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Eight PS3 'Supercomputer' Ponders Gravity Waves
Jamie found a story about a inexpensive supercomputer being used by an astrophysicist to research gravity waves. The interesting bit is that the system is built using 8 PS3s. Since nobody is actually playing games on the system, it makes sense to use them for research projects like this, but I really wonder now what is defining 'Supercomputer'... I mean, a hundred PS3s sure, but 8? I think we are de-valuing the meaning of the word 'super' :)
Noone has wished for a Beowulf cluster of these yet. Has the world order changed and no notification issued?
Should be enough for anyone
Now we know who bought all the PS3s!
The PS3 is the most powerful blue-ray player in the world. 8 PS3's makes a blue-ray player that has the power of a supercomputer.
It depends. For those problems that fit within the PS3's cramped memory, this is a supercomputer. For those problems that don't, this is a set of 8 matching doorstops.
Maybe his research grant doesn't stretch as far as heating the office. Win-win situation in that case.
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Nope. It is far too unaerodynamic to reach such speeds without a prohibitive amount of initial energy. Certainly not unassisted.
Is it more powerful than a locomotive?
While it concumes about the same amount of raw fuel, it produces far too little in the way of mechanical enregy to pull even a single model RR caboose. Amtrak found this out to their chagrin.
Is it able to leap tall buildings with a single bound?
While it does acheive a much heralded TeraFLOP, it turns out that that word does not actually mean "hitting the Earth" as a casual guess at its derivation might assume. So, in a nutshell, no jumping, buildings or otherwise, without significant assistance.
Finally, does it fight for Truth, Justice, and the American Way?
The ultimate in guileless parroting, it will simply display whatever it is told, and will never consider the veracity of the content before micrying it. Justice is a bit trickier in that there is little about Justice that is agreed upon. Once GTA IV comes out however, there will no longer be any support for the notion of it supporting even justice with a little "j." As for the American Way... Well it does favor style over substance with an arrogant belief taht it will be Bought because it is Made. Which is about as close to the American Way these days as anything else. call it one out of three.
So, no, I would have to say that it would not qualify, in any quantity, as a "Super-Computer."
If brevity is the soul of wit, then how does one explain Twitter?
The first Nintendo started out with the NES or a normal computer, then the Super Nintendo. The N64 came next and was going potentially being called the Ultra64. The Game Cube to be called the Dolphin. So following the naming scheme super = teraflop, ultra = petaflop (or 10 or 100 teraflops, however you want to gauge it), dolphin = exaflop.
Obligatory: An Ultra Computer should be good enough for everyone.
"To be is to do." --Socrates
"To do is to be." -- Aristotle
"Do-Be-Do-Be-Do..." --Sinatra
5, Funny? Stop joking... You don't understand the gravity of the situation.