Patent ID: 8132031

Claim:
A method of optimizing power consumption of a parallel computing system of the type that includes a plurality of computing nodes configured to process a workload, the method comprising: respectively executing a plurality of parts of the workload on the plurality of computing nodes in the parallel computing system, including concurrently executing a first part of the workload on a first computing node among the plurality of computing nodes and a second part of the workload on a second computing node among the plurality of computing nodes; and selectively throttling performance of the first computing node during execution of the first part of the workload to decrease power consumption of the first computing node and to conform a completion time for the first computing node in completing the first part of the workload with a completion time for the second computing node in completing the second part of the workload, wherein selectively throttling performance of the first computing node further comprises: generating a first node completion time, wherein the first node completion time indicates a first estimated completion time for the first computing node in completing the first part of the workload at full performance; generating a second node completion time, wherein the second node completion time indicates a second estimated completion time for the second computing node in completing the second part of the workload at full performance; comparing the first and second node completion times; and based upon the comparison of the first and second node completion times, selectively throttling the first computing node to decrease execution speed of the first part of the workload to consume a portion of time that would otherwise exist between the first and second node completion times.