Earth Simulator, G5 Cluster Drop In 'Top 500' List

daveschroeder writes "The November Top 500 supercomputer list has been published at SC2004. Topping the charts is IBM and the US Department of Energy's 'BlueGene/L DD2' beta system, at 70.72 TFlops, followed by NASA's 'Columbia' at 51.87.TFlops. For the first time in several publications of this list, Japan's Earth Simulator is no longer in the number one slot, falling to third. Virginia Tech's 'System X' Xserve G5 cluster, while 20% faster than the original cluster that debuted at number 3 last November, has fallen to number 7 due to the new entries, but remains the fastest supercomputer at an academic institution. Here's an excellent cost comparison (Google cache) of the top machines ('System X' is significantly cheaper than anything else in the top 20, not to mention cheaper than many things far below it in performance)."

The Dept. of Energy

[aztektum]

I hear they're using it to convert heat into electricity for the rest of the government. Hence their name.

Thanks for that post

[commodoresloat]

That was a close one... I was starting to worry that Apple might be dying again.

hehehe, IBM knows how to play

[BortQ]

IIRC then IBM just came out with their entry very recently. Perhaps they know how to play supercomputer sniping. It's easy to learn on ebay.

Funny MIPS

[RealProgrammer]

These numbers seem surreal, like thinking about Monopoly money. I'm sitting here at my old PII-300, analyzing the cost/power ratio of machines costing a mere $6M, or as much as $350M. This one cost, uh, nothing.

On any one of those systems, you could emulate a Beowulf cluster of this one, and still have time to play Thermonuclear War.

But..

[Anonymous Coward]

It doesn't matter. The brushed aluminum case makes it at LEAST 3 times faster.

Re:Hmm

[Anonymous Coward]

Viruses are the new supercomputers.

Earth Simulator has liberal bias

[Anonymous Coward]

The Earth Simulator computed that global warming will cause major climate change in the next 50 years.

Clearly it suffers from liberal bias.

Re:super computations?

[Zork the Almighty]

They simulated the entire earth up until the creation of slashdot. Then everything suddenly ceased.

Why does slashdot keep posting these stories?

[The Pim]

Is there some fantasy supercomping league I don't know about?

Re:Just imagine

[BottleCup]

It seems like every time there is a new supercomputer in a Slashdot headline, the first few responses are about running Doom 3 or some other FPS. Those computers are better off used for among other things to create predictive complex simulations like global weather, seismic activity, the global economy etc ... etc. Using such a beast for a simple FPS would be such a waste.

It's still running

[Rui del-Negro]

> How much Earth was simulated?

Well, I've noticed a vew glitches (disappearing keys, poor AI in girlfriends, crazy presidents in some countries, etc.), but I'd say most of the Earth has been running reasonably well.

Re:Just imagine

[mlk]

Using such a beast for a simple FPS would be such a waste.
So true, we should use a complex, awe-inspiring game, which will push the limits of any machine. I suggest Nethack.

Not on the list

[leapis]

DB Error: connect failed

Apparently, the top 500 list is not actually hosted on one of the top 500 machines.

VT ongoing cost of ownership evaluation...

[MacDork]

200 pizzas a week. ;-)

Re:VT ongoing cost of ownership evaluation...

[LittleBigLui]

You USians and your funny units... how much is that in Libraries-of-Congress?

Re:Erm ...

[BJH]

Bagdes? We don't need no steenking bagdes!

Re:What is with the Apple fan-boyism?

[MacDork]

Ok, So the big Mac is still #7. That's great, but there are 6 wonderfull computers that have all sorts of great technology that your completely ignoring because Apple wets your pants.

Fine, I'm willing to talk about number 6. [apple.com] ;-)

Re:Hmm

[Ibanez]

Well then, why not compare the earth? What other supercomputer has gotten closer to "42" than it?

I'm still hanging in

[serutan]

My computer is number 44,286,551 and I'm gunning hard for position 44,286,550.

Re:And we thought Macs were expensive

[cbreaker]

You only have to buy 1100 of them to get a discount.

Re:EARTH TO MAC ZEALOTS:

[kevingolding2001]

Yeah, but imagine a beowulf clus... Ummmm.. sorry, what was the question again?

Re:two times less

[jbarlow]

Ok, this is just one of those things that bothers my proofreading brain. What exactly is "two times less" supposed to mean? Literally, it means that they should be shoving as much power back into the grid as these comparable systems. 'Cause "one time less" would be zero.

Try "half as much." Damn, I hate grammar nazis like me.

Re:cluster operating system

[Anonymous Coward]

You're also not allowed to spell 'apparently' like that.

Re:Hmm

[flonker]

Norton Antivirus: Fighting Back Against Skynet!

Re:What i really like is

[AusG4]

Does anyone know what this guy is talking about? Who is the wise prince? What is happening?

Re:Just imagine

[Anonymous Coward]

which will push the limits of any machine

Nethack on Longhorn!

Re:Power architecture does well

[kai.chan]

5 of the 10 top machines use the Power archtecture, either the Power4 or PPC family.

Coincidentally, my top machine use Microsoft Windows and it has a record of AlwaysFlops.

Re:super computations?

[roine]

How much Earth was simulated?

The closest they got was 41.9998645234, which is pretty good in my book.

MOD PARENT DOWN

[Anonymous Coward]

For not being sufficiently deferential to Apple.

BDH

[Anonymous Coward]

Beating the dead horse or what. Yes Apple fanboys we know about your super computer .. yes we know its cheaper than anything.

We need a Steve Jobs Benchmark!

[Anonymous Coward]

How fast does it do a 500 pixel Gaussian Blur on a 300MB Photoshop file, convert it to CMYK and rotate it 22 degrees?

(betcha it comes out #1!)

Re:Not to mention that BG beats BigMac in flops/$

[Lars T.]

Since his point was PowerPC beats the crap out of x86 and Itanium, yeah, I'm convinced he will be disappointed it takes a PPC system to beat a PPC cluster.

Re:Hmm

[mjeppsen]

Wow. Parent is modded "Insightful"? Incredible. I guess "+5 Funny" was disabled...