Worlds Fastest Computer

[manveruppd]

15" CRT with PS2 Keyboard and mouse.

Close, 12" CRT. Running a UNIX command prompt probably.




EDIT: Gibbo, when are you getting them in stock?

 

[Una]

How are supercomputers controlled? A single monitor running special software?

Want a serious answer to this? Yes they usually run on operating systems designed specially for the hardware (normally similar to UNIX/Linux). Likewise to access them its possible though normal methods, keyboard controller or over a network etc...

There is no magical way of controlling them

 

[Mansize_tissue]

Does it come in red?

 

[Inquisitor]

Looks like Blue Gene/L is getting a run for its money

surely computers dont cure diseases. cancer isnt just a bunch of 1s and 0s

No, but they're tremendously useful for research, as they can run simulations of diseases, allowing scientists to study exactly how they behave.

IIRC, a simulation of a single virus was recently carried out on a super computer, in which every single atom in the virus was simulated. That's pretty awesome stuff

Petaflop. Awesome word.

Should really be 'petaFLOPS', even in singular – the S is part of the acronym

 

[triggerthat]

How complex can these applications be?!

 

[shaffaaf27]

wonder if you can buy these in SLI

 

[FerociouS]

when will OcUK be selling this?

 

[Glaucus]

Wow I like this part

To put the computer's speed in perspective, if every one of the 6 billion people on earth used a hand-held computer and worked 24 hours a day it would take them 46 years to do what the Roadrunner computer can do in a single day.

That's just immense speed.

 

[mks2005]

That's crazy. I want one.

 

[mpj88]

How many gpus?!!!

 

[yantorsen]

how big is it?

 

[Sinque]

It'd still struggle to run Crysis tbh.

 

[Neoni]

Lies.

 

[asim18]

It better be DX10 compatible.

 

[Jono]

Wow I like this part


That's just immense speed.

I wonder if that accounts for the huge drag factor of all the retards in the world, versus those people who are a genius?

 

[mrbios]

wonder how quickly it could climb to number1 on the folding@home networks

 

[TheKnat]

Makes you wonder if its always doing 'official' number crunching or if in its downtime they can get a sneaky game in or set it at folding proteins I think they would have more problems with getting the server to respond quickly enough!

 

[Tony Williams]

Is it Vista ready?

 

[Abraham]

anyone else think it unlikely that the government would "unveil" their fastest computer

i.e. they've got faster theyre just not talking about

i dont mean in a big conspiracy theory way, just that the most advanced technology isnt usually public knowledge

 

[daz]

Only issue i have with this is there's nothing unique or special about this computer - it just has more 'grunt' than the computers that were before it.

It's incredibly parallel which means it has to be working on a very specific set of problems to achieve anywhere near it's max theoretical operating speed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amdahls_Law