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Virginia Tech Supercomputer Up To 12.25 Teraflops

Posted by timothy on from the changing-blacksburg's-climate dept.

gonknet writes "According to CNET news and various other news outlets, the 1150-node Hokie supercomputer rebuilt with new 2.3 GHz Xserves now runs at 12.25 Teraflops. The computer, the fastest computer owned by an academic institution, should still be in the top 5 when the new rankings come out in November."

9 of 215 comments (clear)

  1. hrm by gutterandthestars · · Score: 5, Funny

    6.40tflops should be enough for anybody

    1. Re:hrm by tmj0001 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Hans Moravec's book "Robot" suggests that 100 teraflops is about the level required for human intelligence. So we are up to 10% of his target. But human intelligence still seems very far away, so either he has badly underestimated, or our collective programming skills need significant improvement.

    2. Re:hrm by TimothyTimothyTimoth · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I think Morevec's method of simulating human intelligence involves modelling a scanned copy of the human brain, in real time at a neuronal level. It would be similar to modelling the global weather system, a software capability we already have. Current neuroscience would expect this model to be functionally equivalent to a human mind in terms of matching inputs and outputs. As an aside, I know that Ray Kurzweil has I much higher required estimated of a 20 petaflop (20,000 teraflop) computer, based on more conservative assumptions. 20 petaflops is due around 2009/10 under Moore's law. (And I for one offer an early welcome to our expected new AI overlords ...)

      --
      It doesn't matter which ape activates the Monolith
    3. Re:hrm by Randy+Wang · · Score: 5, Funny

      I, for one, welcome our new Beowulf overlord...

      --
      --- Egads, I glow in the dark!
  2. Density by GerbilSocks · · Score: 5, Interesting
    VT could theoretically pack in 4x the number of nodes in the same space that occupied the original System X. Could we be looking at at least a 50 TFlop (minus 10% overhead) supercomputer with 8,800 cluster nodes?

    If that were feasible, you could be looking at toppling Earth Simulator at a fraction of the cost.

    1. Re:Density by UnknowingFool · · Score: 5, Informative
      Not necessarily. Processing power doesn't really scale linearly like that. Add 4 times as many processors doesn't mean the speed will increase 4x.

      First, as they try to increase the speed of the system, the bottlenecks start becoming more of a factor. Interconnects is one big obstacle. While the new System X may use the latest and greatest interconnects between the nodes, they still run at a fraction of the speed that the processors can run.

      Also the computing problems that they are trying to solve may not scale either with more processors. For example, clusters like this can be used to predict and simulate weather. To do so, the target area (Europe for example) is divided into small parts called cells. Each node takes a cell and handles the computations of that cell.

      In this case adding more processors does not necessarily mean that each cell is processed faster. Getting 4 processors to do one task may hurt performance as they may interfere with each other. More likely the cell is further subdivided into 4 smaller cells and the detail of the information is increased not the speed. So add 4x processors only increases data 4x but it doesn't mean that the data is solved any faster.

      --
      Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
  3. The list of Supercomputers by ehmdjii · · Score: 5, Informative

    this is the official homepage of the listing:

    http://www.top500.org/

  4. Re:2.3GHz? by mmkkbb · · Score: 5, Informative

    they were sold off by MacMall at a slight discount around 6 months ago, along with a certificate of authenticity and a "property of virginia tech" sticker

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    -mkb
  5. Re:Old stuff... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If you're referring to the old G5 Powermacs used in the original System X...they were sold. I bought one!