Efficient K-Means Clustering Using Accelerated Graphics Processors

We exploit the parallel architecture of the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) used in desktops to efficiently implement the traditional K-means algorithm. Our approach in clustering avoids the need for data and cluster information transfer between the GPU and CPU in between the iterations. In this paper we present the novelties in our approach and techniques employed to represent data, compute distances, centroids and identify the cluster elements using the GPU. We measure performance using the metric: computational time per iteration. Our implementation of k-means clustering on an Nvidia 5900 graphics processor is 4 to 12 times faster than the CPU and 7 to 22 times faster on the Nvidia 8500 graphics processor for various data sizes. We also achieved 12 to 64 times speed gain on the 5900 and 20 to 140 times speed gains on the 8500 graphics processor in computational time per iteration for evaluations with various cluster sizes.