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Virginia Tech to Build Top 5 Supercomputer?

hype7 writes "ThinkSecret is running a story which might explain exactly why the Dual 2GHz G5 machines have been delayed to the customers that ordered them minutes after the keynote was delivered. Apparently, Virginia Tech has plans to build a G5 cluster of 1100 units. If it manages to complete the cluster before the cut-off date, it will score a Top 5 rank in the Linpack Top 500 Supercomputer List. Both Apple and the University are playing mum on the issue, but there's talk of it all over the campus."

14 of 460 comments (clear)

  1. Just imagine,... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...a Beowulf cluster of....

    Oh wait, it is a cluster. DAMN!!!!!

  2. Hmmm... by Undaar · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Both Apple and the University are playing mum on the issue, but there's talk of it all over the campus."

    Must be a pretty boring campus...

    --
    ~ "When I'm of that age I'm just going to live up a tree."
  3. Run Photoshop ! by orthopodreloaded · · Score: 4, Funny

    Are they gonna run Photoshop on that supercomputer ?

  4. 1100 G5s still can't... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    play Doom III.

  5. That's just Hokie by leviramsey · · Score: 4, Funny

    And it'll get skunked by 40 teraflops by Duke's supercomputer every year!

  6. Problems with my supercomputer. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I don't want to start a holy war here, but what is it with you with you G5 zealots? Ive been sitting at my 1100 CPU G5 supercomputer for 20 minutes as it computers a fast fourier transform of an 8Ghz guassian. 20 minutes! At home, on my 60 cpu linux beowulf cluster, the same operation would take 2 minutes if that. Also, while this operation is takiing place, Doom III won't start, and everything else grinds to a halt, even my multithreaded emacs is struggling to keep up as i type this.

    My Sun Enterprise 5000 is faster than this machine at times. Super computer addicts, flame me if you want, but I'd rahter hear some inteligent reasons why I should use the G5 supercomputer over cheaper, faster clusters.

    1. Re:Problems with my supercomputer. by Rosco+P.+Coltrane · · Score: 3, Funny

      even my multithreaded emacs is struggling to keep up as i type this.

      May I suggest you stop emacs to free resources for your FFT?

      --
      "A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
    2. Re:Problems with my supercomputer. by Viadd · · Score: 5, Funny
      I don't want to start a holy war here, but what is it with you with you G5 zealots? Ive been sitting at my 1100 CPU G5 supercomputer for 20 minutes as it computers a fast fourier transform of an 8Ghz guassian.

      And what's with having only 1100 mouse buttons? At the price they're charging, why didn't Apple provide 2200 mouse buttons and 1100 scroll wheels. And why did they use a dead operating system like BSD anyway?
  7. Talk of it all over campus? by Control-Z · · Score: 5, Funny
    there's talk of it all over the campus

    Yeah, chicks dig massive...computers.

    No wait, no they don't!

  8. Fucking A by waldoj · · Score: 3, Funny

    Damn, I've been at this school for a week and I haven't found a single redeeming value. Finally, a cause to hang in there for the next couple of years.

    -Waldo Jaquith

  9. Re:is that so? by daeley · · Score: 4, Funny

    C'mon guys, don't forget to say hi to the Olson twins when you see them on campus next year!

    Wow! Imagine a Beowulf cluster of...

    Er, ah, forget I said anything.

    --
    I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate.
  10. Re:Poor choice on Apple's part by Glonoinha · · Score: 4, Funny

    -I'm about to buy another in a day or two...

    You mean you are about to order another in a day or two ... there is a pretty big gap between asking for one and actually getting one. Tell you what, let me finish this gig I got happening in Virginia and then we can start dealing with the customers that want to order G5 machines in the onsies - twosies quantities.

    Sincerely,
    Steve.
    sjobs@apple.com

    PS - Seven Mac's in ten years isn't hardcore. 1100 units ordered on one purchase order before they even ship (August, 2003) ... now THAT is hardcore.

    --
    Glonoinha the MebiByte Slayer
  11. Bragging Rights by Michael_Burton · · Score: 4, Funny

    I've been tempted to order a dual G5. I've resisted the temptation by realizing that my only real reason for wanting it would be to awe friends and co-workers. Pretty shallow. I was ashamed.

    What a surprise to find that the folks who buy multi-million dollar supercomputers seek some of the same shallow satisfaction that moves me--bragging rights.

    Still, if a single order for 1100 units causes significant delays filling orders for other customers, Apple must not have been expecting to sell many of these things. Maybe I should place an order just to help out.

    --
    When all you have is an axe, everything looks like a grindstone.
  12. Re:I, for one... by scrod · · Score: 4, Funny
    ... welcome our... oh wait... I hate MACs...

    Damn, ethernet controllers must really piss you off then, huh?