Premium
Grid‐based algorithm to search critical points, in the electron density, accelerated by graphics processing units
Author(s) -
HernándezEsparza Raymundo,
MejíaChica SolMilena,
ZapataEscobar Andy D.,
GuevaraGarcía Alfredo,
MartínezMelchor Apolinar,
HernándezPérez JulioM.,
Vargas Rubicelia,
Garza Jorge
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of computational chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.907
H-Index - 188
eISSN - 1096-987X
pISSN - 0192-8651
DOI - 10.1002/jcc.23752
Subject(s) - computer science , graphics , parallel computing , grid , cuda , general purpose computing on graphics processing units , graphics processing unit , computational science , implementation , computer graphics (images) , mathematics , geometry , programming language
Using a grid‐based method to search the critical points in electron density, we show how to accelerate such a method with graphics processing units (GPUs). When the GPU implementation is contrasted with that used on central processing units (CPUs), we found a large difference between the time elapsed by both implementations: the smallest time is observed when GPUs are used. We tested two GPUs, one related with video games and other used for high‐performance computing (HPC). By the side of the CPUs, two processors were tested, one used in common personal computers and other used for HPC, both of last generation. Although our parallel algorithm scales quite well on CPUs, the same implementation on GPUs runs around 10× faster than 16 CPUs, with any of the tested GPUs and CPUs. We have found what one GPU dedicated for video games can be used without any problem for our application, delivering a remarkable performance, in fact; this GPU competes against one HPC GPU, in particular when single‐precision is used. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.