Should I Use HPC ?

When considering running your jobs on a High Performance Computing cluster it is important to understand that the individual processors on the cluster may not generally be faster than the CPUs on your desktop. This means that some users will get no real benefit for the effort of using a HPC cluster. Where clusters shine is in the number of jobs that can be run at the same time, the ability to run multi-core jobs, the amount of memory available on the compute nodes and the ability to run jobs for a long time.

You should ask yourself if any of the following apply to you. If so then you should consider using a HPC cluster.
  • Do your jobs requires more memory than what is available on your desktop?
  • Do you have a large number of jobs to run?
  • Does your job take long time (>1 week) to run?
  • Can your jobs be split into smaller chunks?
  • Would your jobs benefit by being able to run sections of code in parallel?
If the answer to all of these questions is no then HPC is probably not for you. You should continue running your jobs in the same way you currently do and return when your circumstances change. If you answered yes to any of these questions then fill up HPC account form and submit it to Computer Centre to get an account at Vikram-100 HPC.
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