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Virginia Tech Supercomputer?
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this reminds me of one thing
Ever heard of 50 cent's G - Unit well this is Virginia tech's G5 -Unit lol
Ever heard of 50 cent's G - Unit well this is Virginia tech's G5 -Unit lol
Re: Re: Re: G5 Fans
The hardware is fault tolerant is why. If the service that is controlling those fans up and fails, your system would overheat. In the case of the G5 and many Unix systems (I know the sys where I work has this feature.) if the software stops controlling the fans the hardware simply turns them all on. In the case of loading Linux it would be no diff then if the service on OSX failed. All 9 fans would be running.
PS- Give it 3 months after the G5 starts shipping in earnest. You'll have software out there to control these fans. Im quite sure there are plenty of *nix fans out there chomping at the bit to get their hands on a G5 system. Did I say 3 months? Make that 3 weeks.
The hardware is fault tolerant is why. If the service that is controlling those fans up and fails, your system would overheat. In the case of the G5 and many Unix systems (I know the sys where I work has this feature.) if the software stops controlling the fans the hardware simply turns them all on. In the case of loading Linux it would be no diff then if the service on OSX failed. All 9 fans would be running.
PS- Give it 3 months after the G5 starts shipping in earnest. You'll have software out there to control these fans. Im quite sure there are plenty of *nix fans out there chomping at the bit to get their hands on a G5 system. Did I say 3 months? Make that 3 weeks.
Re: Re: 4.4 TERAHERTZ?!?!?!
But not the next one. Not if you believe the Pixar spokesman in the G5 video.
Originally posted by etoiles
The renderfarm used to render Finding Nemo had over 2000 processors (Sun UltraSparc of some sort), and it took an average of 8 hours to render a single frame (not sure how many frames were being rendered at the same time, though).
just to put computing power into perspective
btw, Pixar's new renderfarm has 1024 2.8Ghz Xeons...
But not the next one. Not if you believe the Pixar spokesman in the G5 video.
Re: Re: Re: Re: G5 Fans
i TOTALLY agree. it WILL happen for sure. in fact, if VA tech is spending 10 million on these babes, they just may use a *nix distribution and have someone write the software to control the fans via cooperation with apple or just reverse engineering. it's certainly probably not hard to do. *nix folks have written their own drivers for years.
Why did Virginia Tech need 1100 all at once? Couldn't they spread this out a litte bit? Deliver them over the course of two months? Where they gonna even keep 1100 boxes until they get around to installing them?
I actually go to VT and I'm not sure where the money came from for all this. We're still hurting from budget cuts.
But as for this being a rumor...my roommate was talking about a meeting at the Corporate Research Center (CRC) this morning at 10 AM where they needed people to help build a big supercomputer. This morning was an info session apparently.
But as for this being a rumor...my roommate was talking about a meeting at the Corporate Research Center (CRC) this morning at 10 AM where they needed people to help build a big supercomputer. This morning was an info session apparently.
if you spent $10 million on a bunch of computers, would you want to just put them in storage? no. they are more than likely going to install them and connect them as quickly as possible so they can get them up and running.
I have a feeling that they won't need 1100 Radeon 9800's and that their smart enough to NEVER buy apple memory, and 550 Terabytes is overkill.... they probably only need 10 or so
I seem to recall a govt sponsored research project in distributed OS technology at CMU back in the '80s. It was called Mach. You know, basic abstraction of memory, process and communication in a micro-kernel, on which one could host an os personality such as BSD. Oh yeah, it was led by this guy named Avi Tevanian. Who moved this tech to a company named NeXT, who moved to a company named Apple...
Cheers
Re: Re: Re: G5 Fans
Presumably Apple has the fans set to revert to some sort of reasonable default behavior when the OS fails to provide any sort of control. And the only reasonable default in that situation is for them to simply run full-time. While obviously OS X is the primary system envisioned for these machines, it's not as if the hardware engineers designing them were unaware that some people would want to run Linux and other OS's on them.
Aside from that: If VT made providing a small Linux driver capable of controlling the fans one of the requirements for Apple to land this contract, I'm sure that Apple quite happily provided the miniscule development effort required for said driver.
To go back to the original point: While it's quite possible that the nodes in this supercomputer will run OS/X, it seems unlikely. Much more effort has been put into clustering Linux than OS/X over the past few years, and the primary advantages that OS/X provides over Linux (a reasonable user interface, and a fantastic API for building GUI apps) are irrelevant in a supercomputing application.
To be fair, I can think of a much stronger reason for the cluster to run OS X is marketing: I'm sure Apple will want to be able to brag about this thing in their marketing literature, and they can brag much more loudly if it's running OS X. So I can easily imagine that they've cut a deal with VT where they do the legwork of getting the clustering infrastructure working on OS X, in return for the resulting marketing capital. Controlling the fans? A completely insignificant issue, in comparison.
Presumably Apple has the fans set to revert to some sort of reasonable default behavior when the OS fails to provide any sort of control. And the only reasonable default in that situation is for them to simply run full-time. While obviously OS X is the primary system envisioned for these machines, it's not as if the hardware engineers designing them were unaware that some people would want to run Linux and other OS's on them.
Aside from that: If VT made providing a small Linux driver capable of controlling the fans one of the requirements for Apple to land this contract, I'm sure that Apple quite happily provided the miniscule development effort required for said driver.
To go back to the original point: While it's quite possible that the nodes in this supercomputer will run OS/X, it seems unlikely. Much more effort has been put into clustering Linux than OS/X over the past few years, and the primary advantages that OS/X provides over Linux (a reasonable user interface, and a fantastic API for building GUI apps) are irrelevant in a supercomputing application.
To be fair, I can think of a much stronger reason for the cluster to run OS X is marketing: I'm sure Apple will want to be able to brag about this thing in their marketing literature, and they can brag much more loudly if it's running OS X. So I can easily imagine that they've cut a deal with VT where they do the legwork of getting the clustering infrastructure working on OS X, in return for the resulting marketing capital. Controlling the fans? A completely insignificant issue, in comparison.
Re: Re: Re: Re: G5 Fans
and as you said, and has been said by others before you (myself included), it's not hard to make these drivers that will control it. apple more than likely wouldn't do it, if you ask me. but there are others who can and will. just like linux on the iPod.
now now, it's presumable. or maybe not. the apple in know would just make it not work without OS X, by default. they have never seemed to have any inclination about supporting other OSes than their own. hell, they don't even support their own 9 anymore, really. you sure can't make that run on this computer.
and as you said, and has been said by others before you (myself included), it's not hard to make these drivers that will control it. apple more than likely wouldn't do it, if you ask me. but there are others who can and will. just like linux on the iPod.
don't forget to read threads you post on
Originally posted by ImAlwaysRight
So why in the world can't VT wait a month to receive their 1100 computers and instead the masses who ordered first receive their computers first? What is the rush? Like one month will make a difference to them. I'm sure it makes more of a difference to the 1100 or so individuals who are waiting on their PowerMacs because of this order. And you can't tell me VT placed their huge order the day these G5's were announced. It takes more than a few hours to receive approval for a purchase of that size.
ADDITION: What will win more people to Mac platform, actually SEEING friends, professionals, etc. using PowerMac G5's, or hearing news about 1100 G5's being used in a cluster? How many people are actually going to cluster 1100 computers? Probably none.
So to me it is better for Apple to get G5's in the hands of everyday people and make the cluster wait their turn. Also, Apple can still benefit from ANNOUNCING that VT has a huge order which would be fulfilled later in Sept. for a supercluster. So I don't understand why this is such a great move on Apple's part.
I would imagine this order was placed late July when Apple changed their shipping time from "August" to "7-10 weeks". As I said before, a purchase this size would not have been decided overnight.
I think your wrong 'IAmAlwaysRight' people will hear and see how powerfull the G5 Can be.
There is always demand for new products. Being slightly later or earlier will not mean much.
If they are your friends they will come back and see your new copmuter.
Mudbug -- That would fold insanily fast, turn in a new unit what, once every .2 seconds?
Is SSE or Hyperthreading able to run?
It seems unfair if they aren't off.
Anyway they want to to be in the record books.
If they don't set it up fast, and right, they need time to repair fix... ect.
And as for the $9 Million ... They don't need All those 9700 And they said they would be upgraded to either 4 Or 8 GB not All 8 GB.
maybe what apple considers more valuable than making everyone wait their turn is showing people with real cash the respect it demands.... wouldn't you like to get $10 million for you computers? i mean, suppose VA tech came to them and said, look, we can pay for all this, but we need it ASAP, before x date, otherwise we will have to find another vendor. do you put them in line behind everyone else, or give them VIP treatment? you give them VIP treatment. in the long run, people will be just as impressed with their boxes 3 weeks from now as they would have been today. i am sure it's causing some large amount of trouble, but it's the way business works.Originally posted by ImAlwaysRight
So why in the world can't VT wait a month to receive their 1100 computers and instead the masses who ordered first receive their computers first? What is the rush? Like one month will make a difference to them. I'm sure it makes more of a difference to the 1100 or so individuals who are waiting on their PowerMacs because of this order. And you can't tell me VT placed their huge order the day these G5's were announced. It takes more than a few hours to receive approval for a purchase of that size.
Boy, I bet they have to make a pretty strong building to house all those G5s.
Did you see what just one G5 did to that guy's house in the commercial?
Did you see what just one G5 did to that guy's house in the commercial?
3 weeks delay from this? I don't even think it's THAT bad. We're talking about 1100 boxes here, Apple was said to have over 100,000 pre-orders. Sure, not all of those were 2ghz machines, but 1100 is still a drop in the bucket.
I can say that VT has had a relationship using Macs for years. I remember them REQUIRING computer science majors to have their own Mac II in 1988. We were running Apple's implementation of Unix.
Go Hokies!
Go Hokies!
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: G5 Fans
Apple's docs state if OSX isn't booted, the other OS must take control of thermal management.
They don't say what happens if the OS doesn't take control - do the fans go 100% or do they just shut off. But, since the fans (presumeably) start long before the OS has booted up, it's likely the OS's role is to wind down the fans when possible, it's not responsible for keeping them running.
p.s. 9900 fans? Can anything be done to harness all that wind energy??
Apple's docs state if OSX isn't booted, the other OS must take control of thermal management.
They don't say what happens if the OS doesn't take control - do the fans go 100% or do they just shut off. But, since the fans (presumeably) start long before the OS has booted up, it's likely the OS's role is to wind down the fans when possible, it's not responsible for keeping them running.
p.s. 9900 fans? Can anything be done to harness all that wind energy??
Originally posted by Vlade
I have a feeling that they won't need 1100 Radeon 9800's and that their smart enough to NEVER buy apple memory, and 550 Terabytes is overkill.... they probably only need 10 or so
if you buy through the edu store, a basic dual 2ghz G5 (minus modem and superdrive), runs you $2493. Times 1100 is $2,742,300. A 1gb stick of ram runs you about $350; 8 sticks would be $2800; times 1100 is $3,080,000. So about $5.8 mil for the cpus.