What is a Teraflop?

Are you on the hunt for a new graphics card but feeling lost in the sea of options? It can be overwhelming trying to compare specs and features, especially when you come across terms like “teraflop rating.” What exactly does it mean and why is it important?

A teraflop rating is a measurement of your GPU’s performance and can make all the difference when you’re trying to choose the right graphics card. Understanding teraflops (TFLOPS) is crucial when it comes to making an informed decision about which card will give you the best performance for your needs.

When it comes to measuring computer performance, gigahertz (GHz) has been a popular metric for clock speed. However, teraflops (TFLOP) offer a more direct mathematical measurement of a computer’s capability. A teraflop is the ability of a processor to handle one trillion floating-point operations per second. For example, a computer with “6 TFLOPS” can perform 6 trillion calculations per second on average.

The Xbox Series X custom processor from Microsoft is rated at 12 TFLOPs, making it capable of performing 12 trillion calculations per second. In comparison, the AMD Radeon Pro GPU in Apple’s 16-inch MacBook Pro can handle up to 4 teraflops, while the redesigned Mac Pro (introduced in 2019) can reach up to 56 teraflops of power. Knowing the teraflop rating of a graphics card can be crucial when comparing options.

Computational power of computers is often measured through floating-point calculations, which have become a widely recognized international standard. Floating-point numbers encompass integers, decimals, and even irrational numbers such as pi. Any finite computation that utilizes floating-point numbers, particularly decimals, is considered a floating-point calculation. This approach is far more practical than relying solely on fixed-point calculations, which are limited to whole integers. As computing frequently involves finite floating-point numbers and their real-world complexities, this methodology provides a more accurate gauge of a computer’s capabilities.

When it comes to measuring a processor’s computational power, FLOPS is the standard metric that quantifies the number of equations involving floating-point numbers that can be solved within one second. The amount of FLOPS required by different devices varies significantly. A conventional calculator, for instance, may only require around 10 FLOPS to complete all its operations. However, the power we are referring to becomes apparent when we consider megaflops (one million floating-point calculations), gigaflops (one billion), and teraflops (one trillion).

To communicate the overall speed and performance of computers, manufacturers frequently incorporate FLOPS as a specification.  However, if you have a custom-built machine and really want to brag about its teraflops, too, then there’s a pretty simple equation that you can use to figure it out:

FLOPs = sockets x cores/socket x clock x FLOPs/Cycle

Although it is commonly believed that GPUs with higher teraflops offer better performance, there are instances where this assumption is not accurate. This is akin to the relationship between wattage and performance, where multiple factors can impact the final outcome.

Teraflops are just one factor to consider, in addition to core speed, processors and frame buffers.

TFLOPS offer faster speeds and enhanced graphics, surpassing the computing capabilities of previous years. In the past, several devices were unable to achieve a single TFLOP level, whereas today, 56 is considered a standard unit.

The prospect of supercomputers with over 100 petaflops (equivalent to one thousand teraflops) is fast becoming a reality. The existing record is held by Fugaku, a supercomputer from Japan, boasting an impressive 442 petaflops.