What is a Supercomputer and its Uses With Examples

What is Super Computer and its Uses? :: We have many times heard about supercomputers but have not properly understood the basic principle and working style of supercomputers and their characteristics and also their advantages.

Today in this article we will learn everything about supercomputers from basic to advanced versions.

before digging into what is supercomputers and their uses let us try to understand the basics of computers.

The Computer is nothing but an electronic computational device that can perform electronic and arithmetic calculations with high speed and with 100% accuracy.

Not only computers can work on calculations they can solve complex to complex logical problems with amazing speed.

The modern computer consists of an operating system that enables computers to work on different tasks at the same time, therefore, they are called “multitasking machines”.

Modern-day personal computer can store and handle an abundant amount of data in a single time and has the capability to store huge amount of data almost permanently.

Charles Benjamin Babbage is known as “The Father of Computer”. 

Charles Baggage was a great mathematician, engineer, politician, economist, and philosopher of his time he is arguably a “genius” of his time.

Computer is mainly classified into four different types

1. Super Computers
2. Mini Computers
3. Micro Computers
4. Personal Computers

• Super Computers are the fastest computer on the planet they are even faster than mini, micro, and mainframe computers. These types of computers are large in space, have amazing speed, and have gigantic storage capacity.
• These computers emit a large amount of heat and energy, therefore, it’s almost compulsory for them to be installed at a cool temperature hence an air conditioner is essential in the room where the Supercomputer is placed.
• Supercomputers are big in size therefore on some occasions they can take up the entire building or entire floor for their accommodation or installation.
• Supercomputer works at a great speed their speed is calculated in nanoseconds and sometimes in picoseconds, the supercomputer is much faster than desktop computers almost a million times faster than personal computer.
• The Speed of these computers is measured in “FLOPS” which stands for Floating-Point Operation Per Second.
• It is proven that a supercomputer can perform operations given to them over the speed of billions per second. That’s mind-blowing.
• There are thousands of processors installed in a supercomputer which helps this machine to operate at such amazing speed as these processors are primarily responsible for speed.
• The supercomputer has an operating system of Linux installed on the hard disk but the user can change it to their personal requirements.
• The price of a supercomputer entirely depends upon the speed at which it performs more the speed more the cost. The basic supercomputer ranges from almost 50,000 dollars to 10 million dollars.

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Types of Supercomputer

The Supercomputers are basically categorized or classified into three types:

Vector Processing Machines:: In these machines, all processors are used in sequential forms. The CPU attached to it has a speed for carrying out mathematical as well as logical operations at unbelievable speed.

Tightly Connected Cluster Computer:: The processor which is attached to these machines works at the same time when some tasks or jobs are assigned to them, therefore, the task is completed quickly as compared to other supercomputers.

The speed of these compared is much faster than any other computer.

Commodity Cluster: These types work with bandwidth and are connected through networking with the help of LAN (Local Area Network).

• IBM supercomputer was developed for playing chess.
• The Jaguar supercomputer was developed by Cray research for scientific studies.
• Tianhe-2 is the supercomputer developed by china
• Sunway Taihulight from china is the fastest supercomputer in the world.
• Titan was developed and designed by Cray Research Company for scientific studies.
• Kraken This supercomputer was developed for weather studies and an increase in biofuel production.
• K Computer was designed and developed by a famous Japanese company named Fujitsu. This Supercomputer was developed for the study of climate change with proper readings of earthquake and volcano eruptions.
• PARAM 10000 was developed in India by C-DAC, Pune.

Top 14 Advantages of Supercomputer

A Supercomputer has lots and lots of amazing features below are the list with its advantages.

1. These types of the computer have a great speed
2. They are the fastest computer when compared to any other computer present on the planet
3. A Supercomputer can work with a speed of billions of instructions per second with 100% accuracy.
4. The Speed is measured in FLOPS [Floating Point Operation Per Second]
5. A supercomputer is used in space investigation, space examination, atomic weapons, genetic engineering, military, etc
6. Supercomputer needs air conditioner as they emit heat and energy.
7. This computer can solve large and complex numeric as well as logical operations at high speed with minimal effort.
8. The supercomputer has a huge storage capacity. Where users can request or demand the data when they need it.
9. Only a trained professional will be suited to operate these devices as they are very complex machines and need some great technical skills to obtain desired results.
10. Linux operating system is used in a supercomputer which is open source and free to use.
11. Supercomputers are very helpful in weather forecasting therefore they can predict earthquakes and volcano eruptions.
12. They are also used in scientific research where a complex algorithm has to be solved.
13. They are also very popular in genetic engineering.
14. They are used in research and development.

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Disadvantages of Supercomputer

As there are advantages of supercomputer there are disadvantages too. Below I have tried to mention few of them.

• Supercomputers are very expensive and out of reach of common individuals.
• They produce huge amounts of heat and energy, therefore, require an air conditioner to reduce temperature. Which is a drawback
• They need more power to process.
• They are huge in size, therefore, need huge space for installation.
• They need quality manpower to handle and operate supercomputers.
• They need frequent maintenance and the manpower which is equipped in handling and repairing stuff of these computers is quite rare and costly.

10 Characteristics of Super Computer

Top 7 Features of Supercomputer

Let us know to try to understand the basic and advance features of super computers

1. A supercomputer consists of thousands of processors. CPU’s which always work in parallel to process vector arithmetic.
2. They have amazing speed with a huge amount of storage capacity.
3. RAM size or capability is just mind-blowing. Normal PC Personal Computer consists of RAM in GB but in a supercomputer, the RAM starts from TB Terabytes.
4. The graphic processing unit (GPU). This is a processor that is responsible for the graphic operation. They can handle or process both 2D and 3D operations with amazing speed.
5. They have open-source operating systems like LINUX or UNIX which can be later changed as per requirements.
6. This computer can handle sensitive data without any hassle.
7. The Supercomputer also possesses a Parallel library, high-speed network, multiple processors, the fastest connectivity, and speed across the network.

10 Uses of Super Computer in Points

• Weather Research
• Weather Forecasting
• Military and Defence
• Genetic Engineering
• Nuclear Engineering
• Solving complex numerical problems
• Animated Graphics
• Quantum physics
• Physics simulations
• Airlines
• Scientific Research
• Data Mining
• Large Database

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Examples of Super Computers

Useful Video On: What is Super Computer and its Uses

Top 10 Supercomputers in The World 2023

Fastest Super Computer in the World

The fastest supercomputer is SUMMIT which is developed for the U.S Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

The Speed of SUMMIT is 187.66 petaflops.

Frequently Asked Questions [FAQs] on Supercomputers and their Uses

Conclusion

In the above article, we have discussed what is a supercomputer and its uses with characteristics, features, advantages, and disadvantages.

As modern technology is progressing rapidly the figures and content may vary. I am trying to update my article as frequently as I can.

If you still find any corrections or just want to send your suggestion please feel free to contact me. Till then you can like and share my article.

!! Thank You !!