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Virginia Tech Supercomputer

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Apr 12, 2001
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CNet News received further confirmation that Virginia Tech will be using 1,100 PowerMac G5s from Apple as part of a supercomputer cluster.

CNet provides some more details of the cluster, which will be interconnected through Infiniband switches from Mellanox Technologies, a cooling system from from Liebert, and switches from Cisco.

The cluster, first reported by ThinkSecret, is anticipated to to be ranked amongst the top Five fastest in the world and is under a deadline to get ranked in the Top 500 List.

Virginia Tech emailed students thatthere will be an information session on September the 4th, according to a Slashdot posting. Another post provides some more details of the project.
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2003/09/02/more-confirmation-of-virginia-tech-supercomputer/
One reader submits the following

"I am currently a student at Virginia Tech close to the G5 cluster project. The following is all i know about it:

Tech has ordered 1100 2GHz G5's, but only 1000 are for use in the cluster. The remaining 100 are incase the cluster does not meet the predicted benchmarks. As for the benchmarks, if all goes to plan, it will be the third fastest computer in the world. The computers are all base-models, except for 4GB of RAM in each box. The networking will be done with specialized cards not provided by Apple that will supposedly be 2 to 3 times faster than Fiber Channel. All the G5's were purchased at regular education price, although Apple gave Tech a price break on the RAM. The computers were ordered the day the G5 was announced, so it is unlikely that of the tens of thousands of pre-orders, the 1100 would cause any noticable backup. The shipments will be coming in burst, with 400 having arrived today.
"
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actually i know a few ppl who go to V Tech...BUT they aren't even CLOSE to being tech heads. So i doubt asking them will help much...but it could be worth asking.
 
The networking will be done with specialized cards not provided by Apple that will supposedly be 2 to 3 times faster than Fiber Channel.
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Then what are they if they are not Fiber Channel?
 
As for the benchmarks, if all goes to plan, it will be the third fastest computer in the world. The computers are all base-models, except for 4GB of RAM in each box. The networking will be done with specialized cards not provided by Apple that will supposedly be 2 to 3 times faster than Fiber Channel.
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sounds pretty sweet
 
Hmmm...

Hmmm... I wonder how long it would take to render a two and a half hour to MPEG-2 using this cluster. I do it on my G4/400 about once a month, and it takes about 8 hours. What do you think? 10 seconds? Less? :D
 
So they're using the base hard drive size, but if each one had 500GB's of storage, that would be 500TB's of storage. What's the next step after a TB?
 
Re: Hmmm...

Originally posted by geerlingguy
Hmmm... I wonder how long it would take to render a two and a half hour to MPEG-2 using this cluster. I do it on my G4/400 about once a month, and it takes about 8 hours. What do you think? 10 seconds? Less? :D
Click to expand...

Um, if the work were distributed with 100% efficiency it would take around 10 seconds, but this is not possible.
 
Originally posted by LimeLite
So they're using the base hard drive size, but if each one had 500GB's of storage, that would be 500TB's of storage. What's the next step after a TB?
Click to expand...

Petabyte?

I think that is it.


Very good news.

Top 3!

Wow, very nice.
 
Originally posted by mainstreetmark
But, what are they gonna DO with this thing?
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Play solitarie.

I think is stupid to have a closter made of G5, at list they could wait for the rack version, can you imagine how much room that is going to take? 1000 superdrives they won't use, 1000 of VRam cards they won't use. All they need is one PCI slots, Ram and the procesors.

Do you know how many scolarships they could pay for that?

What a huge waist of money and resources.
 
Originally posted by mymemory
What a huge waste of money and resources.
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But, if this cluster IS used, it may just make a difference that could save hundreds of millions of dollars for chip producers. I could easily see a quick ROI with this cluster.
 
Off topic... I just got finished writing a long reply, and BAM, a kernel panic... so i'm not rewriting it.

Basically it said "Someone get folding on these computers"
 
Originally posted by mymemory
Play solitarie.

I think is stupid to have a closter made of G5, at list they could wait for the rack version, can you imagine how much room that is going to take? 1000 superdrives they won't use, 1000 of VRam cards they won't use. All they need is one PCI slots, Ram and the procesors.

Do you know how many scolarships they could pay for that?

What a huge waist of money and resources.
Click to expand...

My first reaction was yeah its a waste too, why not wait for the G5 xserve? But if they want them now for a new project for a new semester then they couldnt wait. Also even though one desktop is roughly 4U of rack space if they have plenty of room and racks its probably not a big deal if they take more space. It can also be more expensive to cool servers if they are packed denser.

This money almost certainly came out of a different pool than would be used for scholarships or paying teachers. Projects like this are a prestige thing used to increase the schools reputation and encourage more geeks to attend. Im sure they could make some money charging for time on the supercomputer as well.
 
Originally posted by Macmaniac
Macminute confirmed also, they said Virginia Tech gave official confirmation
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They are just quoting this CNet article.

arn
 
Originally posted by Roller
It's gonna be fun upgrading them when 10.3 ships. :)
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They'll probably have some sort of NetBoot system going, so you'll install it on one G5, and you reboot everything and they have the same stuff.
 
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