Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Supercomputer Built With 8 GPUs

Posted by kdawson on from the let-the-games-begin dept.

FnH writes "Researchers at the University of Antwerp in Belgium have created a new supercomputer with standard gaming hardware. The system uses four NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GX2 graphics cards, costs less than €4,000 to build, and delivers roughly the same performance as a supercomputer cluster consisting of hundreds of PCs. This new system is used by the ASTRA research group, part of the Vision Lab of the University of Antwerp, to develop new computational methods for tomography. The guys explain the eight NVIDIA GPUs deliver the same performance for their work as more than 300 Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz processors. On a normal desktop PC their tomography tasks would take several weeks but on this NVIDIA-based supercomputer it only takes a couple of hours. The NVIDIA graphics cards do the job very efficiently and consume a lot less power than a supercomputer cluster."

14 of 232 comments (clear)

  1. I guess... by LordVader717 · · Score: 3, Funny

    They didn't have enough dough for 9.

    1. Re:I guess... by nih · · Score: 1, Funny

      they should of pushed it to 11

      --
      I'm a rabbit startled by the headlights of life :(
  2. This is awesome! by sticks_us · · Score: 4, Funny

    Ok, probably a paid NVIDIA ad placement, but check TFA anyway (and even if you don't read, you gotta love the case). It looks like heat generation is one of the biggest problems--sweet.

    I like this too:

    The medical researchers ran some benchmarks and found that in some cases their 4000EUR desktop superPC outperforms CalcUA, a 256-node supercomputer with dual AMD Opteron 250 2.4GHz chips that cost the University of Antwerp 3.5 million euro in March 2005...

    ...and at 4000EUR, that comes to what (rolls dice, consults sundial) about $20000 American?

    --
    "Beware of bugs in the above code; I have only proved it correct, not tried it." -- Donald Knuth
    1. Re:This is awesome! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      WHOOOOOSH - over your head it went.

  3. In other news... by bobdotorg · · Score: 4, Funny

    ... 3D Realms announced this as the minimum platform requirements to run Duke Nuke'em Forever.

    --
    __ Someday, but not this morning, I'll finally learn to use the preview button.
  4. Finally... by ferrellcat · · Score: 5, Funny

    Something that can play Crysis!

    1. Re:Finally... by Yvan256 · · Score: 4, Funny

      If you call 8 FPS "playing".

    2. Re:Finally... by cpricejones · · Score: 2, Funny

      And that's on 640x480

  5. Re:Brick of GPUs by Fumus · · Score: 3, Funny

    They spent 4000 EUR for the computer, but use two boxes in order to situate the monitor higher. I guess they spent everything they had on the computer.

  6. The price ! by this+great+guy · · Score: 2, Funny

    The system uses four NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GX2 graphics cards, costs less than 4,000 EUR to build

    What's more crazy: calling something this inexpensive a supercomputer, or 4 video cards costing a freaking 4,000 EUR.

  7. Re:Get the performance where it's most needed by kipman725 · · Score: 5, Funny

    You don't need a super-duper CPU for text editing

    clearly you have never used EMACS ;)
  8. Re:Get the performance where it's most needed by Dolda2000 · · Score: 4, Funny
    "clearly you have never used Eclipse ;)"

    There, I corrected that for you.

  9. Re:By what benchmark? by frosty_tsm · · Score: 2, Funny

    You might be a little off, but I'd say you're pretty close, and I just had a couple of architecture and super computer systems classes.

  10. Re:Get the performance where it's most needed by eugene_roux · · Score: 2, Funny

    "clearly you have never used Eclipse ;)"

    There, I corrected that for you.

    Clearly YOU have never used EMACS!

    --
    Part Time Philosopher, Oft Times Romantic, Full Time Unix Geek