Graphics Cards - HP ProLiant DL360p Introduction Manual

HP was the first company to build an industry-standard server with integrated NVIDIA GPGPUs. We
shipped our first systems in 2007. We began shipping our second-generation NVIDIA GPGPU-
enabled system, the ProLiant SL390s G7 server, in 2010. The SL390s G7 servers are part of the HP
ProLiant SL6500 Scalable System. We also make a number of ProLiant server platforms that
accommodate NVIDIA GPGPU accelerator cards.
FPGA accelerators
FPGA accelerators are integrated circuits that trained designers can program to perform complex
logical functions. FPGAs contain programmable ―logic blocks‖ and reconfigurable interconnects for
wiring these blocks together. Designers can change the functionality of an FPGA and select the
appropriate level of parallelism to implement an algorithm. This capability allows a designer to tailor
the circuits for a specific task, resulting in higher performance and efficiencies for some applications.
But programming an FPGA from scratch can be costly and labor intensive, requiring designers with
specific skills.
FPGA-based accelerators are available on PCIe expansion cards or modules that plug into a CPU
socket. FPGA vendors include XtremeData™, Nallatech, and others.
Comparing GPGPU and FPGA accelerators
FPGA and GPGPU accelerators achieve better performance than CPUs on certain workloads. There is
no definitive way to determine whether GPGPU acceleration or FPGA acceleration is better. The
reason is that applications can exhibit different performance characteristics depending on the
accelerator design and software coding. Table 1 identifies some advantages of each accelerator.
Table 1. Advantages of GPGPUs and FPGAs
GPGPUs
Generally easier to use than FPGAs for
creating and modifying acceleration
applications
Require no hardware re-programming to
run a different acceleration app
Work well with 32-bit and 64-bit floating
point computations
Tend to use high power

Graphics cards

Graphics cards off-load graphic renderings from CPUs and output digital and analog video for high-
resolution displays. GPUs have a parallel throughput architecture that simultaneously executes multiple
software threads through several processor cores. Some GPUs have hundreds of cores. Graphics
cards typically require x16 PCIe 2.0 connectors, but they can run in slots with fewer than 16 electrical
lanes (x8 for example).
Graphics cards vary in cost, complexity, and power use. Ultra high-end cards are ―double-wide‖ (two
slots wide) and they use up to 225 W. These cards can work in select ProLiant DL series servers. High-
end graphics cards occupy a single slot and use less than 150 W. They can fit in a broad range of
ProLiant servers.
FPGAs
May offer the best performance possible for specific HPC
applications that do not require frequent changes
Typically requires reprogramming for different
applications
Work well on small objects like text or integers (1 to
32 bit)
Tend to use less power
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