New "lows" in high-performance computing: TI's TMS320C66x multicore DSPs combine ultra-low power with unmatched performance, offering HPC developers the industry's most power efficient solutions

SEATTLE, Nov. 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- SUPERCOMPUTING' 2011 -- Shedding light on a new paradigm in high performance computing (HPC), Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) (NYSE: TXN) is offering developers the industry's highest performing multicore digital signal processors (DSP) at the lowest power levels, based on its TMS320C66x DSP generation. TI's TMS320C6678 and TMS320TCI6609 multicore DSPs are well suited for computing applications in oil and gas exploration, financial modeling and molecular dynamics, where ultra-high performance, low power and easy programmability are critical requirements. TI provides free optimized libraries for HPC that make it easier to achieve maximum performance without spending time optimizing code, and supports standard programming languages such as C and OpenMP so developers can easily migrate their applications to take advantage of the power savings and performance.  

"TI's new family of multicore DSPs deliver outstanding flops per watt performance and an exceptional level of density and integration," commented Phillip J. Mucci, founder and director of business development, Samara Technology Group. "This fact, combined with a number of options for high speed, low latency, socket to socket interconnect, makes TI's DSP an ideal building block for the high performance, high efficiency HPC systems of tomorrow."

Achieving maximum performance with multicore

With the highest performing floating point DSP core at 16 GFLOPs/W, TI's C66x KeyStone-based multicore DSPs are changing the way HPC developers meet requirements for performance, power efficiency and ease of use. Advantech, a global manufacturer of telecom computing blades and multicore processor platforms, has developed the DSPC-8681 multimedia processing engine (MPE), a half-length PCIe card with more than 500 GFLOPs of performance at an extreme low power consumption of 50W. In addition to the currently available PCIe card, TI and Advantech will soon have full length cards providing one and two teraflops of performance, transforming the industry with faster and more efficient solutions for HPC applications. TI's optimized math and imaging libraries, as well as standard programming model, make it easy for HPC developers to quickly achieve maximum performance.

"Since we released the DSPC-8681 earlier this year, it has gained early market adoption in compute intensive radar and medical imaging applications," said Eddie Lai, associate vice-president of business development, Advantech. "The launch of TI's latest suite of multicore development tools will significantly accelerate customer evaluation in HPC applications, and unleash the full potential of the C6678 multicore DSP in the supercomputing arena."

Meeting the needs of HPC developers – today and tomorrow

The DSPC-8681 PCIe card includes four C6678 multicore DSPs while the newer PCIe cards will include eight C6678 multicore DSPs to achieve one teraflop or four TCI6609 multicore DSPs to achieve two teraflops. The C6678 is the industry's highest performing multicore DSP in production today, featuring eight 1.25-GHz DSP cores, delivering 160 GFLOPs at 10W. TI's forthcoming TCIC6609 multicore DSP will offer developers 4X the performance of its C6678 multicore DSP, achieving 512 GFLOPs in just 32W, making DSPs an ideal solution for HPC and changing the way developers will choose solutions for applications. The TCIC6609, set to sample in 2012, is code compatible with the C6678 DSP, allowing developers to reuse their existing software and preserve their investment in TI multicore DSPs.

Easing multicore development

With its robust suite of multicore software, tools and low cost evaluation modules (EVMs), TI is easing development and getting developers closer to tapping the full performance of C66x multicore DSPs. Designers can begin development on the C6678 multicore DSP with the TMDSEVM6678L for $399. The EVM includes a free multicore software development kit (MCSDK), Code Composer Studio™ integrated development environment (IDE) and suite of application/demo codes to allow programmers to quickly come up to speed on the new platform.

About TI's KeyStone multicore architecture

Texas Instruments' KeyStone multicore architecture is the platform for true multicore innovation, offering developers a robust portfolio of high performance, low-power multicore devices. Unleashing breakthrough performance, the KeyStone architecture is the foundation upon which TI's new TMS320C66x DSP generation was developed. KeyStone differs from any other multicore architecture as it has the capacity to provide full processing capability to every core in a multicore device. KeyStone-based devices are optimized for high performance markets including wireless base stations, mission critical, test and automation, medical imaging and high performance computing. Learn more at www.ti.com/c66multicore.

Visit TI @ SC11

While at SC11, visit TI, in booth #4200 to view the latest multicore solutions and demos for ultra-low power, super high performance computing applications.

For more information:

• Watch TI's multicore Ask The Experts series
• Engage with engineers and TI experts on the TI E2E™ Community and Multicore Mix
• Follow TI on Twitter
• Become a fan of TI on Facebook

About Texas Instruments

Texas Instruments semiconductor innovations help 80,000 customers unlock the possibilities of the world as it could be – smarter, safer, greener, healthier and more fun. Our commitment to building a better future is ingrained in everything we do – from the responsible manufacturing of our semiconductors, to caring for our employees, to giving back inside our communities. This is just the beginning of our story.  Learn more at www.ti.com.

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SOURCE Texas Instruments Incorporated

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