Performance evaluation of the CM-5 interconnection network

The authors present performance characteristics of the CM-5 (Connection Machine-5) data network with respect to bandwidth and latency. They present the maximum effective network bandwidth as a function of massage size, varying data path through different levels of the network hierarchy, and system load. They also present latency as a function of message size and network hierarchy. The maximum effective network bandwidth is given as a function of data flow pattern (2-D and 3-D mesh, stencils, ring, tree, and hypercube) using several variant embedding schemes. Measurements were obtained using CMMD V 1.3.1, Thinking Machine Corporation's message-passing library, and CMNF V 1.1, a fast message-passing library. Using CMNF, measurements which were very close to actual hardware capabilities were observed.<>