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Supercomputer On the Cheap

Posted by kdawson on from the mere-six-teraflops dept.

jbrodkin writes "You don't need Ivy League-type cash to get a supercomputer anymore. Organizations with limited financial resources are snatching up IBM supercomputers now that Big Blue has lowered the price of Blue Gene/L. Alabama-Birmingham and other universities that previously couldn't afford such advanced technology are using supercomputers to cure diseases at the protein level and to solve equally challenging problems. IBM dropped the price of the Blue Gene/L to $800K late last year before releasing a more powerful model, Blue Gene/P, last month. Sales of Blue Gene/L have more than doubled since then, bringing supercomputing into more corners of the academic and research worlds."

7 of 133 comments (clear)

  1. From TFA by DaveCar · · Score: 5, Funny

    At its highest price, the Blue Gene/L cost $1.3 million per rack

    Pamela Anderson eat your heart out!

    1. Re:From TFA by IBBoard · · Score: 3, Funny

      And knowing most super computers, both would be far too large, ugly, and filled with silicon.

    2. Re:From TFA by mwvdlee · · Score: 4, Funny

      On the plus side; most supercomputers are fully hot swappable, try doing that with women.

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  2. Beowulf! by rgravina · · Score: 3, Funny

    Imagine a Beowulf cluster of these!

  3. Re:Obligatory by Tap13579 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Will it blend? That is the question.

  4. JUST IN TIME!! by armodude · · Score: 5, Funny

    FOR RUNNING VISTA the way it was meant to be run!!!

  5. That's nothing.... by E++99 · · Score: 3, Funny

    If $800,000 is still too pricey for you, you can get a Cray supercomputer on eBay for $800:
    http://cgi.ebay.com/Cray-J90-Supercomputer-1-CPU-2 -Memory-Modules-J-90_W0QQitemZ8816248638QQihZ014QQ categoryZ162QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem