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Supercomputer Kits from Virginia Tech

G5 Big Mac SuperComputer at VirginiaTech #3 in world

alandail is correct 🙄, VirginiaTech has boosted the efficiency of their 1100 G5 dual 2GHz Big Mac cluster to a whopping 10.28 TFlops for only $5.2-million...
compared to #1 NEC Earth Simulator, which cost the Japanese Government $350-million to build, and has a super Rmax of 35.86 TFlops
😛 VirginiaTech's savings comes from using off-the-shelf parts, and using Apple G5s with IBM PPC 970 chips was much cheaper than offers from HP, Dell and IBM.

😕 Does anyone know if VT is already taking full advantage of the 64-bit architecture of G5 / IBM chips using their own UNIX software program?

There are conflicting reports about VT using OS X at all, but reports do seem to indicate that they are writing their own operational software using UNIX / LINUX, which is being tweeked to get better and better performance.
A reason given for purchasing 1100 G5 Macs was that they specifically wanted 64-bit and Apple was the only company that could actually supply VT's needs in early Sept 2003 because of an Oct 1st deadline.
"22nd TOP500 List will be introduced during the Supercomputer Conference (SC2003) in Phoenix, AZ November 15-21, 2003.
Submission deadline for entries (was) October 1st, 2003."
😉
Ultimately, the price of an online Apple Store purchase was also the most competitive.
 
REPORT: Top500 SuperComputers List (Nov 6, 2003)

Performance of Various Computers
Computer Science Department
University of Tennessee
and
Computer Science and Mathematics Division
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Oak Ridge, TN 37831

November 6, 2003

Table 3: Highly Parallel Computing (Top500 SuperComputers ranking)

1. NEC Earth Simulator, Japan Marine Science & Technology
#Proc. Rmax Rpeak (GFlops)
_5120 35860 40960

2. ASCI Q AlphaServer EV-68
(1.25 GHz w/Quadrics)
#Proc. Rmax Rpeak (GFlops)
_8160 13880 20480

3. Apple G5 dual 2.0 GHz 😉 IBM PowerPC 970s, Infiniband 4X @ Virginia Tech
#Proc. Rmax Rpeak (GFlops)
_2200 10280 17600

4. HP RX2600 Itanium 2 1.5GHz w/Quadrics
#Proc. Rmax Rpeak (GFlops)
_1936 08633 11616

5. ASCI Q AlphaServer EV-68 1.25 GHz
#Proc. Rmax Rpeak (GFlops)
_4096 07727 10240

and ...495 more!
 
Apple Computer Performance...and others

Besides ranking/rating SuperComputers, the same Report lists Apple and other PC chip performance - it was a long list. Hope you enjoy the digested history of computer progress.

Performance of Various Computers
Computer Science Department
University of Tennessee
and
Computer Science and Mathematics Division
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Oak Ridge, TN 37831

November 6, 2003
LINPACK Benchmark (n=100 MFlops/s)
Table 1: Performance in Solving a System of Linear Equations
(Performance figure is the last # to far right >)
  • HP Integrity Server rx2600 (1 proc 1.5GHz) 1635
    IBM eServer pSeries 670 (1 proc 1.5GHz) 1294

    Apple PowerPC G5 2 GHZ 🙁 (not yet rated)

    Apple PowerPC G4 1 GHz 😎 284
    Apple PowerPC G4 533 MHz 231
    Cray 2S/4-128 (4 proc. 4.1 ns) 202
    Apple PowerBook G4 (500 MHz) 135
    Cray J932 (2 proc. 10 ns) 109

    Intel Pentium II, 333MHz 69
    Cray X-MP/14se (10 ns) 53
    Cray Y-MP EL98 (8 proc. 30 ns) 40
    Apple Macintosh 9500/233 34
    CRAY X-MP/MCP707 (7 proc.) 33
    Apple Macintosh 7300/200MHz 32
    CRAY-1S (12.5 ns) 27
    Intel Pentium 166 MHz 23
    Apple Macintosh 9500/132 22
    Apple PowerPC 16
    Apple PowerMac 5500/250 14
    DELL xmt5133 Pentium 133MHz 14
    Apple PowerMac 7500/100 12
    Apple PowerMac 8100/80 12
    Cray-1S (12.5 ns, 1983 run) 12

    Apple PowerMac 6100/66 9.7
    IBM 3090/180S 9.6
    Apple PowerMac 7100/66MHz 8.6
    Apple PowerBook 1400cs 133MHz 6.3
    Apple Performa 6230CD/603/75 5.9
    Apple Mac Quadra 700 1.4
    SONY Playstation 2 .995
    Apple Macintosh IIfx .41
    Apple Mac SE/30 .14
    Where's my Mac LC 68030 😕 Oh!
 
Let's stay on topic!

Anyhow it's great that VT cluster #3! Way to go!

But I have a question about the cluster sales/supercomputerkits from VT. The racks used by VT, are they also selling them? (or the third party that delivered them?) It would be cool to have one of those at home or for small businesses and buy a couple of G5's to put in the rack.

By the way, what's in such a supercomputerkit?
 
VirginiaTech Cluster Kits

Originally posted by Dreadnought
it's great that VT cluster #3! Way to go!
But I have a question about the cluster sales/supercomputerkits from VT. The racks used by VT, are they also selling them? (or the third party that delivered them?) It would be cool to have one of those at home or for small businesses and buy a couple of G5's to put in the rack.
By the way, what's in such a supercomputerkit?
Click to expand...
Standard Server Racks or Cabinets like those VT used are readily available from 3rd party suppliers for $1000-$2,000, less for smaller ones at Fry's Elec.
Kit supposedly will provide information on what they used off the shelf, who they purchased the parts (soft & hard) from (suppliers), how they did it, and why.
Other educational institutions will supposedly have priority on access to the kits first, then it may eventually trickle down to us Mac people.
😎
Wonder if the computer department at the University of Baghdad has their order in?
 
I'm surprised that you can't order it all from the Applestore: One supercomputerkit and then you will have to put the number of macs in. You press the button to re-calculate and BOEM: you ordered everything you need!

Order 12 G5's (or a multiplude of 12) and you get one rack, 12 G5's with the superconnection cards in them and one superrouter!
 
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