The T3D (''Torus, 3-Dimensional'') was

Cray Research Cray Inc., a subsidiary of Hewlett Packard Enterprise, is an American supercomputer manufacturer headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It also manufactures systems for data storage and analytics. Several Cray supercomputer systems are listed i ...

's first attempt at a

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 t ...

supercomputer A supercomputer is a 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 instructions ...

architecture. Launched in 1993, it also marked Cray's first use of another company's

microprocessor A microprocessor is a computer processor where the data processing logic and control is included on a single integrated circuit, or a small number of integrated circuits. The microprocessor contains the arithmetic, logic, and control circu ...

. The T3D consisted of between 32 and 2048 ''Processing Elements'' (PEs), each comprising a 150 MHz DEC

Alpha 21064 The Alpha 21064 is a microprocessor developed and fabricated by Digital Equipment Corporation that implemented the Alpha (introduced as the Alpha AXP) instruction set architecture (ISA). It was introduced as the DECchip 21064 before it was renam ...

(EV4) microprocessor and either 16 or 64 MB of

DRAM Dynamic random-access memory (dynamic RAM or DRAM) is a type of random-access semiconductor memory that stores each bit of data in a memory cell, usually consisting of a tiny capacitor and a transistor, both typically based on metal-oxid ...

. PEs were grouped in pairs, or ''nodes'', which incorporated a 6-way processor interconnect switch. These switches had a peak bandwidth of 300 MB/second in each direction and were connected to form a three-dimensional

torus In geometry, a torus (plural tori, colloquially donut or doughnut) is a surface of revolution generated by revolving a circle in three-dimensional space about an axis that is coplanar with the circle. If the axis of revolution does not tou ...

network topology. The T3D was designed to be hosted by a

Cray Y-MP The Cray Y-MP was a supercomputer sold by Cray Research from 1988, and the successor to the company's X-MP. The Y-MP retained software compatibility with the X-MP, but extended the address registers from 24 to 32 bits. High-density VLSI ECL tech ...

Model E, M90 or C90-series "front-end" system and rely on it and its

UNICOS UNICOS is a range of Unix and after it Linux operating system (OS) variants developed by Cray for its supercomputers. UNICOS is the successor of the Cray Operating System (COS). It provides network clustering and source code compatibility layer ...

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also in ...

for all I/O and most system services. The T3D PEs ran a simple

microkernel In computer science, a microkernel (often abbreviated as μ-kernel) is the near-minimum amount of software that can provide the mechanisms needed to implement an operating system (OS). These mechanisms include low-level address space management, ...

called UNICOS MAX. Several different configurations of T3D were available. The ''SC'' (Single Cabinet) models shared a cabinet with a host Y-MP system and were available with either 128 or 256 PEs. The ''MC'' (Multi-Cabinet) models were housed in one or more liquid-cooled cabinet(s) separately from the host, while the ''MCA'' models were smaller (32 to 128 PEs) air-cooled multi-cabinet configurations. There was also a liquid-cooled ''MCN'' model which had an alternative interconnect wiremat allowing non-power-of-2 numbers of PEs. The Cray T3D MC cabinet had an Apple Macintosh

PowerBook The PowerBook (known as Macintosh PowerBook before 1997) is a family of Macintosh laptop computers designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Computer from 1991 to 2006. During its lifetime, the PowerBook went through several major revisions and r ...

laptop built into its front. Its only purpose was to display animated Cray Research and T3D logos on its color LCD screen. The first T3D delivered was a prototype installed at the

Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center The Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center (PSC) is a high performance computing and networking center founded in 1986 and one of the original five NSF Supercomputing Centers.

in early September 1993. The supercomputer was formally introduced on 27 September 1993. The T3D was superseded in 1995 by the faster and more sophisticated

Cray T3E The Cray T3E was Cray Research's second-generation massively parallel supercomputer architecture, launched in late November 1995. The first T3E was installed at the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center in 1996. Like the previous Cray T3D, it was a ful ...

Gallery

File:CRAY-T3D IMG 8981-82-87-89.CR2.jpg, T3D MC 256 at the EPFL Image:EPFL CRAY-T3D 1.jpg, T3D MC 256 Computer Image:EPFL CRAY-T3D 3.jpg File:CRAY-T3D IMG 8980.CR2.jpg File:CRAY-T3D IMG 8976.CR2.jpg, T3D MC 256 control panel Image:EPFL CRAY-T3D 2.jpg, MC 256 control panel Image:CRAY_T3D_d.jpg, Inside of the T3D MC 256

References

External links

* tp://ftp.cray.com/product-info/mpp/T3D_Architecture_Over/T3D.overview.html CRAY T3D System Architecture Overview Manual {{Cray computers Computer-related introductions in 1993 T3d Supercomputers