What Is High Performance Computing?

If you are new to all this computing, you might have a real basic question: “What is high performance computing (HPC) anyway?” Below is the answer to that question.

HPC or High Performance Computing

High Performance Computing or HPC is what is referred to as the practice of collecting computing power in such a way as to deliver as much higher performance that someone might get out of a typical desktop computer in order to help solve larger problems in engineering, business or science.

As it turns out, HPC can be used in two different ways. It can either mean a “high performance computer” or “high performance computing”.

You might have heard of supercomputing and the monster machines that work on some of the biggest unsolved problems in science and engineering. These machines are very unusual and mysterious. That is why the supercomputers are very expensive.

This type of computing is related to the HPC that you might consider for your business. Supercomputers can take large sums of money and expertise to use and they tend to be good only for very specialized problems. But, for a high performance computer, you can use and manage it without a lot of cost or previous knowledge. If you have never done any kind of computing like this before, you will likely need to learn a few things first. An HPC machine is typically more complex that a simple desktop computer. They basics are not that hard to grasp and there are a lot of companies that can provide you will help if you need it.

High Performance Computer

An easy way to understand what HPC are is to think about what is in them. You still have all the elements of a typical desktop. They have processors, memory and an operating system, but HPCs have more of them. The type of HPC computers that most small to medium companies are interested in are really just clusters of computers. The idea of having a HPC computer is so that you can work together to solve a larger problem than only one computer can solve.

Software makes the cluster go ‘round

Just like a desktop computer, your HPC clusters will not run without the software. Linux and Windows are two popular choices. Your choice of software should be driven by the types of applications you need to run on your HPC.

If you still have questions about HPC or other computing methods, contact Local Web today. The professionals at Local Web are ready to help you getting you and your up and running today.

To better understand what HPC or High Performance Computing is, visit HPC on nist.gov today.