Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Supercomputing Chops: Tsinghua U. Takes Top Flops in SC20 Student Cluster Battle

21/11/2020

Props to team top flops.

Virtual this year, the SC20 Student Cluster Competition was still all about teams vying for top supercomputing performance in the annual battle for HPC bragging rights.

That honor went to Beijing's Tsinghua University, whose six-member undergraduate student team clocked in 300 teraflops of processing performance.

A one teraflop computer can process one trillion floating-point operations per second.

The Virtual Student Cluster Competition was this year's battleground for 19 teams. Competitors consisted of either high school or undergraduate students. Teams were made up of six members, an adviser and vendor partners.

Real-World Scenarios In the 72-hour competition, student teams designed and built virtual clusters running NVIDIA GPUs in the Microsoft Azure cloud. Students completed a set of benchmarks and real-world scientific workloads.

Teams ran the Gromac molecular dynamics application, tackling COVID-19 research. They also ran the CESM application to work on optimizing climate modeling code. The reproducibility challenge called on the teams to replicate results from an SC19 research paper.

Among other hurdles, teams were tossed a surprise exascale computing project mini-application, miniVite, to test their chops at compiling, running and optimizing.

A leaderboard tracked performance results of their submissions and the amount of money spent on Microsoft Azure as well as the burn rate of their spending by the hour on cloud resources.

Roller-Coaster Computing Challenges The Georgia Institute of Technology competed for its second time. This year's squad, dubbed Team Phoenix, had the good fortune of landing advisor Vijay Thakkar, a Gordon Bell Prize nominee this year.

Half of the team members were teaching assistants for introductory systems courses at Georgia Tech, said team member Sudhanshu Agarwal.

Georgia Tech used NVIDIA GPUs wherever it was possible, as GPUs reduced computation time, said Agarwal.

We had a lot of fun this year and look forward to participating in SC21 and beyond, he said.

Pan Yueyang, a junior in computer science at Peking University, joined his university's supercomputing team before taking the leap to participate in the SC20 battle. But it was full of surprises, he noted.

He said that during the competition his team ran into a series of unforeseen hiccups. Luckily it finished as required and the budget was slightly below the limitation, he said.

Jacob Xiaochen Li, a junior in computer science at the University of California, San Diego, said his team was relying on NVIDIA GPUs for the MemXCT portion of the competition to reproduce the scaling experiment along with memory bandwidth utilization. Our results match the original chart closely, he said, noting there were some hurdles along the way.

Po Hao Chen, a sophmore in computer science at Boston University, said he committed to the competition because he's always enjoyed algorithmic optimization. Like many, he had to juggle the competition with the demands of courses and exams.

I stayed up for three whole days working on the cluster, he said. And I really learned a lot from this competition.

Teams and Flops Tsinghua University, China

300 TFLOPS

ETH Zurich

129 TFLOPS

Southern University of Science and Technology

120 TFLOPS

Texas A&M University

113 TFLOPS

Georgia Institute of Technology

108 TFLOPS

Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

105 TFLOPS

University of Warsaw

75.0 TFLOPS

University of Illinois

71.6 TFLOPS

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

64.9 TFLOPS

Peking University

63.8 TFLOPS

University of California, San Diego

53.9 TFLOPS

North Carolina State University

44.3 TFLOPS

Clemson University

32.6 TFLOPS

Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg

29.0 TFLOPS

Northeastern University

21.1 TFLOPS

Shanghai Jiao Tong University

19.9 TFLOPS

ShanghaiTech University

14.4 TFLOPS

University of Texas

13.1 TFLOPS

Wake Forest University

9.172 TFLOPS
LINK: https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/2020/11/20/tsinghua-u-takes-top-flops-in...
See more stories from nvidia

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

06/09/2026

Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA World Cup 2026 in Germany with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos

June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

04/07/2026

Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in Dolby Cinemas Across Japan, Presented in Dolby Atmos and Dolby ...

April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...

30/06/2026

Chyron Launches New Chyron Academy

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

30/06/2026

Clear-Com Upgrades Communication Systems for Jeopardy and...

When Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! needed to upgrade their wireless communications system, they turned to Clear-Com FreeSpeak wireless for their iconic televi...

30/06/2026

Supreme Court Gives Trump Tight Control over Independent Regulators

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

30/06/2026

Rocket Lab to Acquire Iridium in $8 Billion Deal

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

30/06/2026

Kyocera AVX Releases New Web-Based Antenna Integration Tool

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

30/06/2026

YouTube Shorts Get a Makeover

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

30/06/2026

Rise Announces 2026 Worldwide Mentoring Cohorts

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

30/06/2026

Other World Computing Launches New Atlas Core Line with 256GB CFExpress 4.0 Type B Memory Card

Other World Computing Launches New Atlas Core Line with 256GB CFExpress 4.0 Type...

30/06/2026

DaVinci Resolve Studio Used for Taketoshi Sado's Perfume Cold Sleep -25 years Document-

DaVinci Resolve Studio Used for Taketoshi Sado's Perfume Cold Sleep -25 year...

30/06/2026

Into the Omniverse: Three Workflows for Improving Vision AI Agent Accuracy With Synthetic Data and Fine-Tuning

Editor's note: This post is part of Into the Omniverse, a series focused on ...

30/06/2026

June 29, 2026

Scripps Research scientists demonstrate a faster, cheaper route to making critical drugs using common table sugar New method illustrates how to build a tough ch...

29/06/2026

Op-Ed: Why the 2026 World Cup Is Redefining the Economics of Live Sports Production

By Andy Rayner, CTO, Appear The 2026 FIFA World Cup is the largest football tou...

29/06/2026

Study: Esports Plays Major Role in Gen Z Media Habits, Purchasing Behavior

A new multi-country study from ESL FACEIT Group, Hero Esports, and Niko Partners estimates that 400 million Gen Z consumers regularly engage with esports, under...

29/06/2026

ESPN Sets Multiplatform Plans for America 250 Celebration

ESPN will mark America's 250th anniversary with a series of content initiatives across its linear, digital, and streaming platforms, including a special edi...

29/06/2026

OBSBOT Named Official Camera and Webcam Partner of Esports World Cup 2026

The Esports Foundation has named OBSBOT the Official Camera and Webcam Partner for the Esports World Cup 2026, bringing the company's AI-powered imaging tec...

29/06/2026

Insight Productions Launches Insight Storm, 53-Foot Esports Broadcast Truck

Insight Productions has launched Insight Storm, a 53-foot mobile broadcast unit designed specifically for esports production, live entertainment, and digital-fi...

29/06/2026

Gravity Media Delivers Global Distribution, Streaming Services for World Economic Forum in Dalian

Gravity Media once again provided broadcast, streaming, and content-distribution...

29/06/2026

Wimbledon Introduces AI-Powered Fan Features, Modernized Digital Platforms for 2026 Championships

The All England Lawn Tennis Club and IBM have introduced new and enhanced digita...

29/06/2026

Evolve Dark Matter from Excite Audio

Four-layer instrument aimed at dark electronic music Excite Audio's latest software instrument has been designed with dark drum and bass, atmospheric te...

29/06/2026

Tracktion unleashes Waveform 14 DAW

New AI Assistant, Multi-channel Audio, ARA2 improvements & more Tracktion's DAW software has just received its latest major update, gaining a selection ...

29/06/2026

Focusrite publish 2026 Sustainability Report

Details environmental policies & results The Focusrite Group have just announced that following a long audit process, they have published their 2026 sustain...

29/06/2026

Comcast to Spin Off NBCUniversal, Sky

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

29/06/2026

Supreme Court Rules Trump Can Fire FTC Commissioner Without Cause

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

29/06/2026

CVP Launches Warranty plus to Protect Professional Equipm...

CVP, one of Europes leading suppliers of professional video and broadcast solutions, has announced the launch of CVP Warranty , a new extended warranty programm...

29/06/2026

TitanTV Hires Mark Hadley as Technology Specialist

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

29/06/2026

Fox Sports Delivers Another FIFA Mens World Cup Audience Record

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

29/06/2026

Claude Meets Blackwell Ultra: Anthropic's Models Now Run on NVIDIA GB300 in Azure

Anthropic's Claude models in Microsoft Foundry - hosted on Microsoft Azure a...

29/06/2026

Arvato Systems Achieves AWS Cloud Operations Competency

Arvato Systems Achieves AWS Cloud Operations Competency The team behind the AWS Cloud Operations Competency (from left to right: Philipp Hellmich, Johanna Bod...

29/06/2026

Ger Gilroy to join RT to present a Daily Sports Podcast

RT today announced that Ger Gilroy will join the RT Podcasts team to present a daily sports podcast. Launching later this year, the new show will set the spor...

29/06/2026

OUTsurance announced as sponsors of Oliver Callan on RT Radio 1

RT Commercial announced OUTsurance as sponsor of the Oliver Callan show on RT Radio 1 from Wednesday 1 July. Oliver Callan doubles the fun, delivering two ...

29/06/2026

Open Models, Closed Environments: Palantir Brings Secure AI to US Agencies With NVIDIA Nemotron

Showcasing the importance of open source innovation in American AI, Palantir'...

28/06/2026

Softube unveil lower cost Console 1 Compact

Half-size model joins Console 1 line-up Shortly after the release of their new Flow Studio controller, Softube have announced the launch of another new surf...

28/06/2026

EVE Audio introduce EVE Origin

New EXO Series DSP control software announced EVE Audio's EXO Series monitor range has just gained a new software element that provides remote access to...

28/06/2026

Freedman Labs Releases PrepMyMedia and ViewMyAttic for Post Production Professionals - 50% off for COWs!

Freedman Labs Releases PrepMyMedia and ViewMyAttic for Post Production Professio...

27/06/2026

Through Their Lens: What Cinematographer Amy Vincent Saw at the 2026 Directors Lab

There's no doubt that you've seen the world through Amy Vincent's ey...

27/06/2026

UJAM release Retrocraft

Brings together saturation & lo-fi effects Following on from the release of their Voxcraft vocal-processing plug-in, UJAM have announced the launch of Retro...

27/06/2026

A record 4.84 million Australians choose SBS as the Socceroos advance at FIFA World Cup 2026

A record 4.84 million Australians choose SBS as the Socceroos advance at FIFA Wo...

27/06/2026

Apogee CRAS Symphony Mkii Education Feature Blog

Why CRAS Upgraded to Symphony I/O MK II When an audio school runs studios all day, every day, gear doesn't just need to sound good , it needs to survive rea...

27/06/2026

MultiDyne Acquires the Assets of MRMC

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

27/06/2026

Spectrum Intelligence Ventures Launches Latis

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

27/06/2026

Krotos Video to Sound Plugin Now Available for Adobe Premiere Pro

Krotos Video to Sound Plugin Now Available for Adobe Premiere Pro Brie Clayton June 26, 2026 0 Comments Editors can analyze footage, generate synchron...

27/06/2026

Mirai Media Elevates Digital and Broadcast Productions with Blackmagic Design

Mirai Media Elevates Digital and Broadcast Productions with Blackmagic Design Brie Clayton June 26, 2026 0 Comments Studio uses Ultimatte 12 HD and Po...

27/06/2026

Lutra Cafe & Bakery Opens At American Tobacco Campus

DURHAM, N.C. - JUNE 26, 2026 - Lutra Cafe & Bakery has opened its first brick-and-mortar location at American Tobacco Campus after owner Chris McLaurin operated...

26/06/2026

SVG GameDay, Ep. 21: Minnesota Vikings Allan Wertheimer - Large-Scale Shows in Minny

In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...

26/06/2026

Strike Fighter League Announces Second Online Tournament, Set for July 25 in Las Vegas

Strike Fighter League (SFL), a professional air combat digital sport combining f...

26/06/2026

InfoComm 2026: Wisycom Announces MPR60 Firmware Update, MATF Antenna Matrix, and PFL RFoF Box

Wisycom has announced three new additions to its professional wireless ecosystem...