IBM may build fastest supercomputer - bit-tech.net Forums

Tim S · 7th Aug 2007, 14:23

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2007/08...upercomputer/1

Surrounded by controversy, the National Science Foundation is set to award IBM a contract to build the world's fastest supercomputer.

iwog · 7th Aug 2007, 14:29

Wooo, a big powerful computer that isn't being used to think up more ways to kill us. I hope it goes through as golbal warming est bad

sgr55 · 7th Aug 2007, 14:41

I'll take 2

Seriously scary how much power that thing will have. Hell, it's scary to think about the software written to run on one of them.
Wonder how it would compare with one of these distributed computing projects (SETI etc)

Duste · 7th Aug 2007, 15:32

Wonder how good this would be at Folding, eh? :P

steveo_mcg · 7th Aug 2007, 15:35

Dear national supercomputer place would you care to join the bit folding team, regards us.

Brooxy · 7th Aug 2007, 17:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by iwog

Wooo, a big powerful computer that isn't being used to think up more ways to kill us.

At least that's what we're being told...

They say it's for global warming to be solved, but how much power would go into running the thing?

Delphium · 7th Aug 2007, 17:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brooxy

At least that's what we're being told...

They say it's for global warming to be solved, but how much power would go into running the thing?

HAH, my thoughts exactly, by the time they finished running there calculations they would have worked out they could have saved man kind a further 10years by not running that beast.

I bet it will run Oblivion and Crysis like liquid though

Amon · 7th Aug 2007, 17:45

Does it come in a colour other than IBM Black?

Bauul · 7th Aug 2007, 18:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amon

Does it come in a colour other than IBM Black?

Now THAT would be a case mod project and a half!

devdevil85 · 7th Aug 2007, 18:07

What do they do with the parts for old/out-of-date supercomputers? Do they auction them off or what?

The_Beast · 7th Aug 2007, 18:12

Wow cool computer

g3n3tiX · 7th Aug 2007, 18:41

Does it run Doom ?

more seriously, there's a flaw : a huuuge power hungry beast (wattage of such a thing ?) is used to calculate and simulate the effects of global warming. Sweeet irony indeed.

Techno-Dann · 7th Aug 2007, 19:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by devdevil85

What do they do with the parts for old/out-of-date supercomputers? Do they auction them off or what?

If you're in the right place at the right time, you can pick up a mid-80s Cray for $5000 or so... They're usually torn apart for the bits of gold in them. Of course, a QX6800 will run circles around it, but it's still a Cray.

Imagine turning a Cray into a modern Beowulf cluster... Talk about a nifty case mod.

jweller · 8th Aug 2007, 00:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by The_Beast

Wow cool computer

I wish you egghead types would stop talking in such arcane techie talk.

Zurechial · 8th Aug 2007, 00:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by Delphium

I bet it will run Oblivion and Crysis like liquid though

I bet it won't.

If I'm not mistaken, Supercomputers are built as pure calculation powerhouses, not the kind of hardware we're familiar with that'll run x86 software.
I doubt it's even possible to load *any* desktop-computer software on it at all

Mind you, I'm far from being an expert on the topic..

Techno-Dann · 8th Aug 2007, 00:42

You could probably emulate an x86 CPU and DX10-compliant video card, and have enough power left to run either game quite nicely...

Zurechial · 8th Aug 2007, 00:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by Techno-Dann

You could probably emulate an x86 CPU and DX10-compliant video card, and have enough power left to run either game quite nicely...

Point.

Shadowed_fury · 8th Aug 2007, 00:49

42... Yeah!

completemadness · 8th Aug 2007, 04:55

wow, should be interesting

Don't they currently hold the award anyway, with bluegene ? i thought that was the fastest supercomputer in the world
Although it does have a MTBF of like 4 hours

Oh and as to the computing bit of it, modern super computers basically are a baewolf cluster, it because too difficult to build ginormous motherboards, so now their just lots of multi-cored, multi socketed computers

Bauul · 8th Aug 2007, 10:28

I bet if you cracked it open, all you'd find is an Internet connection that links to millions of desktop PCs worlwide that are acting as zombies for it.

That, or an old, wizend man with a long beard.

7th Aug 2007, 14:23	#1
Tim S Pewlius Caesar bit-tech Staff Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Ascot, Berks Posts: 18,021	IBM may build fastest supercomputer http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2007/08...upercomputer/1 Surrounded by controversy, the National Science Foundation is set to award IBM a contract to build the world's fastest supercomputer. __________________ Tim on Twitter \| Tim's Blog \| Tim's Flickr The bit-tech Blog \| bit-tech on Twitter \| Join the bit-tech & Custom PC folding team (#35947)

7th Aug 2007, 14:29	#2
iwog Linux cursed Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: IoW, UK Posts: 712	Wooo, a big powerful computer that isn't being used to think up more ways to kill us. I hope it goes through as golbal warming est bad __________________ Welcome to bit-tech, watch out for thread drift Things can only get better

7th Aug 2007, 15:35	#5
steveo_mcg What owl? Join Date: May 2005 Location: Edinburgh Posts: 3,998	Dear national supercomputer place would you care to join the bit folding team, regards us. __________________ No boom today, boom tomorrow... there's always a boom tomorrow.

7th Aug 2007, 17:45	#8
Amon inch-perfect Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: cannoning into the reds, Toronto, Canada Posts: 2,456	Does it come in a colour other than IBM Black? __________________ Defunct Socket 939 San Diego 4000+::2GB PC3200::Radeon 9600 SE 128MB::200GB HDD::24" Dell 2407WFP-HC::WinXP x64/x86 dual boot Dell Vostro 1500 laptop::Socket P Merom T7100::2GB PC5400::Go 8600m GT 256MB::660GB HDD::15.4" WXGA+, 24" Dell 2407WFP-HC::WinXP::Fanatec 911 Wheel+Pedals

7th Aug 2007, 18:12	#11
The_Beast I am The Stig Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Wisconsin Posts: 3,237	Wow cool computer __________________ Rendering Machine - Gigabyte DS3L P35 - C2Q Q6600 - Antec New Solution Series NSK4480B - Corsair XMS2 2Gb - Sapphire 2600 XT 256mb - Seagate 'Cuda 320 GB - Antec Earthwatt 430 watt - Windows XP Pro -

7th Aug 2007, 14:41	#3
sgr55 Modder Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Scotland Posts: 65	I'll take 2 Seriously scary how much power that thing will have. Hell, it's scary to think about the software written to run on one of them. Wonder how it would compare with one of these distributed computing projects (SETI etc)

7th Aug 2007, 15:32	#4
Duste Sierra my delta, bravo! Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: WA, Australia Posts: 812	Wonder how good this would be at Folding, eh? :P

7th Aug 2007, 18:07	#10
devdevil85 Hypermodder Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: US of A Posts: 884	What do they do with the parts for old/out-of-date supercomputers? Do they auction them off or what?

7th Aug 2007, 18:41	#12
g3n3tiX Resident frenchie Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: localhost Posts: 593	Does it run Doom ? more seriously, there's a flaw : a huuuge power hungry beast (wattage of such a thing ?) is used to calculate and simulate the effects of global warming. Sweeet irony indeed. __________________ I also have a MTBF.

8th Aug 2007, 00:42	#16
Techno-Dann Disgruntled kumquat Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Pullman WA, USA Posts: 1,572	You could probably emulate an x86 CPU and DX10-compliant video card, and have enough power left to run either game quite nicely... __________________ The intellitxt demon fell dead, Sir Tim's lance embedded in its heart. The fair land of Bit-Tech was free from its influence once more. And there was much rejoicing.

8th Aug 2007, 00:49	#18
Shadowed_fury Natural Born Chaos Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Telford Posts: 7,135	42... Yeah! __________________ Steam: kev_fury New Frag Video - Gigabyte EP43-DS3L - E8200 - XFX 4870 1GB - 4GB Kingston - - Steel Series 7.1s - Logitech G11 - Razer Diamondback 3G - 2209WA -

8th Aug 2007, 04:55	#19
completemadness Hypermodder Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 887	wow, should be interesting Don't they currently hold the award anyway, with bluegene ? i thought that was the fastest supercomputer in the world Although it does have a MTBF of like 4 hours Oh and as to the computing bit of it, modern super computers basically are a baewolf cluster, it because too difficult to build ginormous motherboards, so now their just lots of multi-cored, multi socketed computers

8th Aug 2007, 10:28	#20
Bauul Sir Bongaminge Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Godalming, near Guildford Posts: 1,553	I bet if you cracked it open, all you'd find is an Internet connection that links to millions of desktop PCs worlwide that are acting as zombies for it. That, or an old, wizend man with a long beard. __________________ Pentium 4 CPU 3.4 Ghz \| 1Gb + 2x512Mb Corsair DDR2 667 Mhz Sapphire Radeon HD 4770 512Mb\| WD Raptor 36Gb, Seagate 300Gb \| Asus P5LD2 SE Ibanez RG 470 Japanese Edition \| 1991 Japanese Lo-TRS Tremolo \| V7 S1 Custom V8 HSH Pickups