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Didn't they sell a bunch of PS3s to the US Air Force for research purposes? I'm sure that military personnel enjoy games as much as the next person, but it's p

• kube-system 7y ago
  They did. The article linked above mentions that it took them a while to convince Sony to agree to it. Also, if you run the math in the article you linked, it may suggest they paid more than list price. > core made of 1,760 Sony PlayStation 3 (PS3) consoles > the PS3s for the supercomputer's core cost about $2 million that's $1,136 per unit.
  • ianai 7y ago
    Definitely a completely different support contract than a consumer console. That sounds more like an amortization of how many consoles they’d need to support that large of a system for the life of the contract.
    • lozaning 7y ago
      Could also be the rake you pay to the company who will sell you hardware on terms with a PO. Company I worked for in the past had a significant line of business with a major post prod company in the valley that was just buying hundreds of DVD players off ebay at a 20% mark up and then drop shipping them. There's tons of companies and government agencies that cant just send someone to bestbuy with a visa to make purchases. Has to be a preapproved vendor and has to be on at least net 30 terms and purchased via PO. There's a premium to be paid to companies/vendors that can work within your companies processes to quickly get you what you need to not block projects. I do wonder if PS3 have GSA pricing though.