ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the architecture, technology and performance of several pipelined computers. It discusses the models of the CRAY series of supercomputers, that is to say the CRAY X-MP and CRAY-2. The most striking feature of all CRAY computers is their small size. At the centre is the CRAY X-MP itself which is housed in the same three-quarter cylindrical mounting that has been a characteristic of the earlier CRAY-1 and CRAY-IS computers. The CRAY X-MP obtains it high performance, in part, from the compact arrangement of its circuit boards that leads to short signal paths and propagation delays. The overall architecture of the CRAY X-MP can be described as one, two or four CRAY-1-like cpus sharing a common memory of up to 8 Mwords. In 1983/4 three Japanese manufacturers Fujitsu, Hitachi and NEC announced pipelined vector computers that combined the best features from the CRAY-1 and CYBER 205 machines.
