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I don't think this description is entirely fair. What is expensive with these computers is the fast interconnection buses between processors and modules, which
by alephnil 12y ago
I don't think this description is entirely fair. What is expensive with these computers is the fast interconnection buses between processors and modules, which is needed for many scientific problems that can't easily be divided into independent subproblems. Just having a large cluseter of computers connected with normal Ethernet would not cut it. OK, you say souped out network cards, and if you had said souped up switches as well, I could have given you some points, but this is the major cost of modern supercomputers. You can get a non souped-up cluster with the same number of processors for a one digit percentage of the price of the supercomputer.
- walshemj 12y agoSome hadoop clusters are looking at/using infiniband - cluster network design depends on what sort of problems your dealing with.
- weland 12y agoPretty sure everything in top500 is using infiniband by now. I was briefly involved with the supercomputing world about four years ago. "Should we use Infiniband?" was no longer considered a non-rhetorical question even then.
- alephnil 12y agoWithout Infiniband or similar proprietary buses, it is usually not considered a supercomputer at all, but merely a cluster.
- Alupis 12y agoI think the lines between "Super Computer" and "High Performance Cluster" have become blurred.
- gh02t 12y agoIt's either Infiniband or some other high speed interconnect. It's not exclusively Infiniband, for instance the Chinese developed their own, but it's usually something similar.