Archive for December 2nd, 2009
Linux on Sony Playstation 3′s for the Dept of Defense Supercomputer
Why is the Dept of Defense buying Sony PlayStation 3’s over IBM machines to build high performance computing clusters?
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.
The U.S. Air Force is looking to buy 2,200 Sony (NYSE: SNE) PlayStation 3 game consoles to build out a research supercomputer, according to an document posted on the federal government’s procurement Web site. The PlayStation 3s will be used at the Air Force Research Laboratory’s information directorate in Rome, N.Y., where they will be added to
Why is the PS3 price point so attractive? For Sony, It’s all about the games – not the hardware. It’s all about the razors, not the handle.
Full story here – http://arstechnica.com/security/news/2009/11/sony-still-subsidizing-us-supercomputer-efforts.ars
Releated – http://arstechnica.com/hardware/news/2009/11/end-of-the-line-for-ibms-cell.ars
