IBM to Supply US Government with 20 Petaflops Supercomputer

[FordGT90Concept]

Hey, no need to be glum -- how do we know the chips in this thing aren't some sort of modified Cell core? That thing runs operations almost as fast as a GPU.

This is complex...

Super computer power is measured in FLoating point OPerations Per Second (FLOPS) because that is the area processors are weakest in. It's ALU performance that is most desirable in super computers because the programmers for the super computer can tell it exactly how to behave (rounding, repeating decimals, etc. can be strictly controlled). ALU can also perform calculations much quicker than FPU because ALU is far more simple.

So, CELL processors nor GPUs aren't necessarily good for super computers. In cases where precision isn't that important, they are useful. Any good scientist will take precision over performance though because the 1000th decimal place may skewer the end results.

 

[Haytch]

I would love to have a super computer, all i would need after that would be something to do with it. I guess the US Government got bored of kicking random peoples butts @ online Yahoo chess and backgammon and came up with a new excuse that we all know is old.

For the record, Crysis is one of the worlds most poorly coded games, please refrain from comparing hardware potential with Crytek's poor excuse for a game.

 

[Kei]

Nuclear warheads :shadedshu

I agree...amazing computer sad purpose.

Kei

(down with skynet)

 

[pr0n Inspector]

This won't stop the glorious Lord Xenu from returning in 2012.

 

[mdm-adph]

I hate to break it to everyone, but the whole 2012 thing?

The Mayans probably just ran out of rock. That, or they grossly estimated the amount of time that their empire would last, and just wanted to be prepared.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

I would love to have a super computer, all i would need after that would be something to do with it. I guess the US Government got bored of kicking random peoples butts @ online Yahoo chess and backgammon and came up with a new excuse that we all know is old.

LNLL has housed the world's fastest computers for some time now (constantly being upgraded/replaced) and they are generally all used for that purpose. I, myself, really don't see why they need so much processing power to do it but it is a task that is necessary (making sure your nukes still work if and when they are needed). Would you rather we return to underground testing? That's the alternative.

I hate to break it to everyone, but the whole 2012 thing?

The Mayans probably just ran out of rock. That, or they grossly estimated the amount of time that their empire would last, and just wanted to be prepared.

Yeah, that's about as bad as saying the world is going to end because in 2100, all Win XP computers are going to revert to 1980. Or the "Year 2000 Bug" which had some equipment fail but hardly enough to consider cataclysmic. Who here has a calendar that dates out to the year 3000 or beyond? Just because their calendar ends doesn't mean they wouldn't have authored a new one to replace it. Hell, their calendar officially ended when their culture was made extinct.

 

[Castiel]

IBM announces World’s Fastest Supercomputer - IBM just announced a new US Government project supercomputer called “Sequoia” and boy is it a monster. It’s literally 20x faster than Roadrunner, the current fastest Super computer. Compare 1.105 petaflops or raw computing power vs 20 petaflops. The accomplish these speeds with 16-core 45nm PowerPC chips with over 4096 chips per rack. That totals 1.6 million cores and over 1.6 petabytes of memory. /Insert Crysis Joke here/

This thing is a beast!

 

[mtosev]

i'm afraid that Ibm will use the Asrock Supercomputer mobo:

 

[FordGT90Concept]

This thing is a beast!

WTF? When are they going to adapt APC's hot-isle layout? Look at all the vents in the ceiling. They need to get a more efficient cooling system installed.

 

[CAPITAL LETTERS]

im not sure what im more worried about:

either the fact that it can handle all of the US's nuclear stockpile

OR

That we make crysis jokes about it

:S

makes u think......

*has dramatic music in background*

 

[vagxtr]

Damn how big is our nuclear stockpile that it requires something like that?

Didn't you hear you need a big plausable goal to explain to Joe TF how the government spent his 500$ annually into something big and brave. And all what a Joe wants is a big new local swimming pools that was been promised 15yrs ago but local community looks for the new speculative donator now, the same one that put in his pocket his 500$ every year and the whole local area residents thru some schmuk futures bussiness.

 

[vagxtr]

This thing is a beast!

nice nickeled rackmounts. infact i'd like just one for myself even if i'd never plug it power and put it into action. just to worship that nice shinny rack -- DeM

 

[Haytch]

I, myself, really don't see why they need so much processing power to do it but it is a task that is necessary (making sure your nukes still work if and when they are needed). Would you rather we return to underground testing? That's the alternative.

Making sure the current Nukes in stockpile are not faulty is obviously vital. Noone wants one accidently going off. Looking at it from a more evil perspective, i guess noone wants to launch a dud nuke at the enemy

So yes, its very vital that both of them scenarios dont occur and if having to use supercomputers as an alternative to underground testing is all these ' superbrains ' can come up with then sure . . . BUT if these people really had half a brain, they wouldnt have to stockpile nukes to begin with.

We have all seen movies such as Defcon and i wouldnt doubt that some of you even named your computer Joshua . . . But i have no doubt in my mind that if you ran a simulation of life and its endless variables on this supercomputer, the outcome would simply be along the lines of;

Mankind is f'd in the head for having nukes. No self respect let alone respect unto others.

When's Terminator Salvation comming out ?

 

[FordGT90Concept]

Making sure the current Nukes in stockpile are not faulty is obviously vital. Noone wants one accidently going off. Looking at it from a more evil perspective, i guess noone wants to launch a dud nuke at the enemy

...

I know it is important but the task LNLL/DOE is doing hasn't changed (in fact, its shrinking) in over two decades so why are the computers changing? Were the original computers not enough? Why aren't the original computers still in use? The only reason the computer has to change is if the task it performs does.

I believe it is a waste of taxpayer money. The only time DOE should have to buy a new super computer for the purpose of stockpile longevity is if the facility the old one was in got bombed, hit by lightning, etc. where it would be cheaper to replace the system than attempt to repair it; moreover, the replacement system should be no more than 20% faster than what is needed to complete its assigned duty (operate at 80% load).

Get what I'm saying? As far as I can tell, a 20 petaflop machine is a waste of money for a 1 teraflop job (or whatever the figure is). Taxpayers shouldn't be paying out to have the fastest super computer in the world for the sole purpose of having the fastest super computer in the world.


Now, if they were going to use that 20 petaflop machine to figure out the problems and/or make fusion power more efficient, I'd be all for it. It would pay for itself rapidly. It's kind of like NASA where every taxpayer dollar spent on the program creates at least two dollars of return in new products and scientific advancement. It's no surprise that scientific advancment as a whole has wanned considerably with spending cuts directed at NASA.

 

[vagxtr]

Hellawa no. Why would merely 20PFlops be waste of power? Even i can wrote an application that would maximally utilize it and in the end done nothing So it's not all in bare peta numbers cause they stand for zilch in fact.
Let's remember that just 10yrs ago we had some p3-500 w/ 500MFlops more or less while nowadays we had quad core i7 w/ 100GFlops+ of power, and let's say reading of pdfs w/ that time actual Acrobat 4 (or never forgotten V.5 two yeras later) was way much comfortable at that computer then nowadays reading w/ V.9 So in the 4 years when this rig farm become functional it'll be just enough for the current jobs they intend to do on it :/
On the other hand we use to say as more they're of us we become more stupid which is in fact induced lie. Why? Cause we more and more depend on that Tech That FordGT90 praise for. And we're just unfit to catch up with our fluffy brains so ofc we need implants that someone will want to sell us . The same pieces of tech that coudn't even be SFX-ed for movies 30yrs ago.

And that tech advancement nus-produced by NASA that became useful in our everyday life. It would be great that they're sold it as original products an not as merely formula or an idea an not by them but by some third party that bought off something that seemed interesting for mass production (aka. profitable). The original claims should belong to that tax payers ... tax payer consortium ) and to rightfully split claims between all of them it would need an SF 3 zeta Flops computer that might be produced in 2050. Of course anyone who claims rights for that products should be considered responsible for all bad quality implementations and pollution of the same when they end their life cycle.
And about formula-product-implementation it certainly shouldn't be allowed to sell someone in third world an knowingly dangerous formula just cause they don't have enough expertise or laws to consider you responsible. So the only proven products should be sold and the right owner must and should have rights to oversight that all procedures during production of that products are not wrongly implemented.
Of course that not even 1% of that procedure is done, and that praised tech are just been resold as bare patents, and all of possible misuse of the same lies in hands of end product inventor and their expertise and judgement (..sanity and morale) pressured by short as possible timeframe to invent it, and sold it while not been properly tested. So in the end there's no sci-tech advancement just bare degeneration w/ unproven half-products.

uhmmm ... well that 20PFlops sc could be used for that kind of pre-product process simulation and waste and recycling sims of the same cause bare warhead oversight and their course plots don't need more than 1PFlops.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

Let's remember that just 10yrs ago we had some p3-500 w/ 500MFlops more or less while nowadays we had quad core i7 w/ 100GFlops+ of power

LINPACK is one of the standards for FLOP performance the and Core i7 920 is about 670 Mflop/s. When they say 20 Pflop/s, they mean 20 Pflop/s with LINPACK which is simply enormous to today's standards; hence, why they call them "supercomputers."

20 Pflop = 20,000 Tflop = 20,000,000 Gflop = 20,000,000,000 Mflop

20,000,000,000 Mflop / 670 Mflop = 29850746.27 Core i7 920 processors

I think they are expecting a faster processor to come out by 2012 because that number of processors is simply ridiculous. That, or IBM PowerPC processors have higher flop performance than Core i7 does.

 

[to6ko91]

29850746 Core i7 920's

wow thats a lot of CPUs (phisical numbers)

 

[WhiteLotus]

I wanna see these babies run F@H for a month. See what PPD they get!