HPC Clusters¶
The ARC currently maintains five unique clusters including high density CPU, mixed use CPU/GPU, and GPU dedicated configurations. Here’s a quick hardware overview for each one.
For more info on using the clusters, see Cluster Operations, or for detailed cluster-specific specifications, see Cluster Specifications.
Quick Comparison¶
Cluster |
Nodes |
CPU Cores |
Max Memory |
GPUs |
Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1800 |
40/node |
192 GB/node |
None |
General CPU jobs |
|
1024 |
80/node |
512 GB/node |
None |
CPU-intensive, Memory-intensive |
|
8 |
128/node |
1 TB/node |
A100 80GB |
GPU/ML workloads |
|
258 |
48/node |
2 TB/node |
V100, A100, L40S |
Mixed GPU workloads |
|
104 |
64/node |
1 TB/node |
A100 80GB |
Large-scale GPU |
Choosing the Best Cluster¶
Shared Cluster with NOAA, CPU Based, Commissioned in 2019
Best for:
General-purpose CPU jobs
Standard workloads
Small-to-medium memory requirements (up to 384 GB/node)
SSH: ssh username@orion-login.hpc.msstate.edu
Open OnDemand: https://orion-ood.hpc.msstate.edu
Shared Cluster with NOAA, CPU Based, Commissioned in 2019
Best for:
CPU-intensive workloads
High-core count jobs (80c/160t per node)
Larger memory cpu jobs (up to 512 GB/node)
SSH: ssh username@hercules-login.hpc.msstate.edu
Open OnDemand: https://hercules-ood.hpc.msstate.edu
Cluster for University affiliate needs, GPU based, Commissioned in 2023
Best for:
GPU/ML workloads
Access to A100 (80GB) GPUs
MIG (Multi-Instance GPU) support
Single-GPU or multi-GPU jobs
SSH: ssh username@ptolemy-login.arc.msstate.edu
Open OnDemand: https://ptolemy-ood.arc.msstate.edu
Cluster for the USDA (ARS), Mixed CPU/GPU, Commissioned in 2020
Best for:
Mixed GPU workloads
Access to V100, A100, and L40S GPUs
Large memory requirements (up to 2 TB/node)
Flexible GPU configurations
SSH: ssh username@atlas-login.hpc.msstate.edu
Open OnDemand: https://atlas-ood.hpc.msstate.edu
Cluster for ARC affiliated need, Mixed CPU/GPU, Commissioned in 2026
Best for:
Mixed CPU/GPU workloads
Access to A100 (80GB) GPUs
SSH: ssh username@morrill-login.hpc.msstate.edu
Open OnDemand: https://morrill-ood.hpc.msstate.edu
Cluster Overview¶
Orion is a Dell/EMC PowerEdge C6420 cluster. Orion has 4 login nodes, 2 development nodes, 4 data-transfer nodes, and 1,800 compute nodes, 8 of which are large-memory nodes with increased RAM capacity.
The system as a whole provides:
72,000 Intel Xeon Gold 6148 processor cores @ 2.4 GHz
345 Terabytes (TB) of RAM
1,800 Compute Nodes (1,792 standard @ 192 GB, 8 large-memory @ 384 GB)
Mellanox HDR100 InfiniBand Interconnect (100 Gb/s node-to-node)
Orion has a peak performance of nearly 5.5 PetaFLOPS and debuted on the June 2019 TOP500 Supercomputer Sites list as the 62nd most powerful computer in the world and 4th fastest computer in U.S. academia. However, due to technical reasons the initial rankings were conducted on only 85% of the available nodes. Later benchmarking effort utilizing nearly all of the available nodes resulted in a ranking of 60th most powerful and 5th fastest computer in U.S. Academia on the November 2019 TOP500 Supercomputer Sites list.
Hercules is a Dell/EMC PowerEdge C6520 Linux cluster. Hercules has 4 login nodes, 2 development nodes, 4 data-transfer nodes, and 1,024 compute nodes. In 2025 Hercules was expanded with an additional 512 Dell PowerEdge C6600 compute nodes with Intel Sapphire-Rapids Processors.
The system as a whole provides:
40,960 Intel Xeon Platinum 8380 processor cores @ 2.3 GHz
40,960 Intel Xeon Platinum 8460Y+ processor cores @ 2.0GHz
512 Terabytes (TB) of RAM
1,024 Compute Nodes (512 + 512)
NVIDIA/Mellanox InfiniBand HDR/NDR Interconnect (200Gbit/s node-to-node)
Hercules has a peak performance of 3.01 PetaFLOPS, and debuted at 369th overall on the November 2022 TOP500 Supercomputer Sites list.
Ptolemy is an HPE Apollo 6500 Linux Cluster. Ptolemy has 2 login nodes, 2 development nodes, 1 data-transfer node, and 8 compute nodes, each equipped with 8 NVIDIA A100 GPUs. It uses NVIDIA/Mellanox HDR100 InfiniBand interconnect. The system as a whole provides:
8 Nodes
1,024 AMD EPYC Milan 7713 processor cores @ 2.0 GHz
8 Terabytes (TB) of RAM
64 NVIDIA A100 GPUs (80 GB ea.)
NVIDIA/Mellanox HDR200 Interconnect (200Gb/s node-to-node)
Ptolemy is funded by:
Offices of the President, Provost and Executive Vice President
Office of Research and Economic Development
The Division of Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine
The Division of Finance and Administration
Atlas is a Cray CS500 Linux cluster. Atlas has 2 login nodes, 2 development nodes, 2 data-transfer nodes, 228 standard compute nodes, 8 big memory nodes, and 21 GPU nodes with various Nvidia GPU configurations.
The system as a whole provides:
11,520 Intel Xeon Platinum 8260 (Cascade Lake) processor cores
768 Intel Xeon Gold 6548Y+ (Emerald Rapids) processor cores
640 AMD EPYC Milan 7713 processor cores
101 Terabytes (TB) of RAM
258 Compute Nodes (228 standard + 8 big memory + 21 GPU)
8 NVIDIA V100 GPUs (32 GB ea.)
40 NVIDIA A100 GPUs (80 GB ea.)
48 NVIDIA L40S GPUs (48 GB ea.)
Mellanox HDR100 InfiniBand Interconnect (100 Gb/s node-to-node)
The peak performance of Atlas is 565 TeraFLOPS. The system is a collaboration between Mississippi State University and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS).
Morrill is a heterogeneous Linux Cluster with Dell PowerEdge C6525 CPU nodes and HPE Apollo 6500 GPU nodes. Morrill has 2 login nodes, 2 development nodes, 1 data-transfer node, 100 total CPU compute nodes, and 4 GPU compute nodes equipped with 8 NVIDIA A100 GPUs each.
The system as a whole provides:
6,400 AMD EPYC Milan 7543 processor cores @ 2.8 GHz
512 AMD EPYC Milan 7713 processor cores @ 2.0 GHz
26 Terabytes (TB) of RAM
104 Compute Nodes (100 CPU + 4 GPU)
32 NVIDIA A100 GPUs (80 GB ea.)
NVIDIA Mellanox HDR100 InfiniBand Interconnect (100 Gb/s node-to-node)