Evaluating the cell broadband engine as a platform to run estimation of distribution algorithms

Current consumer-grade computers and game devices incor-porate very powerful processors that can be used to acceler-ate many classes of scientific codes. However, programming multi-core chips, hybrid multi-processors or graphical pro-cessing units is not an easy task for those programmers that deal mainly with sequential codes. In this paper, we explore the ability of the Cell Broadband Engine to run a particu-lar Estimation of Distribution Algorithm. From an initial sequential version, we develop a multi-threaded one that is afterwards reworked to run on a Cell. The multi-threaded version is capable of efficiently use current multi-core chips, such as those used in desktop PCs. However, the efficiency of the Cell version is very low. We analyze the causes of these discouraging results, and provide some clues about the class of problems that could be efficiently ported to the Cell