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A Look Inside Virginia Tech's New Super Computer

Posted by Cliff on from the taking-a-peek dept.

Mr Bob "The original" bougert brings us "...a video of the Virginia Tech super computer centre. How many people think that super computer centres like this, with their reasonably cheap cost should be created in more places? This video of the infamous super computer should be interesting to some and pretty to look for others." It views like an ad for Apple, but Virginia Tech has scored quite an achievement with this milestone, and this should serve as a decent introduction for those unfamiliar with the project.

10 of 420 comments (clear)

  1. It views like an ad for Apple by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful


    so we are going to post it anyway ?

    Apple isnt a charity, shall we see what Microsoft are up to ?

  2. Re:Hmmm by ActionPlant · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I absolutely agree. And funny that it should happen after they've finally fully embraced open souce (OSX). Let THAT be a lesson to the MS-Rest of the world.

    Damon,

    --
    http://actionPlant.com
  3. Looks like an ad? No, it looks like an ... by burgburgburg · · Score: 5, Insightful
    extremely convincing ad.

    Virginia Tech put together a spectacular number 3 ranked supercomputer for a (comparative) pittance in a (comparative) heartbeat. They did it with Apple's latest/greatest. Is it surprising that Apple wants this story told? I'm just shocked that they aren't filling the airwaves with the story (at the very least on every news program that PHBs watch).

  4. Let me amplify: Why the hell ... by burgburgburg · · Score: 3, Insightful

    hasn't anyone else built one yet? The proof-of-concept is done, and let's face it, $5.2 million is tissue money for some companies. Don't they want their own 10 teraflop supercomputer?

    1. Re:Let me amplify: Why the hell ... by BWJones · · Score: 5, Insightful

      My guess is that a number of folks are planning on building them. Especially now that the 1U G5 Xserve is out. Here is the issue though: VTech wanted to publicize this as a means to attract attention to their programs and Apple wanted to publicize this for obvious reasons. However, if I were a company (or a private or government institution), I may not want to advertise the fact that I am building one of these superclusters. Think about it. This could be a serious stealth weapon (so to speak) for a number of industries that have historically spent huge amounts of money on supercomputing infrastructures.

      --
      Visit Jonesblog and say hello.
  5. Cheap Supercomputing's Impact on Military Research by stevegio · · Score: 2, Insightful

    So if I'm an evil dictator, and I can build the worlds third fastest supercomputer for 5.2 million USD what can I do with it? Are all these cheap cycles going to mean I can break codes or do nuclear or biological weapons research faster? I'll be there are people in the US Defense Department, CIA, or NSA that might be concerned.

    --
    "Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana." -- Marx
  6. #2 in a week by api · · Score: 2, Insightful

    While wathing the video during the keynote, I couldn't imagine why Apple hasn't donated the remaining G5's (Desktop or XServe) to place them in the number two supercomputer slot.

    Costs more than a video but would be even better PR (and tax deductible...)

    MD

  7. Re:My Beef With Apple by ActionPlant · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This is really interesting! And I'm wondering how you got started. Have you done this for a while? Did you use Apple first, or PCs?

    I've been doing the same (building custom PCs) for other people for years, and yet when it comes to my own computers I opt for Macs. I'm a recent convert. Why?

    Because I got tired of struggling to make drivers work together, finding different games and programs were optimized for different chipsets, and dealing with Windows registries to try to make everything run as smoothly as possible.

    Then I tried a Mac. Pretty much everything worked out of the box, smoothly (like it was optimized for the platform, not a specific driver), and almost everything I extra tried in it was practically designed to already work WITH what I already had in the computer. The OS is far more elegant and makes sense to my less savvy customers.

    Price is often the bottom line. For the advantages, I prefer to run Macs personally. I can't fault people who opt for the dollar-accessability of PCs. I guess it's all in how you personally prioritize, and how much work you want to put into making the system work.

    Damon,

    --
    http://actionPlant.com
  8. Re:apple innovations? by alienw · · Score: 2, Insightful

    FreeBSD with a Darwin core, you mean? I highly doubt they are using some translucent menu library in their computations. And apple really didn't develop much else than various display libraries for their system.

  9. Self-made by Psarchasm · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Out of the top 5 super computers... there is 1 self-made.
    Out of the top 10... 1 self-made.
    Out of the top 50... 1 self-made.

    This speaks volumes. Apple didn't come in and build this thing for them. They dumped a few trucks with 1,100 computers at their door and VA Tech built it.

    Personally, I'd like to know how many they got that were DOA. Any?

    --
    http://windows.scares.us