Pictured: The U.S. Air Force's PS3 Cluster Set-up

[tortnotes]

[citation][nom]NeoDude007[/nom]I fail to see the point of this. Would it not take less power and be better to just use computers? Core i7s plus a range of video cards could do whatever PS3s could do better.PS3 is not some godly computing powerhouse compared to PCs and nice video cards.[/citation]

Perhaps, but it's a hell of a lot cheaper.

 

[Honis]

[citation][nom]christop[/nom]Would 100 quad cpus be better? I don't think of power when it comes to ps3[/citation]No it wouldn't.
PS3 = 1.7 Teraflops GPU. 2 Teraflops Floating Point.
Intel Core i7 965 XE = 40 Gigaflops

For 100 quad cores to match the PS3 they'd need to be packing some good GPUs raising the cost of the system and the development. The PS3s they are using support linux and thus the C programming language if they have 1 PS3 C compiler. This means with very little tweeking they can have the system up and running. If they went to GPU processing, they would need to convert all the calculations (the meat of the program) to use whatever proprietary language NVidia or ATI/AMD dictated. So, not only would the hardware of the quad core cluster be more expensive, the development would too.

Sony was shooting itself in the foot. They are taking a loss on the PS3 hardware while trying to sell Cell based servers at a profit. I think they figured it out and that's why we don't see Linux in the Slim (one of the reasons at least).

 

[TripGun]

Well, it does seem cost effective (bulky and slow, IMO). But if the new PS3's won't run Linux are they using older ones? I wonder if the Xbox 360 will jump on building clusters and create a giant RRoD.

 

[choujij]

Can you imagine if they used Xbox 360s instead? That would be an awful lot of RRoD!

 

[Honis]

Forgot sources:
PS3 #s: http/ps3.ign.com/articles/614/614682p1.html
i7 965 #: http/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FLOPS

 

[dark_lord69]

[citation][nom]christop[/nom]Would 100 quad cpus be better? I don't think of power when it comes to ps3[/citation]
The processor in the PS3 is actually quite powerful. Powerful enough to be called a super-computer.

"...a microprocessor designed to bridge the gap between conventional desktop processors (such as the Athlon 64, and Core 2 families) and more specialized high-performance processors, such as the NVIDIA and ATI graphics-processors (GPUs)."

It actually has 8 SPE units on the chip.

 

[burnley14]

I bet it's like 120 degrees in that room.

 

[omnimodis78]

[citation][nom]kelewan[/nom]Very cool.[/citation]
How's that cool? The USAF is using japanese/chinese video game consoles for high-res video purposes. I don't think it's cool in practice or in concept. This is where their multi billion (trillion?) dollar budget goes? I get the idea, but come on - talk about cheese. Can you imagine the person who had to open all the PS3 boxes. I wonder if they registered the products too for warranty coverage. WHAT A JOKE! I bet you anything all the air forces around the word are laughing at this. Guaranteed!

 

[falchard]

Why is there a big screen?

 

[Shadow703793]

Now... how would a cluster of nVidia/ATI GPU cluster looks like?

 

[Shadow703793]

[citation][nom]falchard[/nom]Why is there a big screen?[/citation]
So they can play some games while the code's compiling of course!
:lol:

 

[TripGun]

We use every-bodies technology in everything. Gone are the days of isolationism, I do have a problem with how they are using this stuff to spy/police our own people and it is only going to get worse.

 

[gmcboot]

[citation][nom]TripGun[/nom]I fail to see the practicality of this setup. True, the cell processor can move large amounts data, but I don't see it having the effectiveness of what a render farm could deliver. This seems to me as being a media recruiting machine, "come join us,look how cool we are".[/citation]

I so agree. People are still under the false impression that the Cell Processor is the most advance piece of silicon on the planet. It never was and never would be. It has it purpose, it strengths and weaknesses.

The CELL IS NOT a super computer. That marketing hype. Stop looking at raw calc numbers as the sole benchmark for CPU power. If the Cell was then every sever on the planet would be running it under Linux or Unix variation. The cost of the cell processor would be little to nothing if it provides 2, 3, 10 time the performance so many people want to believe. Secondarily the FLOPs quote from Honis above is actual the GPU score, not the Cell Processor.

I own a PS3 and a 360, both are wonderful game machines, but neither is a world class super computer. If PS3 is so powerful, then when the military puts this rig together it should blow ever other supercomputer on the planet away. Lets see if that happens.

 

[Toddosan]

ok, but will it blend?

 

[warmon6]

[citation][nom]NeoDude007[/nom]I fail to see the point of this. Would it not take less power and be better to just use computers? Core i7s plus a range of video cards could do whatever PS3s could do better.PS3 is not some godly computing powerhouse compared to PCs and nice video cards.[/citation]

well do you have an 8 core cpu? i guess not.

Now yes, 1 of the core of a ps3 is disabled in-case another core fails although there still 7 cores compared to an core i7 8 threads and 4 cores. 7 cores will beat 8 threads.

For what there needing it for, they need more cpu power than gpu.

which makes scene why they went for a PS3 cluster than a sever farm.

 

[JMcEntegart]

[citation][nom]Toddosan[/nom]ok, but will it blend?[/citation]

How many blenders do you have?

 

[Guest]

Without an Infiniband network to connect the nodes this cluster will have a terrible bottleneck.

See the speed difference:
http/www.infinibandta.org/content/pages.php?pg=products_detail&item_key=543e7d9c30d6fb756ab2aa52b14381afcde0521d

Granted each of these network cards cost the same as an entire PS3 but the high bandwidth and low latency is a must. The fact that its not routable is not an issue for compute nodes.

 

[Socnom]

[citation][nom]falchard[/nom]Why is there a big screen?[/citation]
pff. That is no mere "screen". Its obviously a Visual Intellectual Machine to Human Interfacing Device. How else could the Machine communicate with us?

The bionic arm article + this article = SkyNet

 

[TripGun]

[citation][nom]warmon6[/nom]well do you have an 8 core cpu? i guess not. Now yes, 1 of the core of a ps3 is disabled in-case another core fails although there still 7 cores compared to an core i7 8 threads and 4 cores. 7 cores will beat 8 threads.For what there needing it for, they need more cpu power than gpu. which makes scene why they went for a PS3 cluster than a sever farm.[/citation]

They are using them to render images, so they are not really utilizing the cell processor as much as the Nvidia NV70 chip that in the computer world is know as the most powerful graphics card ever invented (BS, lol).

 

[one-shot]

Wow....the misinformed people are hurting my head.