what the....
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| Bob_Robertson Aug 01, 2006 10:47 AM EDT |
"and is said to deliver 180 GFLOPS (billion floating-point operations per second)." ...in one PCI-X add-on card? By Cromm's Enormous Brazen Brass Balls, where's that old Norton Utilities "si" program when I need it? "pc-xt equivalent = 37,000,000" I read yesterday where they're intending to break one peta-flop in an up-coming Japanese super cluster. After reading this article, it doesn't seem so far away after all. Here I was thinking that the EFF cracking of RSA-64 by clustering a bunch of Pentium-1 boards together was still rather neat. I need to realign my hardware expectations... |
| SFN Aug 01, 2006 10:52 AM EDT |
Quoting:180 GFLOPS Isn't that how much power the car in "Back To The Future" required? |
| tuxchick2 Aug 01, 2006 11:04 AM EDT |
Without reading the article, it sounds like a stroll through a cattle ranch. |
| NoDough Aug 01, 2006 11:05 AM EDT |
I've been casually watching the Cell processor for quite some time. My theory is that the awesome potential of the cell processor is what made IBM decide to dump their PC business. For years my relatives have heard me saying that someday your telephone, television, radio, and computer will all be the same thing. I believe the cell is a big step in that direction. Having written that, you should know that my record of prophetic accuracy leaves something to be desired. :-( |
| tuxchick2 Aug 01, 2006 11:15 AM EDT |
NoDough, the only problem with that scenario is the more things a device can do, the more complex the user's controller device gets. That's why homes are filled with herds of single-purpose devices, with all manner of duplicate circuitry and sucking up unnecessary gobs of power. It's a mess, but at least each box only has a couple of buttons. I'm not saying it's a good thing, in fact it's pitiful. :) |
| jimf Aug 01, 2006 11:28 AM EDT |
> the more things a device can do, the more complex the user's controller device gets. And the more likely a failure of one or more elements, and, the increase in dificulity in fixing that, and, the cost of technical support... Single-purpose is pathetic, but at least each element is replaceable and usually affordable. |
| Bob_Robertson Aug 01, 2006 11:31 AM EDT |
The failure of a single-purpose unit also means nothing else is effected. If my alarm clock breaks, I may not get to work on time but at least the ceiling fan and toaster won't stop running. |
| tuxchick2 Aug 01, 2006 11:37 AM EDT |
wusses. A soldering iron is six bucks. Where's your can-do spirits? |
| dek Aug 01, 2006 11:52 AM EDT |
TC2: Where's your can-do spirits? It got up and went? ;-) Cell prosessors offer some fascinating possibilities. Think about powering a 3D graphics card with one of these babies. Overkill? Maybe but I'm sure someone could find a use for it. Don K. |
| techiem2 Aug 01, 2006 11:55 AM EDT |
L33t Game 2020:
System Requirements:
100GB hard disk space available
Dual Cell3 based video cards in SLI configuration
... |
| NoDough Aug 01, 2006 11:59 AM EDT |
>...the more things a device can do, the more complex the user's controller device gets. Mmmmm-hm. Keyboard and mouse a little too much for ya'? >The failure of a single-purpose unit also means nothing else is effected. Ohhh yeah. I hope they never do something stupid like build radios and GPS systems right into an automobile, or try to put an actual ice-maker into a refrigerator so the ice-man doesn't have to deliver blocks of ice anymore. Recipe for disaster, that is. >wusses. Exactly! ;-> |
| Sander_Marechal Aug 01, 2006 12:51 PM EDT |
Quoting:wusses. A soldering iron is six bucks. Where's your can-do spirits? Where are my components? Seriously, we need cheap, giant FPGA's or machines that can create IC's without needing a master (even if they're in the several hundred nm scale). |
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