Implementing an affordable high-performance computing for teaching-oriented computer science curriculum

Abstract

With the advances in computing power, high-performance computing (HPC) platforms have had an impact on not only scientific research in advanced organizations but also computer science curriculum in the educational community. For example, multicore programming and parallel systems are highly desired courses in the computer science major. However, the high cost of HPC equipment and maintenance makes it hard to be adapted into a conventional computer science curriculum. Specifically, teaching-oriented institutions cannot afford an HPC system due to the high cost, lack of experience, and smaller research infrastructure. The main objective of this article is to present an affordable and easy-to-use high-performance cluster system for teaching-oriented computer science curriculums. In order to address this, we have designed and implemented an affordable high-performance cluster system based on the PlayStation 3 (PS3). For the performance evaluation of the PS3 cluster, we conducted a benchmarking test, that is, matrix multiplication, with different numbers of synergistic processing elements (SPEs) and nodes. As a result, it was concluded that the PS3Cluster provides enough computing power as an HPC for computer science courses, while the total cost is less than 10% of an existing cluster system on the market that has similar performance. In addition, the implemented PS3Cluster system has been used for computer science courses, such as Parallel and Distributed Databases and Parallel Programming.