Abstract
In this paper we study the sorting performance of a 128-processor CRAY T3D and discuss the efficient use of the toroidal network connecting the processors. The problems we consider range from that of sorting one word per processor to sorting the entire memory of the machine, and we give efficient algorithms for each case. In addition, we give both algorithms that make assumptions about the distribution of the data and those that make no assumptions. The clear winner, if data can be assumed to be uniformly distributed, is a method that we call a hash-and-chain sort. The time for this algorithm to sort one million words per processor over 64 processors is less than two seconds, which compares favorably to about four seconds using a 4-processor CRAY C90 and about 17 seconds using a 64-processor Thinking Machines CM-5.
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Dixon, B., Swallow, J. High-performance sorting algorithms for the CRAY T3D parallel computer. J Supercomput 10, 371–395 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00227864
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00227864