[Beowulf] Opteron with ifort and Intel MKL

[Jörg Saßmannshausen]

Dear Bertrand,

we are using a SUN cluster here and I am compiling GAMESS on a regular base. I 
tend to use the Intel compiler as it is 'the dog with the least fleas'. I 
have made very different observations with compilers and maths-libraries 
recently:
from building the binaries and given the wrong numerical results with acml or 
mkl and only be able to obtain the right results with an ATLAS build and 
everything was ok after an upgrade to the latest Intel compiler to only 
gfortran was working.
I don't know Amber9, but the bottom line would be: You have to try it out. You 
can use the Intel compiler on AMD platforms, but your milage may vary. Just 
make sure you test your binaries before you use them for production.

My 2 cents for this problem

Jörg

> I am planning to build a Beowulf cluster of 12 SUN FIRE 2200 boxes with
> Opteron-2.6GHz processor (Dual Core). The purpose of this cluster is to run
> my Amber9 code. I want to know one thing, Would the Opteron can give better
> benchmarks if I compile my Amber9 with Intel MKL and ifort compiler? I
> googled around it, but I could not get any positive or negative results
> either. I am looking for expertise and experinced advices and suggestions.
> Many thanks in advance.

-- 
*************************************************************
Jörg Saßmannshausen
Institut für chemische Technologie organischer Stoffe
TU-Graz
Stremayrgasse 16
8010 Graz
Austria

phone: +43 (0)316 873 8954
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