What is the Largest Supercomputer Ever Built?

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In summary, Sun Microsystems has announced the development of the largest supercomputer, "Ranger," which will be powered by 62,976 CPU cores, 125 terabytes of memory, and 504 teraflops of performance. It will be hosted at the Texas Advanced Computing Center and is set to go online on January 1, 2008. The possibility of its gaming capabilities and humorous potential of only having a 56k modem have also been discussed.
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http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2007/06/sun_supercomputer

There's an old saying: "Everything's bigger in Texas."

That now applies to supercomputers as well.

Sun Microsystems announced today that its hardware will power the largest supercomputer ever built, weighing in with 62,976 CPU cores, 125 terabytes of memory, 1.7 petabytes of disk space, and 504 teraflops of performance.

The computer, which has been dubbed "Ranger," will be hosted at the Texas Advanced Computing Center at the University of Texas, Austin. It is due to go online on January 1, 2008
 
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  • #2
Sounds like a really fast way to play Pac-Man.
 
  • #3
I'll bet it can play chess really well too.
 
  • #4
Can it play Crysis at 60 fps?
 
  • #5
nah i bet it can only manage 10 with that gfx card. [Sarcasim]
 
  • #6
I'd love to run a few micro-channel cfd simulations on that beast.
 
  • #7
It would be funny if the IT people only put in a 56k modem.
 

1. What is a 504 teraflop computer?

A 504 teraflop computer refers to a computer system that is capable of performing 504 trillion floating-point operations per second. This measurement is commonly used to describe the processing power or speed of a supercomputer.

2. How does a 504 teraflop computer compare to other computers?

A 504 teraflop computer is significantly more powerful than most personal computers, which typically have processing speeds measured in gigaflops (billion floating-point operations per second). However, it may be less powerful than other supercomputers that can perform even more operations per second.

3. What is the purpose of a 504 teraflop computer?

504 teraflop computers are often used for highly complex and demanding tasks such as weather forecasting, scientific simulations, and data analysis. They can also be used for artificial intelligence and machine learning applications.

4. How is the processing speed of a 504 teraflop computer measured?

The processing speed of a 504 teraflop computer is measured in floating-point operations per second (FLOPS). This refers to the number of calculations that can be performed in one second, specifically for operations involving decimal numbers with a floating decimal point.

5. How is a 504 teraflop computer different from a quantum computer?

A 504 teraflop computer is a traditional computing system that uses classical physics to perform calculations. In contrast, a quantum computer uses principles of quantum mechanics to perform calculations, potentially making it much faster and more powerful than a 504 teraflop computer. However, quantum computers are still in the early stages of development and are not yet widely available.

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