Agate Upgrade Boosts AI Research at UMN
The Minnesota Supercomputing Institute (MSI) has upgraded its high-performance computing cluster Agate. The upgrade greatly expands MSI's capacity for AI-related research and introduces new capabilities previously unavailable on its original systems. The system consists of 80 cutting-edge nodes and the latest NVIDIA Graphics Processing Units (GPUs). AI workloads depend on GPUs for training and inference and this mid-cycle upgrade bridges a gap and positions MSI for its major system upgrade in 2027. The new nodes feature AMD CPUs and the new H100 and L40S GPU accelerators from NVIDIA. The H100s are set up for double-precision calculations, while the L40S accelerators specialize in single-precision calculations.
Dr. Benjamin Lynch, Director of MSI, noted that “The expansion of the Agate cluster represents a significant step forward in our commitment to supporting the research community. With increased capacity, we can better serve the more than 1,000 projects that rely on MSI’s advanced computing resources. This enhancement ensures that researchers across disciplines have access to the computational power they need to drive discovery and innovation."
Dr. James Wilgenbusch, Director of MSI’s parent organization Research Computing, said “UMN faculty and students have made significant contributions to the transformative developments in AI that we enjoy today. The mid-cycle upgrade of the Agate supercomputer provides the resources needed to make new breakthroughs possible, which paves the way for new developments and discoveries.”
The new systems necessitate substantial infrastructure upgrades to meet electrical and cooling demands. To optimize efficiency, direct liquid-cooled racks have been installed, paving the way for future systems at MSI. Throughout 2024, MSI staff collaborated with facilities management to plan, prepare, and install a completely new uninterruptible power supply while also overhauling the electrical distribution system in the data center and surrounding building spaces to support this and future upgrades. Everyone on the team is excited to see this upgrade go into production, not only for what it will do to help the current demands for processing but also because it will help MSI address future and emerging needs.
Image description: Closeup of Agate.
