Most supercomputers cost double figures or more in millions of USD to build. Such as the fastest supercomputer that was built by China cost a whopping $32,972,800 to build. But if you managed to recycle some old computer parts or game consoles, you’d be able to build a supercomputer that costs only a tenth or less of the total cost required to build most top 40 supercomputers.
Rome labs have recently developed a supercomputer called Condor which was built from 1,716 PS3 game consoles and cost only $2.5 million USD, less than a tenth of the cost of the China-made supercomputer.
Of course, Condor isn’t the fastest supercomputer but it’s as fast as some Top 40 supercomputers, which is good enough, considering it costs 10 times less.
According to Air Force, the Condor supercomputer is used for real-time surveillance and with the capabilities to control cameras and monitoring 15 square miles large areas for 24 hours x 7 days.
via hardwaresphere
March 29th, 2011 at 9:15 am
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