Supercomputers/Systems/Roadrunner
USA · decommissioned · classified
Roadrunner
Operated by Los Alamos National Laboratory at Los Alamos Strategic Computing Complex.
Phase 1 seed dataset — under review. These rows were compiled by hand from public operator, laboratory and vendor sources, and have not yet been through a second-reader verification pass. Every claim carries its source and a confidence tier; treat anything below verified as a lead, not a citation.
Measured performance
- Rmax
- 1.03 PFlop/s
- Rpeak
- 1.38 PFlop/s
- Rmax ÷ Rpeak
- 74.6%
- Cores
- 122,400
- Power
- 2.35 MW
- Per watt
- 0.4 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 | — IBM BladeCenter QS22/LS21 | IBM | — | Reported | ibm.comlanl.gov |
| Accelerator | IBM PowerXCell 8i Accelerators IBM PowerXCell 8i | IBM | — | Reported | ibm.comlanl.gov |
| CPU | AMD Opteron 2210 (Santa Rosa) CPUs AMD Opteron dual-core, hybrid tri-blade | AMD | — | Estimated | ibm.comlanl.gov |
| Interconnect | Mellanox InfiniBand DDR Interconnect InfiniBand DDR | Mellanox NVDANASDAQ rolls up to NVIDIA | — | Reported | ibm.comlanl.gov |
The read
The first petaflop machine, and the first heterogeneous one: AMD Opteron host processors paired with IBM PowerXCell 8i accelerators in a hybrid tri-blade. The accelerator/host split it introduced is now the default architecture for essentially everything on this site. The Cell line itself did not survive — an early demonstration that being first in the accelerator role does not confer durable share.
Timeline
- 2006 Announced source
- 2008-06 List debut at #1 (June 2008) source
- 2008-06 First operational source
- 2013-03 Decommissioned source
Public list appearances
Pointers only — rank and edition, linking to the canonical entry. We do not reproduce list tables. See sourcing policy.
Site & facility
Los Alamos Strategic Computing Complex
- Location
- Los Alamos, NM, USA
- Cooling
- Chilled water
- Commissioned
- 1993