PS3 and the world's fastest supercomputer - Blu-ray Forum

BillCable · 06-09-2008, 11:55 AM

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/06/...9petaflops.php

Quote:

The Roadrunner is based on a radical design that includes 12,960 chips that are an improved version of an IBM Cell microprocessor, a parallel processing chip originally created for Sony's PlayStation 3 video-game machine. The Sony chips are used as accelerators, or turbochargers, for portions of calculations.

Ascended_Saiyan · 06-09-2008, 02:11 PM

I just read about this an hour ago. The Cell chip is mix in with the company's original Opteron processors. This is truly a milestone in computing.

savage1984 · 06-09-2008, 02:14 PM

so does this thing fold all day long like our playstations ? cause if it doesn't, who cares?

I keed. I keed. But really, what are they gonna use it for?

Ascended_Saiyan · 06-09-2008, 02:41 PM

It's the DoE (Department of Energy). Therefore, it's probably nuclear sims, etc.

U-Phorik · 06-09-2008, 02:55 PM

Thats pretty cool, IBM has had their hands in a lot of super computing projects for a while now, Blue Gene 2 is one of them I remember off hand. I used to work for IBM (coincidentally, at the same plants where they were developing the cell processors) It was interesting to read the projects they had their hands in with the DoD, DoE, and other supercomputing projects. Quite impressive actually.

JonBidinger · 06-10-2008, 12:34 AM

Linky

I find this very interesting.

Proteus · 06-10-2008, 12:45 AM

People need to understand what a huge achievement this is.

Seriously, this is big for humankind as a whole. We have effectively multiplied out computing power tenfold in less than two years! Am I the only one who sees the massive significance of this and what it means for computing technology down the line?

We may very well see things we only dreamed of much sooner than we thought.

MrVorhees · 06-10-2008, 01:06 AM

Yes the cell is powerfull , owns, ect. I finally want the games to use at least the half potential of the cell, it would be outstanding.

U-Phorik · 06-10-2008, 01:17 AM

Yes! I just read this on Yahoo, this system is being housed (and was built) in the plant I used to work at. This is such an amazing milestone in computing, It's a great day to be a computer geek lol! This is so amazing, just reading the part where he said, "it has roughly the computing power of 100,000 of today's most powerful laptops stacked 1.5 miles high, according to IBM. Or, if each of the world's 6 billion people worked on hand-held computers for 24 hours a day, it would take them 46 years to do what the Roadrunner computer can do in a single day." That is absolutely amazing... What an amazing milestone for IBM, and computing in general, Computing Technologies have come so amazingly far in such a short amount of time, Thomas Watson would be proud!

BillCable · 06-10-2008, 11:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Proteus

People need to understand what a huge achievement this is.

Seriously, this is big for humankind as a whole. We have effectively multiplied out computing power tenfold in less than two years! Am I the only one who sees the massive significance of this and what it means for computing technology down the line?

We may very well see things we only dreamed of much sooner than we thought.

The amazing thing is that we'll likely have a computer that can perform 10 petaflops in another few years. Our capabilities continue to expand exponentially. And there doesn't appear to be any plateau in sight.

radagast · 06-10-2008, 03:35 PM

"The computer, named Roadrunner, is twice as fast as IBM's Blue Gene system, which itself is three times faster than any of the world's other supercomputers, according to IBM."

"To put the computer's speed in perspective, it has roughly the computing power of 100,000 of today's most powerful laptops stacked 1.5 miles high, according to IBM. Or, if each of the world's 6 billion people worked on hand-held computers for 24 hours a day, it would take them 46 years to do what the Roadrunner computer can do in a single day.

The IBM and Los Alamos engineers worked six years on the computer technology.

Some elements of the Roadrunner can be traced back to popular video games, said David Turek, vice president of IBM's supercomputing programs. In some ways, he said, it's "a very souped-up Sony PlayStation 3."

"We took the basic chip design (of a PlayStation) and advanced its capability," said Turek. "

http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/News...x?NewsId=23462

NARMAK · 06-10-2008, 03:37 PM

It's amazing

PS3 is a calculation power house but ask yourself, how can developers use that to their advantage?

Leopold BUTTERS · 06-10-2008, 04:14 PM

and yet it still can't run crysis...

stockstar1138 · 06-10-2008, 04:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leopold BUTTERS

and yet it still can't run crysis...

wft crysis is coming to PS3 and is gonna b powzered by teh CELL

Aaron · 06-10-2008, 08:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leopold BUTTERS

and yet it still can't run crysis...

I don't think anything can run Crysis on high

06-10-2008, 12:34 AM	#6
JonBidinger Active Member Top contributor Member since:Dec 2007 4K collection:36 Blu-ray collection:375	Scientists develop fastest computer, it's "a very souped-up Sony PlayStation 3." Linky I find this very interesting.

06-10-2008, 03:35 PM	#11
radagast Blu-ray Samurai Member since:May 2007 Location:Indianapolis	PS3 and the world's fastest supercomputer "The computer, named Roadrunner, is twice as fast as IBM's Blue Gene system, which itself is three times faster than any of the world's other supercomputers, according to IBM." "To put the computer's speed in perspective, it has roughly the computing power of 100,000 of today's most powerful laptops stacked 1.5 miles high, according to IBM. Or, if each of the world's 6 billion people worked on hand-held computers for 24 hours a day, it would take them 46 years to do what the Roadrunner computer can do in a single day. The IBM and Los Alamos engineers worked six years on the computer technology. Some elements of the Roadrunner can be traced back to popular video games, said David Turek, vice president of IBM's supercomputing programs. In some ways, he said, it's "a very souped-up Sony PlayStation 3." "We took the basic chip design (of a PlayStation) and advanced its capability," said Turek. " http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/News...x?NewsId=23462

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06-09-2008, 02:11 PM	#2
Ascended_Saiyan Blu-ray Samurai Member since:Sep 2006 Location:Atlanta, Georgia Blu-ray collection:608 Trading Score:1	I just read about this an hour ago. The Cell chip is mix in with the company's original Opteron processors. This is truly a milestone in computing.

06-09-2008, 02:14 PM	#3
savage1984 Banned Member since:Oct 2007 Location:Los Angeles	so does this thing fold all day long like our playstations ? cause if it doesn't, who cares? I keed. I keed. But really, what are they gonna use it for?

06-09-2008, 02:41 PM	#4
Ascended_Saiyan Blu-ray Samurai Member since:Sep 2006 Location:Atlanta, Georgia Blu-ray collection:608 Trading Score:1	It's the DoE (Department of Energy). Therefore, it's probably nuclear sims, etc.

06-09-2008, 02:55 PM	#5
U-Phorik Active Member Member since:Jun 2008 Location:The 407	Thats pretty cool, IBM has had their hands in a lot of super computing projects for a while now, Blue Gene 2 is one of them I remember off hand. I used to work for IBM (coincidentally, at the same plants where they were developing the cell processors) It was interesting to read the projects they had their hands in with the DoD, DoE, and other supercomputing projects. Quite impressive actually.

06-10-2008, 12:45 AM	#7
Proteus Power Member Member since:Apr 2007 Location:SoCal PSN:CaptBurn	People need to understand what a huge achievement this is. Seriously, this is big for humankind as a whole. We have effectively multiplied out computing power tenfold in less than two years! Am I the only one who sees the massive significance of this and what it means for computing technology down the line? We may very well see things we only dreamed of much sooner than we thought.

06-10-2008, 01:06 AM	#8
MrVorhees Special Member Top contributor Member since:Jun 2007 Location:Castle Grayskull 4K collection:2 Blu-ray collection:572 Blu-ray reviews:2	Yes the cell is powerfull , owns, ect. I finally want the games to use at least the half potential of the cell, it would be outstanding.

06-10-2008, 01:17 AM	#9
U-Phorik Active Member Member since:Jun 2008 Location:The 407	Yes! I just read this on Yahoo, this system is being housed (and was built) in the plant I used to work at. This is such an amazing milestone in computing, It's a great day to be a computer geek lol! This is so amazing, just reading the part where he said, "it has roughly the computing power of 100,000 of today's most powerful laptops stacked 1.5 miles high, according to IBM. Or, if each of the world's 6 billion people worked on hand-held computers for 24 hours a day, it would take them 46 years to do what the Roadrunner computer can do in a single day." That is absolutely amazing... What an amazing milestone for IBM, and computing in general, Computing Technologies have come so amazingly far in such a short amount of time, Thomas Watson would be proud!

06-10-2008, 03:37 PM	#12
NARMAK Blu-ray Prince Member since:Feb 2007 Location:United Kingdom Blu-ray collection:141 Trading Score:18	It's amazing PS3 is a calculation power house but ask yourself, how can developers use that to their advantage?

06-10-2008, 04:14 PM	#13
Leopold BUTTERS Blu-ray Guru Member since:Jun 2007 Location:AB,Canada Blu-ray collection:93 Blu-ray reviews: 2 Trading Score:1	and yet it still can't run crysis...

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