US Unveils El Capitan, World's Fastest Supercomputer, For Classified Tasks (axios.com) 30
The world's most powerful supercomputer, capable of 2.79 quintillion calculations per second, has been unveiled at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, designed primarily to maintain the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile and run other classified simulations. The $600 million system, named El Capitan, consists of 87 computer racks weighing 1.3 million pounds and draws 30 megawatts of power.
Built by Hewlett-Packard Enterprise using AMD chips, it operates alongside a smaller system called Tuolumne, which ranks tenth globally in computing power. "While we're still exploring the full role AI will play, there's no doubt that it is going to improve our ability to do research and development that we need," said Bradley Wallin, a deputy director at the laboratory.
Built by Hewlett-Packard Enterprise using AMD chips, it operates alongside a smaller system called Tuolumne, which ranks tenth globally in computing power. "While we're still exploring the full role AI will play, there's no doubt that it is going to improve our ability to do research and development that we need," said Bradley Wallin, a deputy director at the laboratory.
For classified tasks (Score:2)
Meaning it's waterproof so you can store it in your bathroom after you leave office.
Cray (Score:5, Informative)
For those interested, this is a Cray. HPE bought Cray/SGI a while back, and this machine uses a Cray architecture (interconnects, OS, etc...)
Cray OS is.. vanilla Linux (Score:3)
For those interested, this is a Cray. HPE bought Cray/SGI a while back, and this machine uses a Cray architecture (interconnects, OS, etc...)
Looks like there is a Red Hat logo on the side of the cabinet.
I'm sure there are some customizations on the main boards and things running in userspace, etc. but these days 'Cray' supercomputers appear to run straight RHEL, with untainted kernels and commodity accelerated NICs.
(Cray systems, listed in the middle) https://www.hpe.com/us/en/coll... [hpe.com]
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Cray designed the interconnects, called Slingshot 11. https://www.nextplatform.com/2... [nextplatform.com]
But yeah gone are the days of custom vector processors and such.
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Only been 30 years, but I still think of Jurassic Park every time someone mentions Cray.
"It's a UNIX system! I know this!"
It's not a computer if it can't run Doom (Score:2)
Wake me up when they have Doom running on it
games list (Score:2)
falken's maze
black jack
gin rummy
hearts
bridge
checkers
chess
poker
fighter combat
guerrilla engagement
desert warfare
air-to-ground actions
theaterwide tactical warfare
theaterwide biotoxic and chemical warfare
global thermonuclear war
Re: games list (Score:2)
Do you want to play a game?
Re: games list (Score:2)
How about tic tac toe?
Redundancy (Score:4, Funny)
Well if HPE had anything to do with it, it can soon look forward to the vast majority of it's parts being made redundant.
Imagine ... (Score:2)
Imagine ... a Beowulf cluster of these!
30 MW computer in CA? (Score:2)
I realize the need to distribute resources among the NNSA labs of Livermore, Los Alamos, and Sandia, but I would think the operating / electrical costs would be significantly lower in New Mexico rather than just outside of San Francisco, CA.
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Why would they care?
They'll print more money and eggs will be $1 a piece.
And your "Representatives" will still not be allowed to know what the government is doing with it. "Consent of the governed in a representative democracy" is such a total scam.
This is just Exhibit 27881.
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This is why we need Greenland, to cool it down.
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It's surprising they would put this at Livermore, in California, where electricity is Not Cheap.
I realize the need to distribute resources among the NNSA labs of Livermore, Los Alamos, and Sandia, but I would think the operating / electrical costs would be significantly lower in New Mexico rather than just outside of San Francisco, CA.
Definitely political considerations are huge for which labs get the big systems.
However, another consideration is that everywhere, including California and with PG&E, industrial electricity rates are significantly cheaper than residential rates. Often, they can be one-half or one-third or residential rates. So, the difference between California and New Mexico may not be as big as one might think for industrial users. For example, for large industrial users [pge.com], the peak rates can be 16-20 cents/kWh and o
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Is it for peace or war? (Score:2)
The article cites "securing the U.S. stockpile of nuclear weapons" as the primary purpose, but I'm not clear on what part of that goal requires advanced simulations. Can anyone detail examples of applications for this computing power in "securing the U.S. stockpile of nuclear weapons"?
Or are we supposed to understand that "securing the U.S. stockpile of nuclear weapons" is just a polite reminder to foreign adversaries that "we have nuclear weapons and the world's most advanced computing to help us know when
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Many simulations, be it neutron embrittlement of metals, how long a warhead can be stored before the fissile stuff has to be replaced, fallout paths, etc. Last thing you want is a nuke that only hurts the head of the person the ICBM falls on to prevent a strike that would take out hundreds of cities if their side succeeds.
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How do you tell if a 50 year old nuclear warhead will still go boom other than setting one off?
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Let it see a psychologist specialised in anger management?
there is an long list of warplans to long for this (Score:2)
there is an long list of warplans to long for this page to post
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There are lots of things.
There are tasks around "will this particular nuke still go off if we launch it". There are other around "how and when will this particular nuke degrade to the point where it won't be safe". There are questions around "how do we retire/recycle nukes in a safe way." there are other around "how do we ensure that our infrastructure is not compromised to the point that we won't be able to launch our own nukes when we want to" or question of "what are the avenues foreign adversary might
Re: Is it for peace or war? (Score:2)
Can anyone detail examples of applications for this computing power in "securing the U.S. stockpile of nuclear weapons"?
Simulations for NIF perhaps? People seem to forget that the NIF exists for weapons research, not a serious attempt to make fusion power practical.
No it's not. (Score:1)
"The world's most powerful supercomputer", no it's not.
Tesla's Dojo AI supercomputer is 100 exaflops ("100 quintillion calculations per second"). And they have recently expanded it to 400 exaflops. xAI has another 100 exaflops. And they are doubling the size of each of them (at least) over the next two years.
Re: No it's not. (Score:2)
The qualifier was, for classified tasks. Don't think the Dojo is cleared for classified tasks.
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The comma says it's not a qualifier. El Capitan is officially the world's fastest (rated) supercomputer. It's intended for classified tasks. top500 lists it as fastest as of Nov 2024. Dojo ai is not listed. https://top500.org/lists/top50... [top500.org]
Chrome Tabs (Score:3)
Mexico's President chimed in ... (Score:2)
US Unveils El Capitan, World's Fastest Supercomputer
Thinking of this recent ridiculousness from the U.S. and Mexico ...
(1) Trump will not rule out force to take Panama Canal, Greenland [reuters.com]
Trump ... promised to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.
(2) Mexico president chides Trump: Mexican America 'sounds nice' [reuters.com]
Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum on Wednesday suggested North America including the United States could be renamed "Mexican America" - an historic name used on an early map of the region - in response to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's pledge to rename the Gulf of Mexico the "Gulf of America."
Just wondering... (Score:1)