Minstary of Higher Education and Scientific

Research
Al-Iraiqa University
College of Engineering
Computer Engineering Department

Parallel Processing

FLOPS

‫ علي عمر محمد عبد الحسين‬-: ‫األسم‬

‫ الرابعة‬-: ‫املرحلة‬
‫الدراسية الصباحية‬
‫ الحاسوب‬-: ‫القسم‬
Introduction:-
FLOPS is a measure of a computer's performance, specifically the
number of floating-point operations it can perform in a second.
Floating-point operations are a type of mathematical calculation that
involve numbers with decimal points, such as 3.14 or 0.0025. They
are commonly used in scientific and engineering applications, as
well as in other fields that require high-precision calculations.

Types of FLOPS:-
There are two types of FLOPS: single-precision (also known as
"float") and double-precision ("double"). Single-precision FLOPS are
faster but less accurate, while double-precision FLOPS are slower
but more accurate. The number of FLOPS that a computer can
perform is determined by its processor speed and the number of
processor cores it has.

Why FLOPS are useful?

FLOPS is a useful metric for comparing the performance of different
computers, especially when they are used for scientific or technical
applications that require a lot of floating-point calculations. It is commonly
used to benchmark the performance of supercomputers, which are some
of the most powerful computers in the world.

In addition to measuring the raw processing power of a computer, FLOPS

can also be used to measure the performance of specific applications or
algorithms. This can be useful for optimizing code and improving the
efficiency of a program.

• FLOPS is often used as a metric for comparing the performance of

different types of processors, such as CPUs (central processing units) and
GPUs (graphics processing units). CPUs are the primary processors in
most computers and are optimized for general-purpose computing tasks,
while GPUs are specialized processors that are designed to handle the
large number of calculations required for graphics rendering. In general,
GPUs are able to perform many more FLOPS than CPUs, which makes
them particularly well-suited for tasks that require a lot of parallel
processing, such as machine learning and scientific simulations.

• FLOPS is usually measured in millions (MFLOPS), billions (GFLOPS), or

trillions (TFLOPS) of operations per second. The speed of a computer's
processor is typically measured in gigahertz (GHz), which refers to the
number of cycles per second that the processor can execute. For example,
a processor with a clock speed of 3 GHz can perform about 3 billion cycles
per second. However, each cycle may involve multiple instructions, so the
actual number of FLOPS that a processor can perform will depend on the
specific instructions being executed and the architecture of the processor.

• The performance of a computer is not determined solely by its FLOPS.

Other factors, such as memory bandwidth and latency, can also have a
significant impact on a computer's overall performance. Additionally, the
software and algorithms being used can have a big impact on a
computer's performance. For example, a computer with a high FLOPS
rating might not perform as well as a computer with a lower FLOPS rating
if the software being used is not optimized for the hardware.

• There are a number of different ways to measure FLOPS, and the

specific method used can affect the results. For example, some
benchmarks may use different numbers of digits for the floating-point
numbers being used, or they may use different types of mathematical
operations. As a result, it is important to be aware of the specifics of the
benchmark being used when comparing the FLOPS of different systems.

The term "FLOPS" was first coined in the 1970s, when computer
performance was measured in terms of how many floating-point operations
per second a computer could perform. As computer technology has
advanced, the number of FLOPS that a computer can perform has
increased by orders of magnitude. Today, the most powerful
supercomputers can perform over a thousand trillion FLOPS, or
petaFLOPS (PFLOPS).

• FLOPS is often used in conjunction with other measures of performance,

such as "CPU benchmark scores" or "Geekbench scores." These scores
are typically generated using a variety of different benchmarks, each of
which tests different aspects of a computer's performance. For example, a
CPU benchmark might test a processor's speed at performing floating-
point calculations, while a Geekbench score might measure a processor's
speed at performing a variety of different types of calculations.

• FLOPS is not the only measure of a computer's performance. Other

measures, such as "MIPS" (millions of instructions per second) or "IOPS"
(input/output operations per second) may also be used to evaluate a
computer's performance. The specific metric used will depend on the
specific application or workload being run on the computer.

• In addition to being used to measure the performance of computers,

FLOPS can also be used to measure the performance of other types of
hardware, such as mobile phones, tablets, and gaming consoles. In these
cases, FLOPS is typically used as a measure of the device's graphical
processing capabilities, rather than its overall performance.

• The speed at which a computer can perform floating-point operations is

determined by a variety of factors, including the processor's architecture,
clock speed, and the number of processor cores. Processor architectures
that are optimized for floating-point calculations, such as those used in
many supercomputers, can perform FLOPS more efficiently than
architectures that are not optimized for this type of calculation. Similarly,
processors with higher clock speeds and more cores can generally
perform more FLOPS than processors with lower clock speeds and fewer
cores.

• In addition to measuring the raw processing power of a computer,

FLOPS can also be used to measure the performance of specific
applications or algorithms. This can be useful for optimizing code and
improving the efficiency of a program. For example, a computer scientist
might use FLOPS to measure the performance of an algorithm that is used
to analyze large data sets, with the goal of finding ways to make the
algorithm run more efficiently.

• The use of FLOPS as a measure of performance has some limitations.

For example, it does not take into account the specific instructions being
executed or the memory access patterns of a program. As a result, it may
not accurately reflect the performance of a specific application or workload.

• In the field of high-performance computing (HPC), FLOPS is often used

as a measure of the performance of supercomputers. These are some of
the most powerful computers in the world, and they are used for a wide
range of scientific and technical applications, including weather
forecasting, oil and gas exploration, and molecular modeling. The top
supercomputers in the world are ranked based on their FLOPS
performance using a benchmark called the "Top500."
Reference:-
1. "Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach" by John L. Hennessy and
David A. Patterson ( textbook)
2. "An Introduction to High-Performance Scientific Computing" by Lloyd D.
Fosdick, Elizabeth R. Jessup, and Carole J. McMartin (textbook)
3. "Floating-Point Computation" by Jon L. Bentley (technical paper)
4. "Optimization of Matrix-Matrix Multiplication for High-Performance
Computers" by J.J. Dongarra, J. Du Croz, S. Hammarling, and R.J.
Hanson (technical paper)
5. "The FLOPS Benchmark and Its Use in the Evaluation of Supercomputing
Systems" by P.M. Moriarty and J.L. Hennessy (technical paper)