Iran Builds Supercomputer From Banned AMD Parts

Iran Builds Supercomputer From Banned AMD Parts 778

Posted by Zonk on Tuesday December 11, 2007 @01:04PM from the maybe-they-fell-off-the-back-of-a-really-big-truck dept.

Stony Stevenson writes with the news that, despite a ban on US PC hardware, Iranian techs have built an enormously powerful supercomputer from 216 AMD processors. The Linux-cluster machine has a 'theoretical peak performance of 860 gig-flops'. "The disclosure, made in an undated posting on [the University of] Amirkabir's Web site, brought an immediate response Monday from AMD, which said it has never authorized shipments of products either directly or indirectly to Iran or any other embargoed country."

Iran Builds Supercomputer From Banned AMD Parts

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Bush is relieved... (Score:5, Funny)

by Schnoogs ( 1087081 ) writes: on Tuesday December 11, 2007 @01:08PM (#21657705)

...he now has the justification for invading Iran.

Not only can they never be allowed to have nukes but it will be a cold day in hell before they are allowed to get the processing power to run Windows Vista!!!!!

Don't panic (Score:5, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Tuesday December 11, 2007 @01:08PM (#21657719)

Folks, no need to panic or call for invasion just yet. They still have twenty two more letters before they can get from AMD to WMD.

Intel's new marketing slogan... (Score:5, Funny)

by bealzabobs_youruncle ( 971430 ) writes: on Tuesday December 11, 2007 @01:09PM (#21657741)

Intel Inside, at least we don't support terrorisim....

Re:Oh well. (Score:5, Funny)

by jbeaupre ( 752124 ) writes: on Tuesday December 11, 2007 @01:10PM (#21657771)

I think it falls under the "It's my ball, and I'm going home" set of rules.

Less than reputable resellers in the world?? (Score:5, Funny)

by jzarling ( 600712 ) writes: on Tuesday December 11, 2007 @01:10PM (#21657779)

Im shocked that there may be resellers who are less than reputable!

The Number of the Beast? (Score:5, Funny)

by Sigismundo ( 192183 ) writes: on Tuesday December 11, 2007 @01:10PM (#21657787)

Is it just a coincidence that their supercomputer has 216 processors which is 6 * 6 * 6 ???

new crunching machine (Score:5, Funny)

by caffeine_monkey ( 576033 ) writes: on Tuesday December 11, 2007 @01:12PM (#21657823)

I guess we'll expect to see Team Tehran moving up in the seti@home rankings.

Re:Obligatory (Score:5, Funny)

by Archangel Michael ( 180766 ) writes: on Tuesday December 11, 2007 @01:15PM (#21657891) Journal

I suggest that from now on, we just use "Obligatory .... Nevermind" and bypass any pretense of anything else.

See below for example ....

Subject: Obligatory

Comment: Nevermind

We'll eventually just shorten it to

Subject: Nevermind

Comment:

Yea but... (Score:2, Funny)

by Xinef Jyinaer ( 1044268 ) writes: on Tuesday December 11, 2007 @01:16PM (#21657921)

Yea but does it run Linu... Oh, so it does. Excellent.

Re:Bush is relieved... (Score:5, Funny)

by DoofusOfDeath ( 636671 ) writes: on Tuesday December 11, 2007 @01:16PM (#21657929)

but it will be a cold day in hell before they are allowed to get the processing power to run Windows Vista!!!!!

No worries - they still don't have enough horsepower for Vista ;)

Re:Bush is relieved... (Score:5, Funny)

by webmaster404 ( 1148909 ) writes: on Tuesday December 11, 2007 @01:19PM (#21657987)

And, in the Vista licence, you can only run it on 2 or so processors, so in other news, MS is suing Iran for illegally using Vista.

Re:The Number of the Beast? (Score:2, Funny)

by ricebowl ( 999467 ) writes: on Tuesday December 11, 2007 @01:19PM (#21657991)

Is it just a coincidence that their supercomputer has 216 processors which is 6 * 6 * 6 ???

Yes.

Re:Bush is relieved... (Score:5, Funny)

by Minwee ( 522556 ) writes: <dcr@neverwhen.org> on Tuesday December 11, 2007 @01:19PM (#21657999) Homepage

AMDs, WMDs... What's the difference, really?

Re:Too bad... (Score:4, Funny)

by webmaster404 ( 1148909 ) writes: on Tuesday December 11, 2007 @01:21PM (#21658027)

No, they just want to play WoW without any lag.

Largest non-porn computer (Score:5, Funny)

by Zaphod-AVA ( 471116 ) writes: on Tuesday December 11, 2007 @01:26PM (#21658139)

This is notable because it is the largest amount of computer power assembled that will never be used to collect porn.

Re:It's one thing to have a supercomputer.... (Score:5, Funny)

by protolith ( 619345 ) writes: on Tuesday December 11, 2007 @01:27PM (#21658145)

Maybe they want to play a wicked fast game of pong...

Re:Bush is relieved... (Score:5, Funny)

by MrShaggy ( 683273 ) writes: <chris.anderson@NosPaM.hush.com> on Tuesday December 11, 2007 @01:30PM (#21658187) Journal

Windows of Mass destruction! I for one bow to our new Iraninan-Borg Overlord.

Its nickname? (Score:1, Funny)

by gardyloo ( 512791 ) writes: on Tuesday December 11, 2007 @01:32PM (#21658231)

Mohammed.

Re:They are the Boogeymen! (Score:5, Funny)

by seven of five ( 578993 ) writes: on Tuesday December 11, 2007 @01:40PM (#21658367)

Ahmadinejade is pretty much an idiot

Yeah, but our [whitehouse.gov] idiots are better than their idiots!

U-S-A! U-S-A!

Re:Oh well. (Score:5, Funny)

by Arcturax ( 454188 ) writes: on Tuesday December 11, 2007 @01:43PM (#21658421)

I guess they went to the blowout sale for the CompUSA in either Iraq or Afghanistan.

Re:Bush is relieved... (Score:5, Funny)

by kscguru ( 551278 ) writes: on Tuesday December 11, 2007 @01:43PM (#21658427)

Oh, no worries, they're using Windows Vista Despot Edition. Unlimited processors, support for WMD simulation* (* = linear speed-up not guaranteed on Microsoft products), a new World Domination Wizard, and a customizable anti-American slogan at startup.

Re:Bush is relieved... (Score:3, Funny)

by graveyhead ( 210996 ) writes: <fletchNO@SPAMfletchtronics.net> on Tuesday December 11, 2007 @01:46PM (#21658493)

AMDs, WMDs... What's the difference, really?
Well, let's see. If we assume base 26 and A==0, then

WMD AMD - === WAA

In decimal, I calculate that as 22(26^2) or 14872 to be precise. By god, it's 911 times 16.3249! :-P

big uncover job and the amd quad-core bug is part. (Score:1, Funny)

by Anonymous Coward writes: on Tuesday December 11, 2007 @01:49PM (#21658583)

big uncover job and the amd quad-core bug is part of a hidden back door that will be gone in the next rev and this is where the stop ship cpus are going.

Re:Bush is relieved... (Score:3, Funny)

by yotto ( 590067 ) writes: on Tuesday December 11, 2007 @01:52PM (#21658661) Homepage

Actually, W is approximately (to the nearest 1/10th) 9/10ths of Z, so WAA is the base-26 equivalent of 911.

QED.

Re:Yea but... (Score:2, Funny)

by Xinef Jyinaer ( 1044268 ) writes: on Tuesday December 11, 2007 @02:05PM (#21658897)

You must be new here.

Re:"Enormously Powerful" (Score:3, Funny)

by Chandon Seldon ( 43083 ) writes: on Tuesday December 11, 2007 @02:07PM (#21658935) Homepage

Seriously, to get that many computers into Iran they might have needed *a second truck*.

Re:They are the Boogeymen! (Score:3, Funny)

by Chandon Seldon ( 43083 ) writes: on Tuesday December 11, 2007 @02:18PM (#21659161) Homepage

When Iran annexes Poland, I'll support attacking them.

Re:Bush is relieved... (Score:5, Funny)

by pluther ( 647209 ) writes: <pluther@uCHEETAHsa.net minus cat> on Tuesday December 11, 2007 @02:19PM (#21659193) Homepage

AMDs, WMDs... What's the difference, really?

A type of root beer.

Re:Oh well. (Score:3, Funny)

by pluther ( 647209 ) writes: <pluther@uCHEETAHsa.net minus cat> on Tuesday December 11, 2007 @02:22PM (#21659233) Homepage

Not anymore.

Re:Bush is relieved... (Score:5, Funny)

by magarity ( 164372 ) writes: on Tuesday December 11, 2007 @02:24PM (#21659277)

Global Thermonuclear Jihad

"The only way to win is to play"?

Re:Bush is relieved... (Score:5, Funny)

by Funkcikle ( 630170 ) writes: on Tuesday December 11, 2007 @02:30PM (#21659377)

Will 2008 be the year of Linux on the nuclear death machine mainframe? Next up, Iranian Information Minister Dvorakakakakak will tell us what the implications are.

Re:Don't panic (Score:2, Funny)

by Provocateur ( 133110 ) writes: <shedied@gma[ ]com ['il.' in gap]> on Tuesday December 11, 2007 @02:31PM (#21659395) Homepage

Yes, but that's our alphabet. What's their alphabet like? /*me starts to worry

Re:They are the Boogeymen! (Score:3, Funny)

by Mike1024 ( 184871 ) writes: on Tuesday December 11, 2007 @02:34PM (#21659465)

Calling somebody who apparently was in the top 99.9% on his college entrance exams [...] an idiot is 'pretty much' lame.

In the top 99.9%, you say? That's a claim you don't hear every day...

Re:The Number of the Beast? (Score:5, Funny)

by evilviper ( 135110 ) writes: on Tuesday December 11, 2007 @02:37PM (#21659557) Journal

Is it just a coincidence that their supercomputer has 216 processors which is 6 * 6 * 6 ???

That's right, Satan is a mathematician now...

I guess he got tired of all the paperwork associated with being a lawyer.

Re:Bush is relieved... (Score:4, Funny)

by Fordiman ( 689627 ) writes: <fordiman @ g m a i l . com> on Tuesday December 11, 2007 @02:44PM (#21659693) Homepage Journal

Wait, no. Since A==0, it's closest tenth would be 0, so it's the base 26 equivalent of '900'. They're obviously going to use that linux cluster as a PBX for a massive phone sex scam.

Windows Vista Despot Edition. (Score:2, Funny)

by smitth1276 ( 832902 ) writes: on Tuesday December 11, 2007 @02:52PM (#21659833)

I actually have a screenshot of that [photobucket.com].

Easy to locate (Score:5, Funny)

by DieByWire ( 744043 ) writes: on Tuesday December 11, 2007 @03:01PM (#21660031)

Since they're using AMD, this should be an easy target to visit with your basic heat seeking missile.

Unless, of course, the signature overwhelms the sensor.

Re:Oh well. (Score:5, Funny)

by Poruchik ( 1004331 ) writes: on Tuesday December 11, 2007 @03:16PM (#21660275) Homepage

CompUSA + Iraq = Compaq

Re:Bush is relieved... (Score:5, Funny)

by Mercano ( 826132 ) writes: <.mercano. .at. .gmail.com.> on Tuesday December 11, 2007 @03:24PM (#21660431)

a new World Domination Wizard.
It looks like you're trying to take over the world. Need some help?

Not to worry... (Score:2, Funny)

by pseudorand ( 603231 ) writes: on Tuesday December 11, 2007 @03:45PM (#21660785)

Ha Ha, jokes on Ahmadinejad. The parallel performance increase of Uranium enrichment algorithms doesn't scale well past 30 processors! They overbought by at least 180 CPUs.

Re:Bush is relieved... (Score:4, Funny)

by rvw ( 755107 ) writes: on Tuesday December 11, 2007 @03:47PM (#21660833)

You must be one of those people who can easily solve those "lateral thinking" problems.

Like, "in what month do Australians drink the least beer?"
Wasn't that last month?

Obligatory Rumsfeld quote (Score:2, Funny)

by merikari ( 205531 ) writes: on Tuesday December 11, 2007 @04:51PM (#21662015) Homepage

AMDs, WMDs... What's the difference, really?

Nothing really, they're all "east, west, south, and north somewhat".

Re:Bush is relieved... (Score:2, Funny)

by ArAgost ( 853804 ) writes: on Tuesday December 11, 2007 @07:11PM (#21664277) Homepage

I thought it was february, since it's shorter.

Karma Pump (Score:3, Funny)

by ozmanjusri ( 601766 ) writes: <aussie_bob@hotmail . c om> on Wednesday December 12, 2007 @12:03AM (#21667037) Journal

I post some litehearted humor and my reputation goes from "Positive" to "Bad" in one day.
You can't bash Microsoft products on Slashdot and get away with it.
In fact what you've built for yourself is a karma pump. Normal people mod you +1 funny, because your comment IS funny but you don't get mod points for that, just visibility. Microsoft reps then mod you "Redundant" or "Offtopic" to try hide your slur on their product, which costs you karma and knocks your score down. Real people then feed you a few more non-karma "+1 Funny"s and boost you back into the range of the MS mods.
Rinse, repeat and say bye-bye to your rep.
It's great evidence that MS marketing is gaming the system though. Who else would have a motivation for stifling a joke?

There may be more comments in this discussion. Without JavaScript enabled, you might want to turn on Classic Discussion System in your preferences instead.

Bush is relieved... (Score:5, Funny)

Don't panic (Score:5, Funny)

Intel's new marketing slogan... (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Oh well. (Score:5, Funny)

Less than reputable resellers in the world?? (Score:5, Funny)

The Number of the Beast? (Score:5, Funny)

new crunching machine (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Obligatory (Score:5, Funny)

Yea but... (Score:2, Funny)

Re:Bush is relieved... (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Bush is relieved... (Score:5, Funny)

Re:The Number of the Beast? (Score:2, Funny)

Re:Bush is relieved... (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Too bad... (Score:4, Funny)

Largest non-porn computer (Score:5, Funny)

Re:It's one thing to have a supercomputer.... (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Bush is relieved... (Score:5, Funny)

Its nickname? (Score:1, Funny)

Re:They are the Boogeymen! (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Oh well. (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Bush is relieved... (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Bush is relieved... (Score:3, Funny)

big uncover job and the amd quad-core bug is part. (Score:1, Funny)

Re:Bush is relieved... (Score:3, Funny)

Re:Yea but... (Score:2, Funny)

Re:"Enormously Powerful" (Score:3, Funny)

Re:They are the Boogeymen! (Score:3, Funny)

Re:Bush is relieved... (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Oh well. (Score:3, Funny)

Re:Bush is relieved... (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Bush is relieved... (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Don't panic (Score:2, Funny)

Re:They are the Boogeymen! (Score:3, Funny)

Re:The Number of the Beast? (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Bush is relieved... (Score:4, Funny)

Windows Vista Despot Edition. (Score:2, Funny)

Easy to locate (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Oh well. (Score:5, Funny)

Re:Bush is relieved... (Score:5, Funny)

Not to worry... (Score:2, Funny)

Re:Bush is relieved... (Score:4, Funny)

Obligatory Rumsfeld quote (Score:2, Funny)

Re:Bush is relieved... (Score:2, Funny)

Karma Pump (Score:3, Funny)

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