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China Building Linux-Based 10 Teraflop Supercomputer

Posted by timothy on from the does-linux-scale dept.

securitas writes "CNet Asia reports that China is building a 2000-processor supercomputer based on the AMD Opteron 64-bit CPU. The new supercomputer will run a Chinese-designed Linux operating system. Based on current standings, the resulting 10-teraflop machine will make it the third most powerful supercomputer in the world. The Red Grid project is being built by Dawning Information Industry and China's National Research Centre for Intelligent Computing Systems. The Red Grid/Dawning 4000A is expected to be complete by June 2004. But China has competition - weighing in at 40 teraflops, the Cray Red Storm AMD-based 10,000-Opteron supercomputer built for Sandia National Labs will become the supercomputer heavyweight next year. More at Infoworld , InternetNews and Yahoo."

7 of 260 comments (clear)

  1. AMD by delphin42 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This should do a lot for AMD's credibility as a server processor manufacturer. According to the current top500 list, you have to go to number 84 to find an AMD based supercomputer. If these articles are correct, you'll soon have 2 in the top 5. That's quite a change of events.

    --
    -- Adam
  2. The Next Space Race? by Psx29 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Maybe its just me...but it seems like there is increasing competition for the top supercomputer. Japan holds the top at the moment, and the US is home to the second most powerful...and now china is entering into the fray. Of course there undoubtely other countries besides the top 3 that are trying to earn a place as well. I wonder if India will be next?

    1. Re:The Next Space Race? by blibbleblobble · · Score: 3, Interesting

      "Japan holds the top at the moment, and the US is home to the second most powerful"

      Japan has the world's most powerful computer, and they're using it to model climate change and to do scientific research into how the earth works.

      America has the world's second most powerful computer. They use it to help build things to make big explosions.

  3. Also interesting by Waab · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The University of Kentucky is still doing interesting things with Athlons & Linux. Just about two weeks ago, a group there built KASY0, which they expect to set a new price/performance record at better than 1GFLOPS/$100. More about KASY0 here.

  4. Yes, it runs linux, but why? by WegianWarrior · · Score: 4, Interesting

    None of the links I bothered to click on even touched - as far as my skimming of the articles revealed - anything about why the chinese has opted for a variation on Linux, instead of one of the commercial unixes, Wondows (yeah, right) or something along those lines. Does it adapt better to this scale? Is it because it's essentially free (as in 'no licenses')? If it the reds fear of a backdoor in the system if they buy a commercial product?

    Don't get me wrong, a supercomputer running on Linux is cool and all that, but I would like to know more about the logic that dictates the choice of OS in such an application. Suggestions?

    --
    Everything in the world is controlled by a small, evil group to which, unfortunately, no one you know belongs.
  5. Re:I think that Communist China will overtake US. by axxackall · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Education system: The US has a better starting position, but China is rapidly gaining. Chinese have thrown away all Mao anti-illectual rubbish and know to value knowledge these days.

    I am working in several projects with Chinees programmers educated back in China. Also I am working with Indian, Russian, West-Europian and North American programmers. I would say that Chinees and Russian are the best. Well, Russians are smarter a bit and their eduction is often evn overkilling, but they are slow and they do not have any sense of a discipline (like artists, they write the code they haven't been asked and they forget to write the code they've been asked). Indian programmers are very fast and have extreme sense of discipline, but that hurts their creativity a lot, besides Indian education is not really good. North American programmers are slow, with no creativity and a very poor education (most of American programmers I know barely know elementary math calculus). Chinese and West-Europian programmers are fast, disciplined and well (optimally) educated.

    Having said that I should add that Russian education is going down in its quality very rapidly. Europian ediaction keeps the same. North American education has no hope in any near time. Chinese and Indian education is growing. Thus, counting other logic (especially IP and patents) I think that China has a lot of future. All they need is to maintain a political stability by slowly giving up to their people more and more freedom, but doing it very slow (Soviet Union is collapsed b/c people receive too much of freedom rapidly at on time - too fast to egt using it properly).

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    Less is more !
  6. Re:Good? by Progman2000 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The US hasn't performed live nuclear tests in quite a while (20 years?). There are two reasons why sims aren't enough: 1) They are based on theories that don't always match reality and 2) they cannot simulate *everything*.

    Don't get me wrong, theories and simulations are great for preliminary work, but in the end you have to test it to be sure. On the wall over my monitor right now is a board from the Cray 1-S/1000, used at Kirtland AFB in 1980 for blast effects sims.

    Besides, the world could use a good 10-30 megaton test every decade or so. It would give the media a chance to remind everyone just how dangerous and powerful they are. Good photo op, too. :)