High Performance Computing
The series of Lichtenberg high-performance computers at TU Darmstadt provides computing resources for researchers from academia and public research facilities in Germany. The multifaceted architecture of the high performance computer allows for flexible and efficient scientific computing, especially for computationally intensive applications.
The Lichtenberg II system
In 2020, the first expansion stage of the Lichtenberg II system with 643 computing nodes was put into operation; this will be expanded by 581 computing nodes with the second expansion stage. Together, the two expansion stages will provide a theoretical peak performance of approximately 8.5 petaflops per second (PFlop/s) through processors and 1.7 petaflops per second through accelerators. The main memory totals 563 terabytes, the storage system for data around 6 petabytes.
Highly efficient energy management concept
Energy-efficient computer systems and sustainable use are key goals for TU Darmstadt. For this reason, the waste heat from Lichtenberg II is not simply released into the environment, but during the heating period, a significant portion is fed into the district heating network that connects all buildings on the Lichtwiese campus.
For this purpose, Lichtenberg II uses direct and highly efficient hot water cooling to fully utilize the power of the processors. In the process, special heat exchangers and coolant distributors enable high return temperatures of more than 45 degrees Celsius to ensure sensible reuse of energy and efficient cooling. This leads to a significantly improved CO2 and energy balance and is an important step towards sustainable high-performance computing.
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Large Parts of Lichtenberg Phase 2 up and running
May 29, 2026
Continued work on the 2000A power rail
Today, the majority of the compute resources in LB2A2 has been brought up and is available again.
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HPC and Housing: Power Outage (non-UPS) in L5|08
May 20, 2026
Rearrangements on the 2000A power rail
For modification works on the 2000A power rail, this main power distribution rail needs to be switched off from the mains.
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Change of ssh host keys on the Lichtenberg
May 20, 2026
Today, all ssh host keys for the Lichtenberg nodes have been updated.