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Asus Releases Desktop-Sized Supercomputer
angry tapir writes "Asustek has unveiled its first supercomputer, the desktop computer-sized ESC 1000, which uses Nvidia graphics processors to attain speeds up to 1.1 teraflops. Asus's ESC 1000 comes with a 3.33GHz Intel LGA1366 Xeon W3580 microprocessor designed for servers, along with 960 graphics processing cores from Nvidia inside three Tesla c1060 Computing Processors and one Quadro FX5800."
Ummm isn't this just a ridiculously powerful desktop computer rather than a super computer? The current 500th super computer on the top500 list is this machine which has a Rmax of 17 Tflops and an Rpeak of just over 37.6. Now its impressive that this desktop system has 1/37th of the power of the lowest machine on the super computer list... but does that really make it a super computer? Moore's Law says that it will take around 10 years for this desktop box to evolve to the power of that current bottom top500 box. So in other words its 10 years behind the performance of the current 500th best super computer.
If its because it hits 1 Tflops then in a few years time you'll have mobile phone "super computers" as Moore's Law is still moving onwards.
This is a very very fast desktop computer suited to certain simulation elements which are GPU intensive. Nice box, fast box.... but not a real modern super computer.
An Eye for an Eye will make the whole world blind - Gandhi
Then you would be happy to know that Nvidia's new Fermi chip supports ECC throughout the architecture.
And you're saying this...why? Are you somehow convinced that these processors show up as general purpose CPUs? They don't. There is no conceivable reason something like this "needs" Windows. You're going to have specialized compilers generating specialized code that gets handed off to the GPUs. OS is mostly a non-issue.
Yeah, as long as that everyman can afford $14,519 for crunching purposes...
For that price I'd build myself a real virtual reality gaming room.
Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
His estimates are bang on, maybe his estimates are european, and yours are american? Cause im european, and i usually see 700-800watt microwaves, and small vacuum cleaners.
"The space elevator will be built about 50 years after everyone stops laughing." - Arthur C. Clarke ~1980