os that rather uses the gpu?

Robert Myers rbmyersusa at gmail.com
Sat Jul 17 00:07:25 UTC 2010


On Fri, Jul 16, 2010 at 7:55 PM, Christofer C. Bell <
christofer.c.bell at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Fri, Jul 16, 2010 at 6:49 PM, Robert Myers <rbmyersusa at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> Whether you like it or not, and whether, even more important, you
>> understand it or not, the architecture of a computer has a big impact on the
>> kinds of models you can implement with any degree of efficiency on the
>> computer.  Hanging lots of flops on inadequate bandwidth is popular because
>> you can get a high ranking on the Top 500 list with a minimal expenditure,
>> but it also means that you can't do an important calculation like a global
>> FFT at anything like reasonable efficiency.  Flops are almost free.
>>  Bandwidth is expensive.  Unfortunately, what is almost free (flops) can be
>> nearly useless for, say, an FFT unless you have the bandwidth to move data
>> around globally fast enough.
>>
>>
> You need to make friends with a guy named Edward Lorenz.  Bandwidth has
> nothing to do with it.  Do you even know what this term means?
>

Look.

I've been through this argument plenty of times in forums where there are
people who would just glare at you if you had the gall to ask them if they
knew what bandwidth meant.  Imagine me glaring at you.

What I'm talking about may or may not have anything to do with chaos theory.
 At the moment, there is no way of knowing because there are no computers
with the capability of accurately simulating the interaction between hugely
disparate physical scales for very large problems.  The problem, as I
perceive it, is that it is much easier to make plausible looking color plots
than it is to do good computational physics.


>
>> I don't think name-calling and labeling ever helps.
>>
>
> Then stop doing it.
>

You should have thought about the advice as it applies to yourself before
proposing to offer further advice to me.  You were the one who used an
offensive label, not me.  I only asked you to consider what it would feel
like if I allowed myself the same "mote in my neighbor's eye" approach to
discussion.

Robert.
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