Energy Efficient Hardware

The largest fraction of energy consumption in a data center comes from computer hardware. Therefore, energy efficiency is a major concern during the procurement process for new computers. Luckily, the increasing use of mobile devices have made energy efficiency a prime concern for computer manufacturers. For the past few years, new hardware has brought improved efficiency and refined power saving mechanisms.

Being able to measure the consumed energy is also a key concern for LRZ. SuperMUC is one of the most thoroughly instrumented supercomputers in the world. This helps to understand which factors influence the energy consumption of SuperMUC in order to continuously optimize its operations. In addition, SuperMUC’s processors support Intel’s latest SpeedStep™ technology to adapt the power consumption to the actual application needs.

In research projects like DEEP and Mont-Blanc, LRZ evaluates novel hardware architectures, such as the use of particularly efficient mobile processors that are normally used in smartphones and tablets, as the building blocks for future supercomputers – ensuring that future supercomputers at LRZ will redefine energy efficiency like SuperMUC has.