Comparison of different computer platforms for running the Versatile Advection Code

The Versatile Advection Code is a general tool for solving hydrodynamical and magnetohydrodynamical problems arising in astrophysics. We compare the performance of the code on different computer platforms, including work stations and vector and parallel supercomputers. Good parallel scaling can be achieved with the data parallelism expressed in High Performance Fortran. With the aid of the automatic preprocessors, the same source code can be compiled with Fortran 77, Fortran 90, and High Performance Fortran compilers and the code can be run efficiently on computers ranging from a Linux PC to the Gray C90 and Gray T3E. Optimization for different machines and compilers is discussed.