Surviving the end of frequency scaling with reconfigurable dataflow computing

Abstract

Over the past decade x86 processors have come to dominate the world's largest supercomputers. However in the future conventional multicore processors are unlikely to be able to deliver the necessary performance per $ and per W to achieve exascale performance. Heterogeneous computing is emerging as a powerful alternative to conventional multi-core to help address these challenges. In this paper we describe our approach to Maximum Performance Computing - building applicationspecific computers which complement conventional x86 processors with high performance dataflow engines implemented on FPGA to provide 10-100x improvements in performance and performance/W. We describe the MaxCompiler programming system which allows software engineers to create dataflow engines optimized for their particular applications, and discuss an example application that has been accelerated using this methodology.