I was on Cray's website today and I saw that they are advertising small supercomputers. Take their
Cray CX1 System, here is the second paragraph of their description:
Quote:Affordably priced, the Cray CX1 is the “right size” in performance, functionality and cost for a wide range of users, from the single user using a personal supercomputer to a department of users accessing shared clustered resources. For organizations wanting to harness HPC without the complexity of traditional clusters, the Cray CX1 delivers the power of a high performance cluster with the ease-of-use and seamless integration of a workstation.
Thoughts? For those of you who don't know,
Cray is arguably the most famous manufacturer of supercomputers and probably one of the few remaining companies. I don't know if IBM makes any, but quite frequently for powerful computing businesses will just throw a bunch of servers together (possibly just mini servers) and use either parallel or cloud computing. They might get a mainframe for massive storage space for their network. If you are considering buying a supercomputer it is for projects that involve lots of number crunching because a full size one costs millions. I believe those uses are typically science or engineering oriented. Just look at the
specs of their full size ones. So who would like to have a personal super computer? Who wouldn't?
I would love to have a personal super computer as in say a laptop or desktop, but can't see needing that type of processing power with a PDA device. I'm sure the cost is up there too...
(01-07-2010 01:55 AM)GT4AWD Wrote: [ -> ]I would love to have a personal super computer as in say a laptop or desktop, but can't see needing that type of processing power with a PDA device. I'm sure the cost is up there too...
You can play around with the configurations
here. It looks like you have to get 2 different components (enclosure and "head node") that start out at a total of $16k ($15,472) + S&H and tax. For me that would come out to $17,305.32. You can get more powerful parts accessories for that node and add additional nodes. There are also other options. I have configured it to over $200K. It doesn't look like an OS comes with this. The
CRAY CX1-LC is cheaper because it has a smaller enclosure.
i dont think i need a super computer for right now. not to mention 15k is a bit out of my price range.
If someone gave me a supercomputer, I don't think I would complain too badly.
In fact, I think I would be quite appreciative. I wouldn't really have a use for it, but I could sure find one.
It would most certainly be a heck of a lot better than what you have now.
Indeed. When I end up getting a new computer, it's going to feel like a supercomputer.
yeah it would be awesome to have a supercomputer. Though i not sure what use i would have for it lol.