Supercomputers/Systems/Lemieux
USA · decommissioned · hpc
Lemieux
Also known as PSC Terascale Computing System, TCS
Operated by PSC .
Phase 1 seed dataset, compiled by hand. These rows were built from public operator, laboratory and vendor sources. A mechanical second-reader pass has since fetched every cited source: 1092 of 1153 systems have a readable citation that names them, and 40 are genuinely weakly sourced. Every claim carries its source and a confidence tier. Treat anything below verified as a lead, not a citation.
Measured performance
- Rmax
- 4.46 TFlop/s
- Rpeak
- 6.03 TFlop/s
- Rmax ÷ Rpeak
- 74.0%
- Cores
- 3,016
- Power
- -
- Per watt
- - GF/W
Figures are as last publicly reported for the configuration described below, not a live measurement. Where a system was upgraded in place, the post-upgrade configuration is shown and the earlier one appears in the timeline.
What this machine is made of
One row per supplier relationship. “Supplier at build” is the company that shipped the part at the time; where that company has since been acquired, the parent it rolls up to today is shown beside it. That distinction is what makes ticker-level aggregation possible across a thirty-year dataset.
| Role | Part | Supplier at build | Quantity | Confidence | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Integrator | - Compaq AlphaServer SC45 (610 ES45 compute nodes) | Compaq HPENYSE
rolls up to Hewlett Packard Enterprise | - | Reported | psc.edutop500.org |
| CPU | DEC Alpha 21264 (EV68) CPUs Alpha · 1C · 1.25 GHz · 180 nm 1 GHz Alpha EV68, four per ES45 node | Digital Equipment Corporation HPENYSE
rolls up to Hewlett Packard Enterprise | - | Reported | psc.edutop500.org |
| Interconnect | Quadrics QsNet Interconnect Fat tree · 340 MB/s per direction · About 2 microseconds Dual-rail Quadrics interconnect | Quadrics | - | Reported | psc.edutop500.org |
| Operating system | Compaq Tru64 UNIX Operating systems Unix (OSF/1-derived) · Proprietary Tru64 UNIX | Compaq HPENYSE
rolls up to Hewlett Packard Enterprise | - | Reported | psc.edutop500.org |
The read
The Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center's Terascale Computing System, called the most powerful system in the world committed to unclassified research when it was installed in 2001. PSC describes 610 Compaq AlphaServer ES45 compute nodes of four 1 GHz Alpha EV68 processors each on a dual-rail Quadrics interconnect under Tru64 UNIX, and says it was decommissioned in 2006. TOP500 counts 3,016 cores and 4,463 GFlop/s Rmax, third on the June 2002 list, and kept it listed through June 2007. PSC's page gives no site beyond the centre, so no site is linked. TOP500 is the only source for Rmax, so the tier is reported.
Timeline
- 2001 First operational source
- 2002-06 List debut at #3 (June 2002) source
- 2006 Decommissioned source
Public list appearances
Pointers only: rank and edition, linking to the canonical entry. We do not reproduce list tables. See sourcing policy.
Change history
- 2026-10-02 Added Lemieux, PSC's Terascale Computing System, third on the June 2002 TOP500
Source check
We fetched this system's own citations and recorded whether each page actually mentions it. This is a corroboration signal, not a fact check, and it is published so you can see how well the sourcing holds up rather than take it on trust.
| Cited source | Result | Found on the page |
|---|---|---|
| top500.org | does not name this system | Quadrics QsNet |
| psc.edu | names system and part | Quadrics QsNet, Compaq Tru64 UNIX |
Checked 2026-10-09 by pnpm verify. Re-run it and the table changes with the web.
Further reading
Inside a node
Latency-optimised versus throughput-optimised processors, NUMA, and the end of the host-to-device copy.
The interconnect
Topologies, why latency and tail behaviour matter more than bandwidth, and how the fabric market consolidated.
Programming a supercomputer
The software stack beneath the application, and why the OS is now a sovereignty signal as much as a technical choice.