Supercomputers/Systems/Osaka SX-5/128M8
Japan · operational · hpc
Osaka SX-5/128M8
Also known as NEC SX-5 at Osaka University (CMC, ILE, RCNP)
Operated by D3 Center, Osaka University .
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
- 1.19 TFlop/s
- Rpeak
- 1.28 TFlop/s
- Rmax ÷ Rpeak
- 93.1%
- Cores
- 128
- 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 | - NEC built the SX-5 | NEC | - | Reported | rcnp.osaka-u.ac.jptop500.org |
| CPU | - NEC SX-5 vector processors, 16 processors in each of 8 nodes | NEC | 128 reported | Reported | rcnp.osaka-u.ac.jptop500.org |
| Operating system | NEC SUPER-UX Operating systems Unix (NEC SX-proprietary) · Proprietary NEC SUPER-UX operating system | NEC | - | Reported | top500.org |
The read
NEC SX-5 vector-parallel supercomputer shared by Osaka University's Cybermedia Center, Institute of Laser Engineering and Research Center for Nuclear Physics. The RCNP page says it was placed on 26 December 2000 and began official operation on 5 January 2001, as the successor to an SX-4 the three centres had run since January 1997, and describes 8 nodes of 16 processors. TOP500 lists 128 cores at 1,280 GFlop/s Rpeak and 1,192 GFlop/s Rmax on a multi-stage crossbar under Super-UX, eighth on the June 2001 list and last at rank 489 in June 2005 (https://www.top500.org/system/170921/). The Cybermedia Center is now part of the D3 Center. RCNP's page gives no shutdown date, so status is recorded as of the last list appearance. TOP500 is the only source for Rmax, so the tier is reported.
Timeline
Public list appearances
Pointers only: rank and edition, linking to the canonical entry. We do not reproduce list tables. See sourcing policy.
Change history
- 2026-10-09 Added Osaka SX-5/128M8
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 |
|---|---|---|
| rcnp.osaka-u.ac.jp | names system only | - |
| top500.org | names system and part | NEC SUPER-UX |
Checked 2026-10-09 by pnpm verify. Re-run it and the table changes with the web.
Further reading
Operating a supercomputer
Acceptance testing, why "installed" and "in production" are six months apart, and the machine lifecycle.
Inside a node
Latency-optimised versus throughput-optimised processors, NUMA, and the end of the host-to-device copy.
Programming a supercomputer
The software stack beneath the application, and why the OS is now a sovereignty signal as much as a technical choice.