Fujitsu has begun offering a new supercomputer, which the company claims can be scaled to a performance of up to 23.2 PFlops, which would make it the fastest system on the Top500 list and even exceed the upcoming BlueGene/Q-based Sequoia system.
To achieve this performance, the computer would be configured with a total of 1024 racks integrating a total of 98,304 computing nodes and 6 PB of memory. The base configuration has four racks with 384 processors.
What makes this particular announcement interesting is the fact that PRIMEHPC FX10 will be using the SPARC64 IXfx processor, the successor chip to the SPARC64 VIIIfx, which is currently used in the world's fastest supercomputer, K Computer system, in Japan. However, instead of eight cores, the SPARC64 IXfx integrates 16 cores, which means that Fujitsu's 23.2 PFlops supercomputer would boast a stunning 1,572,864 processing cores - more than twice the number of cores in the K Computer's 705,024.
According to Fujitsu, a single SPARC64 IXfx processor will deliver a floating point performance of 236.5 GFlops, about 85 percent more than the SPARC64 VIIIfx, which tops out at 128 GFlops. The company said that the computation efficiency is at about 2 GFlops per watt, which indicates that individual processors will run at about 115 watt at 1.85 GHz.
In comparison, IBM will use a 16-core PowerPC A2 processor in the 20 PFlops Sequoia system which will be installed at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in 2012. IBM said that its A2 processor will consume only 30 watts; however, since the company states that the 98,304 computing nodes A2 system will reach just about 20 Flops, we would assume that the A2 is not quite as powerful as the SPARC64 IXfx.
Guess not
But not as power hungry. ~18% less compute power for ~3.8x less power consumption.
dum dum dum dum dum!
Oh hell...it'd better be able to!!!
Software rendered even...though most people that spout the crisis meme aren't old enough to know the days of having a software render as an option.
I'd rather buy 116,000 PowerPC A2s (consuming 3,480kW), which would equal the performance of the 98,304 SPARC64 IXfxs (consuming 11,600kW), and save tons of money with PowerPCs lower power consumption. Plus, it's more eco-friendly.
That and they would most likely not scale up to what they can scale it to.
Though a announcement of a Upgrade to a Super Computer should doesn't necessarily mean that the upgrade will go according to plan. Though most likely it could.
So keep your eyes open, because America's vying for the fastest super computer spot.
Good Luck Oak Ridge hope Linpack works well for you and your new Titan Super Computer!
Ooh, that brings back memories of Asheron's Call and Homeworld in software mode on a friend's laptop. *cringe*
I'm thinking this thing could maybe even perform software based real-time ray tracing.
I think you missed something there.