New Top 500 Supercomputer List 138
geaux and other readers let us know that the new Top 500 Supercomputer list is out. The top two both break the Petaflops barrier: LANL's IBM "RoadRunner" and ORNL's Cray XT5 "Jaguar." (Contrary to our discussion a few days back, IBM's last-minute upgrade of RoadRunner salvaged the top spot for Big Blue. Kind of like bidding on eBay.) The top six all run in excess of 400 Teraflops. HP has more systems in the top 500 than IBM, reversing the order of the previous list. Both Intel and AMD issued press releases crowing over their wins, and both are correct — AMD highlights its presence in 7 of the top 10, while Intel boasts that 379 of the top 500 use their chips.
Re:you're joking, right? (Score:5, Insightful)
Sure, it's not one supercomputer, but it still does more calculations for one purpose than any other single supercomputer can.
Re:you're joking, right? (Score:5, Insightful)
Hmm, no, the summary does not say that at all. Maybe you misread the '500'? ;)
Come again? FTS:
The top two both break the Petaflops barrier
AKA 1000 TeraFlops.
The top six all run in excess of 400 Teraflops.
(I don't know how many are over the 500Tflop barrier but those are the computers between the 1PetaFlop and 400Tflop mark. ;-)
top 10 more important than 500 (Score:5, Insightful)
HP has more systems in the top 500 than IBM
Something tells me it is more impressive to have majority stake in the top 10 super computers than in the remaining 490.
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So who is hotter? Ali or Ali's Sister?
Re:you're joking, right? (Score:3, Insightful)
that's a pretty shortsighted statement. (and it also happens to be why the SETI project has had such a hard time receiving funding in the past.)
just because it hasn't produced any practical results yet doesn't mean it's not useful. unless you're assuming that we are alone in the universe, which is a pretty big assumption, the SETI project is an incredibly important scientific endeavor. and through SETI@Home, the resource costs of the project has been largely subsidized by volunteers who're contributing their unused CPU cycles.
if everyone shared your attitude, no one would bother searching for a cure for AIDS, and manned flight would have been given up on long before it was even attempted. but i suppose SETI is just one of those things that will continue to draw detractors until we actually do find intelligent extraterrestrial life. but that's never going to happen if don't even both to look.
Re:you're joking, right? (Score:3, Insightful)
Why do you have internet access, or a computer at all? You should be out volunteering your time for better causes, rather than posting to an internet forum that nobody will read in three days' time.
Or, maybe, we can balance doing several of these things at once. SETI@home, Folding@home, Einstein@home, and whatever tickles your fancy. Unless God exists and moral relativism is a crock, then you really shouldn't look down on other such projects. There's always something bigger, better, and more pressing that you could be devoting your time, money, and effort towards.