Details of Va Tech Supercomputer Project

[MacRumors]

MacDevCenter provides detailed notes from a talk from Dr. Srinidhi Varadarajan about the Virginia Tech PowerMac G5 Cluster. (Presently ranked at #3 worldwide)

According to the talk, the timeframe on the entire project was relatively short, with initial plans starting in March 2003. Initial negotiations were begun with Dell, IBM and AMD, but costs remained too high. In fact, the first Virginia Tech heard of the new PowerMac G5s was on their announcement day at WWDC (June 23rd).

Varadarajan met with Apple within the week and the deal was made. (Of interest, the purchase was actually made through the Apple Store.) Initial machines came with the stock Mac OS X 10.2.7, with plans to upgrade to Panther shortly.

Final plans for the cluster will be made freely available, and requests have already been coming in. Varadarjan says, "Expect to see a lot more G5 clusters."

Many more details available at MacDevCenter.

 

[Doctor Q]

Dr. Srinidhi Varadarajan bought his supercomputer the way I buy computers: ask all your friends for advice, do some research into specs, look around for good prices, and then buy the best Mac you can afford. I'm glad he didn't have to cut out 1,100 product codes from the shipping cartons and fill out 1,100 rebate forms!

 

[kb9000]

Interesting, I would have guessed they had talked to Apple prior to the release of the G5s.

 

[Mudbug]

man, i would have liked to of seen the auto-generated invoice from the Apple Store for that...

woulda been fun to hold in your hand, just for giggles.

1100 - unreal

 

[dongmin]

Originally posted by Mudbug
man, i would have liked to of seen the auto-generated invoice from the Apple Store for that...

woulda been fun to hold in your hand, just for giggles.

1100 - unreal

uhh, you mean one of these:

 

[dongmin]

Varadarajan reported that "our latest numbers are 9.555 tera and we still have more tricks left. We are hoping for another 10 percent boost to become the first academic machine to cross 10 tera. The last ratings put us at number three worldwide."

sweet! 10.5 Tflops!

 

[ITR 81]

Was that invoice with edu discount applied? Or did they just pay full price and Apple gave them sortof a edu rebate check?

Can you imagine when someone copies this and makes a G5 cluster with new 3GHz coming out next yr!!

But that really explains the reason for awhile no one could get G5 2GHz since most them went to Va Tech.

 

[punter]

there's an interview with him at
http://macslash.org/article.pl?sid=03/10/28/2357235&mode=thread

direct quote: "each processor can deliver 2 DP unites * 2 flops/cycle = 8GFlops. That's more than one Cray X1 Node. In a desktop. (sh*t.)"

I bleeted out the profanity. I assume he means "golly that's amazing", rather then "that's the performance I'd expect from excrement.

 

[MacFan26]

That's so awesome! That's really not that expensive, we could all afford 132,000 a month to have our own cluster right?

 

[dho]

muy interesante (sorry doing spanish hw)

I find that surprising that they were willing to swith to the g5 on such short notice
not that I mind

AT ALL

 

[Powerbook G5]

I want a cluster, maybe then I can get my papers typed quicker...look out Word, I'm sending 10.5 tera your way!

 

[dracoleb]

Hey only $132,089.56 per month.
Maybe I should pick one up.

 

[Blaaze]

Originally posted by dongmin
uhh, you mean one of these:

can't forget the edu discount

 

[coumerelli]

Originally posted by dracoleb
Hey only $132,089.56 per month.
Maybe I should pick one up.

and don't forget...6 months same as cash!

It really makes my 'check email...look at mac rumors...listen to iTunes...check email again...chat' a little underwhelming for such raw power.

 

[Phil Of Mac]

Re: Details of Va Tech Supercomputer Project

Originally posted by Macrumors
Final plans for the cluster will be made freely available, and requests have already been coming in. Varadarjan says, "Expect to see a lot more G5 clusters."

They should take all the G5 clusters and connect them together. I will gladly donate my dorm room for this project.

One Cluster to rule them all, One Cluster to find them, One Cluster to bring them all and in the darkness bind them!

Originally posted by ITR 81
But that really explains the reason for awhile no one could get G5 2GHz since most them went to Va Tech.

Actually, a vast minority of them went to Virginia Tech. If 1100 was most of Apple's Power Mac sales, they wouldn't be a Fortune 500 corporation.

 

[Doctor Q]

Did he buy AppleCare?

 

[whocares]

Do they make a portable one of these?

I'm often on the go and need portability, but will not sacrifice permformance. What's the battery life like?

 

[stcanard]

Originally posted by Doctor Q
Did he buy AppleCare?

Of course.

That's why the long wait for replacement LCD's!

J/K

 

[sethypoo]

What happened to all those keyboards and mice? 1100 hundred of each.....

 

[ITR 81]

1100 mice and keyboards.

I would figure they kept a few on hand but the others probably got donated or maybe they sold them at cheap price.

 

[foniks2020]

Re: 1100 mice and keyboards.

Originally posted by ITR 81
I would figure they kept a few on hand but the others probably got donated or maybe they sold them at cheap price.

EBAY anyone?

 

[foniks2020]

What are the Seti numbers like?

Seriously... do they run SETI during off hours... if ther are any?

AND what are their numbers like?

 

[sushi]

Originally posted by sethypoo
What happened to all those keyboards and mice? 1100 hundred of each.....

Maybe they kept them.

When new Dual 3Ghz versions come out, they could merely swap new Macs for the old ones.

Then sell off the old Macs, with keyboards and mice to offset the cost of the new system.

Afterall, in a couple of years, Dual 2 GHz systems will be slow.

Who knows?! Just an idea.

Sushi

 

[jayscheuerle]

And he hasn't even upgraded to Panther yet...

He may get that extra 10?, eh?

 

[SoonToGetAMac]

Originally posted by jayscheuerle
And he hasn't even upgraded to Panther yet...

He may get that extra 10?, eh?

Hey, if you have to pay $19.95*1100 to upgrade to Panther...