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2008-08-30 12:03:13


1100 power mac G5s made into the worlds 3rd fastest super computer via clustering.



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2008-10-09 01:15:03
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System X is a supercomputer assembled by Virginia Tech in the summer of 2003, that was originally comprised of 1,100 Apple Power Mac G5 computers. System X is currently running at 12.25 Teraflops, (20.24 peak), and ranked #47 in the November, 2006 edition of the TOP500 list of the world's most powerful supercomputers.

The supercomputer's name (pronounced "System Ten" ) originates from the use of the Mac OS X operating system for each node, and because it was the first university computer to achieve 10 teraflops on the high performance LINPACK benchmark. The supercomputer is also known as "Big Mac" or Terascale Cluster.

On November 16, 2003, it was ranked by the TOP500 list as the third-fastest supercomputer in the world. It is also touted as "the world’s most powerful and cheapest homebuilt supercomputer."

System X was constructed with a relatively low budget of just $5.2 million, in the span of only three months, thanks in large part to using off-the-shelf G5 computers.

In October of 2004, Virginia Tech partially rebuilt System X at a cost of about $600,000. These improvements brought the computer's speed up to 12.25 Teraflops, which placed System X #14 on the 2005 TOP500 list.


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2008-11-15 21:59:45



VIDEO: An Evolution in Supercomputing: System X at Virginia Tech


Description:


In 2003, Virginia Tech built the world's largest university supercomputer at a fraction of the cost of comparable operations. This program details how "System X" was built, and what it means for the research community.


Related Links:


Virginia Tech Terascale Computing Facility


Speakers:


Srinidhi Varadarajan, Terascale Computing director, Virginia Tech

Jason Lockhart, Terascale Computing associate director, Virginia Tech

Hassan Aref, dean, Engineering, Virginia Tech

Kevin Shinpaugh, Cluster Computing specialist, Virginia Tech

Patricia Arvin, Information Systems Associate VP, Virginia Tech

Glenda Scales, assistant engineering dean, Computing, Virginia Tech

Jerome Holman, student volunteer, Virginia Tech

Philip Kobezak, student volunteer, Virginia Tech

Charles Steger, President, Virginia Tech

Ted Rappaport, University of Texas



LINK



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2010-08-14 21:45:56


HokieSpeed Supercomputing will tap both CPUs and GPUs


Two million dollars has been earmarked to create HokieSpeed, a versatile new supercomputing instrument for accelerating and transforming discovery and innovation across a myriad of disciplines. HokieSpeed is a heterogeneous supercomputing instrument based on a combination of central processing units (CPUs) and graphical processing units (GPUs). In terms of raw performance, it is expected to deliver 35 times better peak performance, 70 times better peak power efficiency, and 14 times better peak space efficiency than System X, previously the fastest academic supercomputer in the world.

The expectations for HokieSpeed come from the researchers' plan to have each compute node of the supercomputer consist of both CPUs and GPUs. Since the 1960s, the CPU has served as the brains in computing instruments. Recent trends, however, have exposed the CPU as a "jack of all (computing) trades, master of none," Feng said, "thus giving rise to heterogeneous computing instruments with multiple types of brains that include both CPUs and GPUs.

"This transformative instrument will empower faculty, students and staff across disciplines to tackle problems previously viewed as intractable or that required heroic efforts and significant domain-specific expertise to solve," Feng said.


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