NERSCPowering Scientific Discovery for 50 Years

NERSC History of Systems

Established in 1974 at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, NERSC was moved to Berkeley Lab in 1996 with a goal of increased interactions with the UC Berkeley campus.

NERSC Systems

System Name Installed Retired System Type CPU Type CPU Speed Number of Nodes SMP Cores Total Cores Aggregate Memory (GB) Avg. Memory/Core Interconnect Disk (TB) Avg. Power Linpack HPL (Top Rank) Peak TFlops/s
Perlmutter 2022   HPE Cray EX235n AMD EPYC 7763 64C 2.45GHZ, NVIDIA A100 SXM4 40 GB 2.45 GHz / 1.41 GHz 1,792 GPU-CPU / 3,072 Dual socket CPU 64 311,296 (CPU) 2.03 PB DDR) / 327 TB (HBM) 4 GB (CPU) HPE Cray Slingshot 11 35 PB  2.589 MW    93,750
Perlmutter Phase 1 2021   HPE Cray EX235n AMD EPYC 7763 64C 2.45GHZ, NVIDIA A100 SXM4 40 GB 2.45 GHz / 1.41 GHz 1,536 64   390 TB 4 GB (CPU) HPE Cray Slingshot 10 35 PB 2.528 MW 64,590 TF (5) 89,794
Cori 2016 May 31, 2023 Cray XC40 Intel Xeon Phi "KNL" 68-core  / Intel Xeon 16-core "Haswell" 1.4 GHz / 2.3 GHz 9,688 / 2,388 68 / 32 658,784 / 76,416 1.09 PB / 298.5 TB 1.65 / 4 GB Cray Aries 30,720 3.939 mW 14,014.7 TF (5) 27,880
Cori Phase 1 2015   Cray XC40 Intel Dual Socket Xeon 16-Core "Haswell" 2.3 GHz 1,630 32 52,160 207,872 4GB Aries 30,720      
Edison 2013 May 13, 2019 Cray XC30 Intel Xeon Dual Socket 12-Core "Ivy Bridge" 2.3 GHz 5,200 24 124,800 332,800 2.67GB Aries 7,741  3.747 mW  1.654  TF (18) 2,570
Hopper 2010 Dec. 15, 2015 Cray XE6 Opteron Hex-Core 2.1 GHz 6,384 24 153,216 216,832 1.3 GB Gemini 2,000  2,910 mW 1.054 TF (5) 1,288
Carver 2010 Sep. 30, 2015 IBM iDataPlex Intel Nehalem Quad-Core 2.6 GHz 400 8 3,200 9,600 3 GB 4X QDR InfiniBand NGF   36.856 TF (322) 42.656
Euclid 2010 Jan. 31, 2013 Sun Sunfire x4640 Opteron Hex-Core 2.6 GHz 1 48 48 512 10.7 GB   NGF     0.499
Hopper XT5 2009   Cray XT5 Opteron Quad-Core 2.4 GHz 664 8 5,312 10,524 2 GB SeaStar 2,000     50.995
Franklin QuadCore 2009 Apr. 30, 2012 Cray XT4 Opteron Quad-Core 2.3 GHz 9,572 4 38,288 76,576 2 GB SeaStar 436 1.6 mW 266.3 TF (8) 352
Franklin DualCore 2007   Cray XT4 Opteron Dual-Core 2.6 GHz 9,660 2 19,320 38,640 2 GB SeaStar 356   85.4 TF (9) 102
Bassi 2005 Apr. 7, 2010 IBM p575 POWER 5 Single-Core 1.9 GHz 111 8 888 3,552 4 GB IBM HPS 58 300 kW 6,415 MF (53) 6.7
Jacquard 2005 Apr. 7, 2010 LinuxNetworx Linux Cluster Opteron 2.2 GHz 356 2 712 2,136 3 GB InfiniBand 18 135 kW 2,215 MF (305) 3.1
DaVinci 2005 Jun. 16, 2010 SGI Altix Itanium 2 1.4 GHz 1 32 32 192 6 GB NUMA 22 6 kW   0.18
Seaborg II 2002 Jan. 7, 2008 IBM SP POWER 3+ 375 MHz 416 16 6,656 6,656 GB IBM Colony    800 kW 7,304 MF (5) 9.984
Seaborg I 2001   IBM SP POWER 3 375 MHz 208 16 3,328 3,328 1.0 GB IBM Colony     3,052 MF (2) 4.992
JWatson 1999 Oct. 1, 2002 Cray Y-MP J90 Cray CMOS 100 MHz 1 32 32 8 250 MB SMP       0.0064
FCrick 1999 Oct. 1, 2002 Cray Y-MP J90 Cray CMOS 100 MHz 1 32 32 8 250 MB SMP       0.0064
GSeaborg 1999   IBM SP Power3 200 POWER 3 200 MHz 256 2 512 256 0.5 GB IBM TB3MX 3.5   310 MF (30) 0.483
MCurie 1996 Oct. 1, 2002 Cray T3E-600 DEC Alpha 300 MHz 136 1 128 38 256 MB 3D Torus        
MCurie 1997   Cray T3E-900 DEC Alpha 450 MHz 696 1 696 173 256 MB 3D Torus 0.37   444 MF (5) 0.622
Pierre 1998   Cray T3E-900 DEC Alpha 450 MHz 152 1 152 38 256 MB 3D Torus     55.7 MF (34) 0.0768
Pierre 1997   Cray T3E600 DEC Alpha EV5 300 MHz 96 1 96 25 256 MB 3D Torus       0.0768
Franklin 1996 Oct. 1, 2002 Cray Y-MP J932/32-8192 Cray CMOS 100 MHz 1 32 32 8 250 MB SMP     5.8 MF (372) 0.0064
Killeen 1996 Oct. 1, 2002 Cray Y-MP J932/32-8192 Cray CMOS 100 MHz 1 32 32 8 250 MB SMP     5.8 MF (372) 0.0064
Bhaskara 1996  Oct. 1, 2002 Cray Y-MP J932/32-8192 Cray CMOS 100 MHz 1 32 32 8 250 MB SMP     5.8 MF (372) 0.0064
A 1992   Cray C90 Cray 238 MHz 1 16 16 2 125 MB SMP 0.15 368 kW 13.7 MF (99) 0.015
  1985   Cray 2 Cray 474 MHz 1 4                
  1978   Cray 1 Cray 83 MHz                    
  1975   CDC 7600 Control Data Corporation 36 MHz 9  1                
  1974   CDC 6600 Control Data Corporation 10 MHz 1  1                

NERSC in the Top 500

The TOP500 project ranks and details the 500 most powerful non-distributed computer systems in the world. The project was started in 1993 and publishes an updated list twice a year. The best Linpack benchmark performance achieved is used as a performance measure in ranking the computers.

Date Name System Type Cores Peak Rmax Rank
November 2023 Perlmutter HPE Cray EX 235n, AMD EPYC 7763 64C 2.45GHz, NVIDIA A100 SXM4 40 GB, Slingshot-11 888,832 113 PF 79.23 PF 12
June 2023 Perlmutter HPE Cray EX235n, AMD EPYC 7763 64C 2.45GHz, NVIDIA A100 SXM4 40 GB, Slingshot-10 761,856 93,750 TF 70,870 TF 8
November 2022 Perlmutter HPE Cray EX235n, AMD EPYC 7763 64C 2.45GHz, NVIDIA A100 SXM4 40 GB, Slingshot-10 761,856 93,750 TF 70,870 TF 8
November 2022 Cori Cray XC40, Intel Xeon Phi 7250 68C 1.4GHz, Aries interconnect 622,336 27,880.7 TF 14,014.7 TF 45
June 2022 Perlmutter HPE Cray EX235n, AMD EPYC 7763 64C 2.45GHz, NVIDIA A100 SXM4 40 GB, Slingshot-10 761,856 93,750 TF 70,870 TF 7
June 2022 Cori Cray XC40, Intel Xeon Phi 7250 68C 1.4GHz, Aries interconnect 622,336 27,880.7 TF 14,014.7 TF 41
November 2021 Perlmutter HPE Cray EX235n, AMD EPYC 7763 64C 2.45GHz, NVIDIA A100 SXM4 40 GB, Slingshot-10 761,856 93,750 TF 70,870 TF 5
November 2021 Cori Cray XC40, Intel Xeon Phi 7250 68C 1.4GHz, Aries interconnect 622,336 27,880.7 TF 14,014.7 TF 37
June 2021 Perlmutter HPE Cray EX235n, AMD EPYC 7763 64C 2.45GHz, NVIDIA A100 SXM4 40 GB, Slingshot-10 706,304 89,794 TF 64,590 TF 5
June 2021 Cori Cray XC40, Intel Xeon Phi 7250 68C 1.4GHz, Aries interconnect 622,336 27,880.7 TF 14,014.7 TF 30
November 2020 Cori Cray XC40, Intel Xeon Phi 7250 68C 1.4GHz, Aries interconnect 622,336 27,880.7 TF 14,014.7 TF 20
June 2020 Cori Cray XC40, Intel Xeon Phi 7250 68C 1.4GHz, Aries interconnect 622,336 27,880.7 TF 14,014.7 TF 16
November 2019 Cori Cray XC40, Intel Xeon Phi 7250 68C 1.4GHz, Aries interconnect 622,336 27,880.7 TF 14,014.7 TF 13
June 2019 Cori Cray XC40, Intel Xeon Phi 7250 68C 1.4GHz, Aries interconnect 622,336 27,880.7 TF 14,014.7 TF 14
June 2019 Edison Cray XC30, Intel Xeon E5-2695v2 12C 2.4GHz, Aries interconnect 133,824 2,569.4 TF 1,654.7 TF 177
November 2018 Cori Cray XC40, Intel Xeon Phi 7250 68C 1.4GHz, Aries interconnect 622,336 27,880.7 TF 14,014.7 TF 12
November 2018 Edison Cray XC30, Intel Xeon E5-2695v2 12C 2.4GHz, Aries interconnect 133,824 2,569.4 TF 1,654.7 TF 134
June 2018 Cori Cray XC40, Intel Xeon Phi 7250 68C 1.4GHz, Aries interconnect 622,336 27,880.7 TF 14,014.7 TF 10
June 2018 Edison Cray XC30, Intel Xeon E5-2695v2 12C 2.4GHz, Aries interconnect 133,824 2,569.4 TF 1,654.7 TF 104
November 2017 Cori Cray XC40, Intel Xeon Phi 7250 68C 1.4GHz, Aries interconnect 622,336 27,880.7 TF 14,014.7 TF 8
November 2017 Edison Cray XC30, Intel Xeon E5-2695v2 12C 2.4GHz, Aries interconnect 133,824 2,569.4 TF 1,654.7 TF 78
June 2017 Cori Cray XC40, Intel Xeon Phi 7250 68C 1.4GHz, Aries interconnect 622,336 27,880.7 TF 14,014.7 TF 6
June 2017 Edison Cray XC30, Intel Xeon E5-2695v2 12C 2.4GHz, Aries interconnect 133,824 2,569.4 TF 1,654.7 TF 72
November 2016 Cori Cray XC40, Intel Xeon Phi 7250 68C 1.4GHz, Aries interconnect 622,336 27,880.7 TF 14,014.7 TF 5
November 2016 Edison Cray XC30, Intel Xeon E5-2695v2 12C 2.4GHz, Aries interconnect 133,824 2,569.4 TF 1,654.7 TF 60
June 2016 Edison Cray XC30, Intel Xeon E5-2695v2 12C 2.4GHz, Aries interconnect 133,824 2,569.4 TF 1,654.7 TF 49
November 2015 Edison Cray XC30, Intel Xeon E5-2695v2 12C 2.4GHz, Aries interconnect 133,824 2,569.4 TF 1,654.7 TF 39
November 2015 Hopper Cray XE6, Opteron 6172 12C 2.10GHz 153,408 1,288.6 TF 1.054.0 TF 71
June 2015 Edison Cray XC30, Intel Xeon E5-2695v2 12C 2.4GHz, Aries interconnect 133,824 2,569.4 TF 1,654.7 TF 33
June 2015 Hopper Cray XE6, Opteron 6172 12C 2.10GHz 153,408 1,288.6 TF 1.054.0 TF 61
November 2014 Edison Cray XC30, Intel Xeon E5-2695v2 12C 2.4GHz, Aries interconnect 133,824 2,569.4 TF 1,654.7 TF 24
November 2014 Hopper Cray XE6, Opteron 6172 12C 2.10GHz 153,408 1,288.6 TF 1,054.0 TF 44
June 2014 Edison Cray XC30, Intel Xeon E5-2695v2 12C 2.4GHz, Aries interconnect 133,824 2,569.4 TF 1,654.7 TF 18
June 2014 Hopper Cray XE6, Opteron 6172 12C 2.10GHz 153,408 1,288.6 TF 1.054.0 TF 34
November 2013 Hopper Cray XE6, Opteron 6172 12C 2.10GHz 153,408 1,288.6 TF 1.054.0 TF 28
June 2013 Hopper Cray XE6, Opteron 6172 12C 2.10GHz 153,408 1,288.6 TF 1.054.0 TF 24
November 2012 Hopper Cray XE6 12-Core 2.1 GHz 153,216 1,288.6 TF 1,054.0 TF 19
June 2012 Hopper Cray XE6 12-Core 2.1 GHz 153,216 1,288.6 TF 1,054.0 TF 16
November 2011 Hopper Cray XE6 12-Core 2.1 GHz 153,216 1,288,6 TF 1,054.0 TF 8
November 2011 Franklin Cray XT4 QuadCore 2.3 GHz 38,642 355.5 TF 266.3 TF 38
June 2011 Hopper Cray XE6 12-Core 2.1 GHz 153,216 1,288.6 TF 1,054.0 TF 8
June 2011 Franklin Cray XT4 QuadCore 2.3 GHz 38,642 355.5 TF 266.3 TF 27
June 2011 Magellan iDataPlex, Xeon X55xx QC 2.66 GHz, Infiniband 4,960 52.9 TF 45.7 TF 382
November 2010 Hopper Cray XE6 12-Core 2.1 GHz 153,216 1,288.6 TF 1,054.0 TF 5
November 2010 Franklin Cray XT4 QuadCore 2.3 GHz 38,642 355,506 266 TF 26
November 2010 Magellan iDataPlex, Xeon X55xx QC 2.66 GHz, Infiniband 4,960 52,893 45.7 TF 194
November 2010 Carver iDataPlex, Xeon X55xx QC 2.66 GHz, Infiniband 4,000 42,656 36.9 TF 322
June 2010 Franklin Cray XT4 QuadCore 2.3 GHz 38,642 355,506 266 TF 17
November 2009 Franklin Cray XT4 QuadCore 2.3 GHz 38,642 355,506 266 TF 15
June 2009 Franklin Cray XT4 QuadCore 2.3 GHz 38,642 355,506 266 TF 11
November 2008 Franklin Cray XT4 QuadCore 2.3 GHz 38,642 355,506 266 TF 8
June 2008 Franklin Cray XT4, 2.6 GHz 19,320 100,464 85.4 TF 16
November 2007 Franklin Cray XT4, 2.6 GHz 19,320 100,464 85.4 TF 9
November 2007 Seaborg IBM SP Power3 375 MHz 16 way 6,656 9,984 7.3 TF 332
November 2007 Bassi IBM eServer pSeries p5 575 1.9 GHz 976 7,417 6.4 TF 424
June 2007 Seaborg IBM SP Power3 375 MHz 16 way 6,656 9,984 7.3 TF 158
June 2007 Bassi IBM eServer pSeries p5 575 1.9 GHz 976 7,417 6.4 TF 196
November 2006 Seaborg IBM SP Power3 375 MHz 16 way 6,656 9,984 7.3 TF 91
November 2006 Bassi IBM eServer pSeries p5 575 1.9 GHz 976 7,417 6.4 TF 102
June 2006 Seaborg IBM SP Power3 375 MHz 16 way 6,656 9,984 7.3 TF 61
June 2006 Bassi IBM eServer pSeries p5 575 1.9 GHz 976 7,417 6.4 TF 72
June 2006 Jacquard Opteron 2.2 GHz, Infiniband 630 2,772 2.1 TF 464
November 2005 Seaborg IBM SP Power3 375 MHz 16 way 6,656 9,984 7.3 TF 47
November 2005 Bassi IBM eServer pSeries p5 575 1.9 GHz 976 7,417 6.4 TF 53
November 2005 Jacquard Opteron 2.2 GHz, Infiniband 630 2,772 2.1 TF 305
June 2005 Seaborg IBM SP Power3 375 MHz 16 way 6,656 9,984 7.3 TF 36
November 2004 Seaborg IBM SP Power3 375 MHz 16 way 6,656 9,984 7.3 TF 21
June 2004 Seaborg IBM SP Power3 375 MHz 16 way 6,656 9,984 7.3 TF 14
November 2003 Seaborg IBM SP Power3 375 MHz 16 way 6,656 9,984 7.3 TF 9
June 2003 Seaborg IBM SP Power3 375 MHz 16 way 6,656 9,984 7.3 TF 5
November 2002 Seaborg IBM SP Power3 375 MHz 16 way 3,328 4,992 3.1 TF 12
June 2002 Seaborg IBM SP Power3 375 MHz 16 way 3,328 4,992 3.1 TF 5
June 2002 MCurie Cray T3E 900 692 622.8 444 GF 105
November 2001 Seaborg IBM SP Power3 375 MHz 16 way 3,052 4,992 3.1 TF 3
November 2001 MCurie Cray T3E 900 692 622.8 444 GF 67
June 2001 Seaborg IBM SP Power3 375 MHz 16 way 2,528 3,792 2.5 TF 2
June 2001 MCurie Cray T3E 900 692 622.8 444 GF 54
June 2001 GSeaborg IBM SP Power3 200 MHz 604 483.2 310 GF 77
June 2001 Alvarez IBM Netfinity Cluster PIII 866 MHz - Myrinet 160 139 81.4 GF 385
November 2000 MCurie Cray T3E 900 692 622.8 444 GF 42
November 2000 GSeaborg IBM SP Power3 200 MHz 604 483.2 310 GF 60
June 2000 MCurie Cray T3E 900 692 622.8 444 GF 34
June 2000 GSeaborg IBM SP Power3 200 MHz 604 483.2 310 GF 45
November 1999 MCurie Cray T3E 900 692 622.8 444 GF 23
November 1999 GSeaborg IBM SP Power3 200 MHz 604 483 310 GF 30
June 1999 MCurie Cray T3E 900 692 622.8 444 GF 17
November 1998 MCurie Cray T3E 900 692 622.8 444 GF 12
June 1998 MCurie Cray T3E 900 512 460.8 321 GF 8
June 1998 A Y-MP C916/16256 16 15.2 13.7 GF 488
November 1997 MCurie Cray T3E 900 512 461 265 GF 5
November 1997 A Y-MP C916/16256 16 15.2 13.7 GF 314
June 1997 Pierre Cray T3E 160 96.0 61.4 GF 37
June 1997 A Y-MP C916/16256 16 15.2 13.7 GF 212
November 1996 Pierre Cray T3E 128 76.8 50.4 GF 34
November 1996 A Y-MP C916/16256 16 15.2 13.7 GF 139
November 1996 Killeen Y-MP J932/32-8192 32 6.4 5.8 GF 372
November 1996 Franklin Y-MP J932/32-8192 32 6.4 5.8 GF 373
November 1996 Seymour Y-MP J932/32-8192 32 6.4 5.8 GF 374
June 1996 A Y-MP C916/16256 16 15.2 13.7 GF 99