Shared memory vs. message passing: the COMOPS benchmark experiment

The paper presents the comparison of the COMOPS benchmark performance in MPI and shared memory on three different shared memory platforms: the DEC AlphaServer 8400/300, the SGI Power Challenge, and the HP Convex Exemplar SPP1600. The paper also qualitatively analyzes the obtained performance data based on an understanding of the corresponding architecture and the MPI implementations. Some conclusions are made for the interprocessor communication performance on these three shared memory platforms.