LiDO4 Makes the Leap into International HPC Rankings
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At ISC High Performance 2026 in Hamburg, LiDO4 was ranked 417th on the current TOP500 list [1]. This marks the second time that a central Linux HPC cluster at TU Dortmund University has been included in one of the most important rankings for high-performance computers, following LiDO2’s 255th-place finish in 2009.
This ranking underscores the performance of the new research infrastructure, which was officially inaugurated in March 2026. LiDO4 provides researchers at TU Dortmund University and Dortmund University of Applied Sciences with central computing resources for computationally intensive applications—particularly for simulations, data-driven research, and artificial intelligence.
The computing power that was decisive for the TOP500 ranking is primarily achieved by the GPU computing nodes of the HPC cluster. LiDO4 features 17 GPU computing nodes with a total of 68 Nvidia H200 GPUs, which are specifically designed for highly parallel computations, AI processes, and data-intensive applications. These are supplemented by 110 CPU computing nodes, a total of 7,680 processing cores, 74 terabytes of CPU main memory, and 10 terabytes of GPU main memory. The system’s measured Linpack performance is 3.145 PFlop/s.
LiDO4 also ranked well in other international HPC rankings: On the HPCG list, it achieved 126th place with an HPCG performance of 46 TFlop/s. On the Green500 list, which evaluates the energy efficiency of supercomputers, LiDO4 is ranked 47th with an excellent value of 52.6 GFlop/watt.
“LiDO4 is nearly nine times as fast as its predecessor, LiDO3, and—in addition to traditional CPU-based simulation applications—places a second focus on artificial intelligence with its GPU computing nodes. “The fact that the computer has now been included in the TOP500 list shows that we at TU Dortmund University have established a modern, internationally recognized HPC infrastructure for current and future research questions,” says Prof. Dr. Stefan Turek, Dean of the Department of Mathematics at TU Dortmund University, who applied for LiDO4 together with researchers from the Center for Data Science and Simulation (DoDaS) and staff from the IT & Media Center (ITMC).
LiDO4 was jointly secured by DoDaS and the ITMC. The German Research Foundation (DFG) and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia provided 4.5 million euros in funding for the high-performance computer. In addition, another 900,000 euros has already been invested in expansions, including support for the Research Centers of the Ruhr University Alliance and the Lamarr Institute.
In addition to computing power, the system’s energy efficiency was also a key consideration. LiDO4 is equipped with a highly efficient hot-water cooling system. The water, which is approximately 40 degrees Celsius, absorbs the heat directly where it is generated in the supercomputer and dissipates it. In the future, the system’s waste heat is also intended to be used to heat the building at Otto-Hahn-Straße 12.
LiDO4 is currently in the final stages of system installation and is due to be commissioned in the second half of the year.