Department of Defense Augments Supercomputer with Thousands of PS3s
Department of Defense Augments Supercomputer with Thousands of PS3s
Posted 11/30/2009 at 12:31pm
| by Bart Salisbury
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You gotta tip your hat to the clever folks in the U.S. Air Force. Rather than laying out the big bucks for a traditional supercomputing set-up, they’re cobbling together one on the cheap, using Sony Playstation 3s--over 2,500 of them.
According to a solicitation notice found on the Internet, the Air Force plans to purchase 2,200 PS3s equipped with 256 MB of memory and 160 GB hard drives. The PS3 is the Air Force’s choice because it provides the best cost-benefit ratio: “With respect to cell processors, a single 1U server configured with two 3.2GHz cell processors can cost up to $8K while two Sony PS3s cost approximately $600. Though a single 3.2 GHz cell processor can deliver over 200 GFLOPS, whereas the Sony PS3 configuration delivers approximately 150 GFLOPS, the approximately tenfold cost difference per GFLOP makes the Sony PS3 the only viable technology for HPC applications.”
These new PS3s will be added to an existing configuration of 336 units, with all connected via each unit’s one gigabit Ethernet port to common 24 port gigabit hubs. The networked PS3s will be driven by Linux using both commercial and in-house developed software.
Ars Technica notes the PS3’s advantage comes from Sony’s subsidy of the price. Sony expects to make up the subsidy on the back-end, from game or TV purchases. While the Air Force probably won’t be in the market for such things, it definitely is happy to take advantage of Sony’s largess in console pricing.
Image Credit: Sony, U.S. Air Force
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van_helblaze
December 01, 2009 at 6:44am
I read about this months ago. Only down side is the PS3 slim doesn't support linux, so it's not usable as a supercomputer. Other than folding@home purposes that is.
Colt725
November 30, 2009 at 3:32pm
I couold use a couple of the hand controllers that I am sure are not needed by the AF. Who can I write to get me some?
Who
November 30, 2009 at 3:33pm
I thought the same thing at first, but I think it's for applications already designed to run on the cell architecture, so a switch to gpu's may not be too easy
from dailytech: "Specifically, the USAF is expected to use customized software designed for use on the Cell Broadband Engine architecture. Sony uses the Cell processor in its PS3, a powerful computing technology that has been favored among researchers -- the PS3 is already used by the Los Alamos National Laboratory and U.S. Customs Enforcement."
QUINTIX256
November 30, 2009 at 2:19pm
A cluster of 5750's in traditional computers running openCL would be more cost effective in terms of raw gigaflops/dollar. I'm sure just one shader group on the R800 would be much more programmable and flexible than those crippled SPE's on the Cell.
You can have your recession. I'm not participating.
Caboose
November 30, 2009 at 2:21pm
I agree. Grab some GPU's and use those instead. Heck, it'll save a lot of space. Why not get some 5890's (those are the x2's right?) and use a bunch of those. If they used 2,500 of those, the processing power would greatly outweigh that of a PS3.
Maybe Sony gave them a good deal on support. Because if one of those goes down, I don't think Sony really wants to have the US DoD knocking on their door.
-= I don't want to be dead, I want to be alive! Or... a cowboy! =-
arch20002013
November 30, 2009 at 1:38pm
Well now. I think there is going to be a massive COD MW2 competition as "training."
RtDK
November 30, 2009 at 1:33pm
Ah, there we go! Sony's solution to their difficulty in moving their consoles! Just sell 'em to the Defense Dept. at an inflated price. $1K per unit, suckahs! Lol
Well, at least they're finding ways to cut how much taxpayer money they waste.
nekollx
November 30, 2009 at 2:11pm
Except, um, the article clearly states the PS3s are "600 for 2" or 300 each, not 1k
------------------------------
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nekollx
November 30, 2009 at 1:04pm
I dunno i hear America's Army is a pretty good sim...
Maybe they could port it to PS3 ;)
------------------------------
Coming soon to Lulu.com --Tokusatsu Heroes--
Five teenagers, one alien ghost, a robot, and the fate of the world.
chronium
November 30, 2009 at 12:56pm
I wonder exact;y how many PS3's have been sold to gamers and how many have been sold to companies that use them for suoer computers.
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