Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Self-wiring Supercomputer

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the but-what-will-wirers-do-for-a-living dept.

redcone writes "New Scientist is reporting on an experimental supercomputer made from Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA) that can reconfigure itself to tackle different software problems. It is being built by researchers in Scotland. The Edinburgh system will be up to 100 times more energy efficient than a conventional supercomputer of equivalent computing power. The 64-node FPGA machine will also need only as much space as four conventional PCs, while a normal 1 teraflop supercomputer would fill a room. Disclaimer: At this point in time, the software needed to run it, which is the key to the project, is vaporware. "

2 of 256 comments (clear)

  1. Teraflop computer fills a room? by TinheadNed · · Score: 3, Interesting

    How does the playstation 3 manage 2.2 teraflops without being the size of a house then?

  2. Self-wiring neural networks using FPGAs by ikewillis · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Building a supercomputer that runs vaporware seems like a rather foolhardy exercise indeed.

    GenoByte has found a more novel use for FPGAs, which they call "evolvable hardware." Much like our own brains neural networks on the FPGAs reconfigure the way they interconnect on the fly; commonly used paths are reenforced while less frequently used ones atrophy.

    Here are some cool pictures:

    The CAM-BRAIN machine, a big box full of FPGA boards: http://www.genobyte.com/images/machine.jpg

    Neural network layout for the XC6216 FPGA: http://www.genobyte.com/images/chip.JPG

    All in all this approach is substantially faster than modelling large neural networks on a general purpose processor. In the GenoByte approach, the neural network is implemented as physical circuits.