El Capitan ranked No. 1 on the November 2024 TOP500 list with a measured High Performance Linpack (HPL) result of 1,742 petaflops per second (PFlop/s), or 1.742 exaflops. That is a dated ranking milestone, not its current position: TOP500’s June 2026 entry lists El Capitan at No. 2, with a remeasured HPL result of 1,809 PFlop/s. HPE built the system for Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) using AMD processors and accelerators.
What is the El Capitan supercomputer?
El Capitan is a national-laboratory supercomputer installed at LLNL in California. HPE identifies its platform as the HPE Cray EX255a; TOP500 lists AMD 4th Gen EPYC processors, AMD Instinct MI300A accelerators, and Slingshot-11 networking. LLNL operates the system for U.S. Department of Energy and National Nuclear Security Administration missions. HPE says those include work on the safety, security, reliability, and modernization of the nuclear stockpile, alongside research in materials discovery, nuclear data, high-energy-density science, and fusion. Those are intended mission and research benefits described by HPE, not outcomes measured by the TOP500 ranking.
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What HPE and AMD contribute
HPE supplied the system platform and integration. AMD supplied the EPYC processors and Instinct MI300A accelerated processing units (APUs). HPE describes each MI300A as combining CPU cores, GPU cores, and high-bandwidth memory in one package. HPE also describes a Slingshot Ethernet-based fabric connecting more than 11,000 nodes, custom near-node storage, and a global Lustre-based file system. These are vendor descriptions of the system design.
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How fast is El Capitan?
For the November 2024 ranking, TOP500 reported a measured HPL performance (Rmax) of 1,742.00 PFlop/s and a theoretical peak (Rpeak) of 2,746.38 PFlop/s. The measured result is the figure behind the No. 1 ranking. Rpeak is a theoretical system peak, not the benchmark result.
#1 Best Overall
- Number of Processors Installed: 1
- Processor Manufacturer: Intel
- Processor Series: Silver
- Processor Model: 4514Y
- Processor Core: Hexadeca-core (16 Core)
TOP500’s June 2026 system record lists a remeasured HPL result of 1,809.00 PFlop/s and a theoretical peak of 2,821.10 PFlop/s. That edition places El Capitan at No. 2. Comparing results across editions, rather than repeating the 2024 headline as a present-tense rank, is essential.
What the November 2024 TOP500 numbers show
| TOP500 edition and rank | HPL measured (Rmax) | Theoretical peak (Rpeak) | Cores | Power |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| November 2024, No. 1 | 1,742.00 PFlop/s | 2,746.38 PFlop/s | 11,039,616 | 29,580.98 kW (about 29,581 kW) |
| June 2026, No. 2 | 1,809.00 PFlop/s | 2,821.10 PFlop/s | 11,340,000 | 29,684.62 kW |
Both rows are TOP500 entries for El Capitan; the rank and measurements belong to their stated list editions. The reported core count and power also differ between the entries, so figures should not be mixed across them.
How did El Capitan top the TOP500?
TOP500 ranks systems using HPL, a benchmark that measures performance on a dense system of linear equations. In the November 2024 edition, El Capitan’s 1,742 PFlop/s measured result was higher than the other listed systems. It was one of three DOE-laboratory machines above one exaflop on HPL in that edition.
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|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | El Capitan | 1,742 PFlop/s | TOP500 November 2024 result |
| 2 | Frontier | 1,353 PFlop/s | TOP500 November 2024 result |
| 3 | Aurora | 1,012 PFlop/s | TOP500 described this as a preliminary measurement |
The comparison is specific to the November 2024 list; it does not establish a timeless order or a ranking on other workloads. TOP500’s November highlights page reports El Capitan efficiency at 60.3 gigaflops per watt, while HPE’s November 18, 2024 announcement gives 58.89 gigaflops per watt. The November TOP500 performance and power figures imply roughly 58.9 gigaflops per watt, so the published 60.3 figure does not align with that simple calculation. These figures should not be treated as interchangeable.
Rank #3
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- Dual (2) Xeon Gold 6430 32-Core 2.10 GHz, 60MB Cache, Up To 3.40 GHz Turbo
- Memory: 512GB (16 x 32GB) DDR5-4800MHz PC5-38400 ECC Buffered Memory
- Storage: 61.44TB (8 x 7.68TB) Enterprise 2.5” SATA III 6Gb/s SSDs for Ultra Fast Storage. Server 2022 Standard 64-bit - License - 16 Cores 2
- Hard drives and memory upgrades included separately not installed, installation required.
Why the system matters beyond its rank
El Capitan is institutional infrastructure rather than a consumer computer. Its stated purpose centers on LLNL and DOE/NNSA scientific and national-security work. AMD quotes Rob Neely, director of LLNL’s Advanced Simulation and Computing program, saying the system is crucial to the National Nuclear Security Administration’s mission and supports large ensembles of high-fidelity 3D simulations. That is Neely’s assessment, conveyed through AMD’s announcement.
HPE executive Trish Damkroger described the system as a milestone for exascale computing and pointed to potential uses in AI-assisted scientific discovery, national security, and renewable energy. Such statements communicate the vendor’s intended impact; the TOP500 result itself establishes benchmark performance and rank, not scientific breakthroughs or mission outcomes.
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Rank #4
- 【AMD Ryzen 3 5300U CPU: Outperforms N150 & 3500U】 BOSGAME E5 mini PC is powered by the TSMC 7nm FinFET architecture AMD Ryzen 3 5300U processor (4 Cores, 8 Threads, up to 3.8GHz boost, 6MB total cache). Compared to low-end Intel N150 or 3500U chips which only have 4 single threads and throttle under load, the 5300U delivers over 30% faster multi-core speed. Run 30+ browser tabs, large Excel sheets, and Zoom meetings simultaneously without system lag.
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- 【High-Capacity Dual M.2 SSD Storage Expansion】 Never worry about running out of space for your business files. In addition to the pre-installed 256GB system drive, the motherboard houses an extra empty internal M.2 2280 NVMe PCIe 3.0 slot. This allows you to easily add a second solid-state drive for up to an additional 2TB of storage capacity (upgrades not included) without needing to remove or reinstall the original operating system.
- 【Radeon 6-Core Graphics & Triple 4K Displays】 Integrated with official AMD Radeon Graphics (6 Graphics Cores, 1500 MHz frequency) for casual gaming, photo editing, and crisp 4K media decoding. Featuring 1x HDMI 2.0 port, 1x DisplayPort, and 1x Full-Function Type-C port, the E5 outputs true 4K@60Hz resolution to three monitors at once. This multi-screen setup eliminates constant window-switching for traders, programmers, and office workers.
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Sources and scope
- TOP500 El Capitan system record for system details and list history.
- TOP500 November 2024 list for that edition’s rank and measurements.
- TOP500 November 2024 highlights for its reported efficiency figure and ranking context.
- HPE’s November 18, 2024 announcement for vendor descriptions of system design, purpose, and attributed efficiency.
- AMD’s November 18, 2024 announcement for AMD’s account and the attributed LLNL statement.
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