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Supercomputer Breaks the $100/GFLOPS Barrier

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the new-kid-in-town dept.

Hank Dietz writes "At the University of Kentucky, KASY0, a Linux cluster of 128+4 AMD Athlon XP 2600+ nodes, achieved 471 GFLOPS on 32-bit HPL. At a cost of less than $39,500, that makes it the first supercomputer to break $100/GFLOPS. It also is the new record holder for POV-Ray 3.5 render speed. The reason this 'Beowulf' is so cost-effective is a new network architecture that achieves high performance using standard hardware: the asymmetric Sparse Flat Neighborhood Network (SFNN)." Because this was a university project, KASY0 was assembled entirely by unversity students, which while being a source of cheap labor, is also a good way to get a lot of students of involved in a great project.

5 of 281 comments (clear)

  1. Its about time by HanzoSan · · Score: -1, Troll



    Now maybe we can find some use for these super computers and all these Gflops.

    --
    If you use Linux, please help development of Autopac
    1. Re:Its about time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

      I'm sure it could be used to calculate how to better kill people... you know, just like (almost) all the other ones.

  2. Stop this super-cpu insanity! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    It saddens me that such renowned researchers have to resort to fruitless projects such as these to fulfill their academic quota.

    Their time and efforts would be better server if they applies their knowledge to more tangible projects that would have a direct benefit to society. It is imperative that we encourage the new generation of scientist to pursue these lofty goals. Only then can we wrest ourselves away from the stranglehold of corporate-sponsored research that dominates the published literature.

    Which is nice.

  3. Simpsons by CGP314 · · Score: 0, Troll

    Looks like Frink was a bit off:

    Well, sure, the Frinkiac-7 looks impressive, don't touch it! But I predict that within 100 years computers will be twice as powerful, 10,000 times larger, and so expensive that only the five richest kings of Europe will own them.

  4. yeah, you like to fuck men by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    don't you? you gay little weiner.