performance as compared to a general-purpose computer. The performance of a supercomputer is commonly measured in floating-point operations per second (FLOPS) instead of million instruc ...
, once one of the fastest supercomputers in the world, using a custom manycore architecture. As of November 2018, it was the world's third fastest supercomputer (as ranked by the
TOP500 The TOP500 project ranks and details the 500 most powerful non-distributed computing, distributed computer systems in the world. The project was started in 1993 and publishes an updated list of the supercomputers twice a year. The first of these ...
list), obtaining its performance from 40,960 SW26010 manycore processors, each containing 256 cores.


See also

* Vector processor *
SIMD Single instruction, multiple data (SIMD) is a type of parallel computer, parallel processing in Flynn's taxonomy. SIMD describes computers with multiple processing elements that perform the same operation on multiple data points simultaneousl ...
*
High-performance computing High-performance computing (HPC) is the use of supercomputers and computer clusters to solve advanced computation problems. Overview HPC integrates systems administration (including network and security knowledge) and parallel programming into ...
*
Computer cluster A computer cluster is a set of computers that work together so that they can be viewed as a single system. Unlike grid computers, computer clusters have each node set to perform the same task, controlled and scheduled by software. The newes ...
* Multiprocessor system on a chip * Vision processing unit *
Memory access pattern In computing, a memory access pattern or IO access pattern is the pattern with which a system or program reads and writes memory on secondary storage. These patterns differ in the level of locality of reference and drastically affect cache perform ...
* Cache coherency * Embarrassingly parallel *
Massively parallel Massively parallel is the term for using a large number of computer processors (or separate computers) to simultaneously perform a set of coordinated computations in parallel. GPUs are massively parallel architecture with tens of thousands of ...
*
CUDA In computing, CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture) is a proprietary parallel computing platform and application programming interface (API) that allows software to use certain types of graphics processing units (GPUs) for accelerated gene ...


References


External links


Architecting solutions for the Manycore future
published on Feb 19, 2010 (more than one dead link in the slide)
Eyeriss architecture
{{Parallel computing Computer architecture Manycore processors Parallel computing