Computerworld - High-performance computing (HPC) has almost always required a supercomputer — one of those room-size monoliths you find at government research labs and universities. And while those systems aren’t going away, some of the applications traditionally handled by the biggest of Big Iron are heading to the desktop. One reason is that processing that took an hour on a standard PC about eight years ago now takes six seconds, according to Ed Martin, a manager in the automotive unit at computer-aided design software maker Autodesk Inc. Monumental improvements in desktop processing power, graphics processing unit (GPU) performance, network bandwidth and solid-state drive speed combined with 64-bit throughput have made the desktop increasingly viable for large-scale computing projects.
The San Diego Supercomputer Center has taken a significant step forward for scientific processing by developing the first of its kind High-Performance Computing (HPC) system which utilizes flash memory. Commonly used in household electronics such as digital cameras and cell phones, flash is generally considered a faster storage medium than traditional hard drives due to the fact that there are no moving parts, as opposed to the traditional drive which stores information on magnetic plates which must be individually accessed.
The purpose of this list is to provide a ranking of the most energy-efficient supercomputers in the world and serve as a complementary view to the TOP500 List.