Enabling mixed-precision in spectral element codes
Yanxiang Chen, Pablo de Oliveira Castro, Paolo Bientinesi, Niclas Jansson, Roman Iakymchuk
Abstract
Mixed-precision computing has the potential to significantly reduce the cost of exascale computations, but determining when and how to implement it in programs can be challenging. In this article, we propose a methodology for enabling mixed-precision with the help of computer arithmetic tools, roofline model, and computer arithmetic techniques. As case studies, we consider Nekbone (Nek5000 developers), a mini-application for the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) solver Nek5000 (Fischer et al.), and a modern Neko (Jansson et al., 2024) CFD application. With the help of the Verificarlo (Denis et al., 2016) tool and computer arithmetic techniques, we introduce a strategy to address stagnation issues in the preconditioned Conjugate Gradient method in Nekbone and apply these insights to implement a mixed-precision version of Neko. We evaluate the derived mixed-precision versions of these codes by combining metrics in three dimensions: accuracy, time-to-solution, and energy-to-solution. Notably, mixed-precision in Nekbone reduces time-to-solution by roughly 1.62x and energy-to-solution by 2.43x on MareNostrum 5, while in the real-world Neko application, the gain is up to 1.3x in both time and energy, with the accuracy that matches double-precision results.