COMPUTER SYSTEM

What factors limit the performance of parallel computer systems?

What factors limit the performance of parallel computer systems?

Introduction

Traditionally, in serial computer system, one processor is used to perform calculations. In serial computer system commands are broken down into series of commands and then each are solved at a time therefore execution of one command is possible at a time. Parallel computer system is a system in which various resources of computation are used for the problem to be solved. In this parallel computing system problem has to be broken down into smaller parts in order for them to be solved simultaneously. Each division is then again divided into series of commands; the commands from each division are executed in simultaneous manner on different processing units. The resources of computing can be one computer having various processors, a network of computers or a combination of both. Simply it can be said that in parallel computer system there can be various processing units with their separate control that work on same instructions provided. In Serial computing system one single resource is used for performing computation that enables only a single thing to get done at a time whereas in parallel computing system multiple resources are used for computation which allows various things to get done at a time therefore this gives parallel computing system an edge over serial computing system.

Discussion

Parallel computing system has various uses in variety of areas. Installation of parallel computer system can have a number of advantages. The uses of parallel computer system along with its advantages can be discussed under following headings.

Speedup

The speedup tells that how much gain in the performance is achieved by the execution of a program in parallel on various processing units. It is the span of times that is taken by a program to run on a single processing unit, divided by the span of time it is taken by the program to rum on multiple processing units. Parallel computing system can be used in variety of areas where there is unpredictable load of calculations that are needed to be performed. Numerous calculations cannot be performed efficiently using serial computing system. The working speed of serial computing system openly depends upon how speedily the data can travel from hardware the increase in speeds makes it necessary to increase the proximity of processing resources. The use of parallel computing system can prove to be efficient as compared to the use of serial computing system and the use of parallel computing system may result in time saving. (Burrows, E. and Haveraaen, M., 2009, web source: http://www.ii.uib.no/~eva/Publications/BuHa-nik09.pdf). If the same instructions are processed under the two computing systems i.e. serial computing system and parallel computing system, the difference in the processing speed can be clearly seen. However there must be a solid reason of installing the parallel computing systems. For example, if there are no complex instructions to be given or complex and various calculations are to be performed, parallel computer systems may prove to be ...