IBM Working on 10 Petaflop Supercomputer
IBM is building a new supercomputer based on its Power7 processor.
Softpedia reports that IBM's octo-core Power7 microprocessor will play a part in the construction of a new supercomputer capable of an initial peak performance of 10 petaflops. The new computer will be named Blue Waters and will be based at the University of Illinois.
According to SP, the machine will become operational next year and will have a theoretical peak computing capability of 16 petaflops. While this will supposedly be achievable by connecting up to 16,384 Power7 nodes, IBM doesn't expect the initial performance to surpass the 10-petaflops mark.
Aside from utilizing water cooling to keep heat under control, Ed Seminaro, an IBMer working on project, says the team has taken extra steps to make the project a little more environmentally friendly. "We took a lot of the infrastructure that's typically inside of the computer room for cooling and powering and moved the equivalent of that infrastructure right into that same cabinet with the server, storage, and interconnect hardware,” Seminaro says. “The whole rack is water-cooled. We actually water-cool the processor directly to pull the heat out. We take it right to water, which is very power efficient.”
So just how fast is this capable-of-10-petaflops supercomputer? Seminaro goes on to say, "The transfer of data between any of those two nodes in the system is at the full rate of 192GB per second—peak. So, you can get data from anyplace to anyplace at that kind of speed with latency on the order of less than one microsecond.”
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Jane McEntegart is a writer, editor, and marketing communications professional with 17 years of experience in the technology industry. She has written about a wide range of technology topics, including smartphones, tablets, and game consoles. Her articles have been published in Tom's Guide, Tom's Hardware, MobileSyrup, and Edge Up.
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Abrahm I was at this facility last year and they talked about the blue waters project. Really amazing place. Can't wait to see that thing in action, and what they can do with it.Reply -
pbrigido I think I will hurt the next person who makes a reference to a computer and its ability to play Crysis.Reply -
obiown77 pbrigidoI think I will hurt the next person who makes a reference to a computer and its ability to play Crysis.Reply
ya man, enough talk about Crysis (1) already, I'm getting sick of hearing that crap aswell..
I wonder if this machine could prevent a cpu bottleneck when Crysis 2 is released? -
nevertell Well, if it had like a gazzilion of 5970, it would be able to play crysis or the second one at quad-full-hd with 16x aa and 16 as.Reply -
cryogenic Call me when they announce the first supercomputer with one yottaflop :), or maybe whit one xeraflop if I'll still be alive by then ...Reply
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scryer_360 Why doesn't IBM sell their processors at retail? I know some of what we read about here is enterprise grade only, but it seems to me that very little keeps them from making processors for hp, dell or acer.Reply
Which means, I am probably missing something. -
Ehsan w CryogenicCall me when they announce the first supercomputer with one yottaflop , or maybe whit one xeraflop if I'll still be alive by then ...Reply
oh man I hope so,
by that time we wont even have to think for ourselves XD
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El_Capitan I think I will hurt the next person who makes a reference to hurting a person who makes a reference to a computer and it's ability to play Crysis.Reply -
scook9 All I can say is that I still play Crysis regularly and it is still a pretty good benchmark on real world hardware performanceReply
And this computer should be able to play Crysis ;)