Computer History 1988 - 2010
Due to the increase in computing capacity during the last decades, tremendous improvements could be made to climate simulations. The CDC Cyber-205, which was used during the time of DKRZ's foundation in 1988, only allowed the simulation of either the atmosphere or ocean. The grid was coarse and the simulation periods had to be short. But even today, with one of the most powerful computers internationally used for climate research, the quality and fidelity of the simulations is limited by the computing ressources available.
https://www.dkrz.de/en/communication/galerie/Media-DKRZ/rechnerhistorie-1988-2010
https://www.dkrz.de/@@site-logo/dkrz.svg
A brief listing with technical information on the systems illustrates the increase in computing power and memory size.
CDC Cyber-205
1988-1989: CDC Cyber-205
CDC Cyber-205 & Cyber 180
1988: CDC Cyber-205 und Cyber-180
Cray 2S
1988-1994: Cray 2S
Cray YMP
1991-1995: Cray YMP
Convex C38xx
1991-1998: Convex C38xx
Cray C916
1994-2001: Cray C916
Cray T3D
1994-2000: Cray T3D
NEC SX-4
2001-2002: NEC SX-4
NEC SX-6
2002-2009: NEC SX-6
Sun Cluster
2008-2012: SUN Fire X2200M Cluster
IBM Power6
2009-2015: IBM Power6 p375
Atos/Bull bullx B700 DLC
2015-... : Atos/Bull bullx B700 DLC