GPU-Accelerated PC Solves Complex Problems Hundreds of Times Faster Than Massive CPU-only Supercomputers

Russian scientists from Lomonosov Moscow State University used an ordinary GPU-accelerated desktop computer to solve complex quantum mechanics equations in just 15 minutes that would typically take two to three days on a large CPU-only supercomputer.
Senior researchers Vladimir Pomerantcev and Olga Rubtsova and professor Vladimir Kukulin used a GeForce GTX 670 with CUDA and the PGI CUDA Fortran Compiler to calculate equations formulated in the ‘60s by Russian mathematician Ludwig Faddeev that describe the scattering patterns of quantum particles. The approach described in the group’s research paper is based on a complete discretization of few-particle continuum and uses massively parallel computations to spread the calculations across thousands of different streams to successfully solve the problem on a single GPU.
“We reached the speed we couldn’t even dream of,” Kukulin said. “The program computes 260 million of complex double integrals on a desktop computer within three seconds only. No comparison with supercomputers! My  colleague from the University of Bochum in Germany, whose lab did the same, carried out the calculations by one of the largest supercomputers in Germany that is actually very expensive. And what his group is seeking for two or three days, we do in 15 minutes without spending a dime.”
This work opened new ways for the researchers to analyze nuclear reactions that could help solve large computing tasks in the field of plasma physics, geophysics, medicine, and many other areas of science.
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