From PlayStation to Supercomputer for $50,000

New York Times ^ | 2003-05-26 | By JOHN MARKOFF

[TheBattman]

Playstation 2 processors have zero relation to the PowerMac processors.

You are confusing the Game Cube which uses a RISC processor that is similar to the Motorola PowerPC G3 processor.

[GoLightly]

I wasn't talking about that particular project. I was talking about the R&D done by private companies to bring speed to the gaming market. The video game industry is highly competetive. Those who compete in that market have to keep the price of their product affordable to the masses, yet despite that limit, they have excelled in producing the speed desired by their customers.

[staytrue]

By contrast, it is almost impossible for researchers to install the Linux system on Microsoft's Xbox game console.

Gee, Imagine that.

[eno_]

Right you are. Stupid laws do a lot more to turn Americans into criminals and provide excuses for the BATF to kick in doors than they do to make us safer.

[Lessismore]

"By contrast, it is almost impossible for researchers to install the Linux system on Microsoft's Xbox game console."

Gee, what a surprise! I wonder if Microsoft knows about this little problem. I'm sure their tech support people will get right on it....

I believe that their legal staff already have the matter in hand ...

[RightOnline]

"All of this power is driven not by military or scientific computing."

Ummmmmmmmmmmm not exactly, no.

The incredible horsepower that we all enjoy in even consumer-level PC's these days was, in fact, a direct result of the HPC (high performance computing) market. Invariably, the technical markets create the initial demand, and the resultant technologies eventually "mainstream". This has happened time......and time.......and time.......and time again, and will continue to happen. The one possible exception is your graphics card (and Radeon's are certainly not my favorite these days, and I've spent many years in the high-end graphics arena). High-end graphics card vendors do, in fact, make most of their money on the gamers. Usually, they'll maintain two code trees: one for the gaming version of their card(s), the other (supported) for workstation graphics card versions. Some (like the 3D Labs......now owned by Creative Labs......Wildcat cards) are strictly for workstation use due to their very high prices (unless you want to spend $3K for a gaming card).

So, with the possible exception of graphics cards in your example, you can thank the technical computing markets for everything else.

[quietolong]

Here's an oldie.

WND Exclusive: Why Iraq's buying up Sony PlayStation 2s

http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3a3f27852c0f.htm

[SC Swamp Fox]

From those crappy Atari's we all bought 15 years ago to this. Holy cow!

How many of those crappy joysticks did you wear out?

[Reaganesque]

Oh, one or two! LOL!

[timm22]

The center's scientists bought 100 machines, but are holding 30 in reserve, possibly for high-resolution display application.

"high-resolution display application" = Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.

[Bogey78O]

Seems like you've got one of the most advanced set-ups available to home users.

[Bogey78O]

After the rubber gave way they made escellent suction cups.

[lelio]

The Bush EO alllowed the export of any computer capable of under 190,000 MTOP (Millions of Theoretcial Operations Per Second).
This Sony Playstation cluster is capable of 500,000 MTOPS.
That hits the nail right on the head: are we going to stop exports of PS2's to China as they can all be tied together? This isn't like nascar racing where you can require restrictor plates on cars, you can shop anywhere and tie anything together in the tech world.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

Sure doesn't seem like China would have even slight difficulty coming up with this sort of system--or much bigger. None of the components are exactly secret, are they?

[RadioAstronomer]

for some reason I think the processors used in the playstations are the same as in the power mac series. I believe the original playstations used motorolas RISC based chips. Anyone know for sure?

Not the Playstation but the Game Cube. The Game cube uses a Modified G3 Processor.

[RadioAstronomer]

I sure dont see this kind of "PC" horsepower needed in my industry. We use workstations and very advanced servers, such as the SGI Origin 3800. My desktop PC at work is still a PIII 750 (which does the job just fine). Video and gaming is the push for horsepower in the consumer market. And yes, the 9800 is my only Radeon card. I have the Geforce4 Ti in the rest of my machines. Eventually I will exchange this one for a Geforce Fx 5900.

[RadioAstronomer]

Seems like you've got one of the most advanced set-ups available to home users.

I build them myself. It is not as expensive as most think to put together a machine like this one.

[Bogey78O]

I already have some of that. I need to upgrade the mobo from an Intel 845 with P4 2.0 GHZ with ATA133 and SDRAM to the Soyo Dragon built for RAID and AGP 8x with 333Mhz Ram and I'll be happy.

That upgrade would take care of the ATI 9800 I have since my mobo only runs at 4x. Plus the upgrade in bus speed would be nice.

Although the idea of reactivating windows cheeses me off.

[RadioAstronomer]

I agree. Reactivating Windows is a pain. My MoBo is an ASUS P4C800 Deluxe. The Soyo Dragon is a great board, however, you might want to look at the ASUS. The price diff would be minimal and it would be easy to upgrade.

[husky ed]

All that just to download porn faster. 8^)

j/k