[aklug] Re: UAF-ARSC falling off the map?

From: Joshua J. Kugler <joshua@eeinternet.com>
Date: Mon Dec 20 2010 - 20:26:02 AKST

On Monday 20 December 2010, Christopher Howard elucidated thus:
> Any of you guys heard any more about the future of ARSC up at UAF?
> Just curious, worked there for a few years. Heard on the news that
> the DOD was pulling their funding, which was what paid for pretty
> much the entire supercomputer program. Apparently, the State of
> Alaska isn't too eager to foot the bill.

I don't know much about their status. Some senators (not just Alaska's)
are trying to insert language to keep the DoD from shutting down some
of its projects.

But as to "super computers," when you can throw a few Nvidia cards in a
system, and smoke your university's 512 core super computer by nearly 4
times, using 1/300 of the electricity...the whole concept of "super
computer" becomes kind of moot. Or, spin up a few hundred "cloud"
systems for a few hours, then shut it all down, and only pay for time
used.

Super computers may still have their place, but the need for them is
becoming more and more niche.

For the Nvidia story, see:
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/09/12/16/2255259/FASTRA-II-Puts-13-GPUs-In-a-Desktop-Supercomputer

Fun fact: the motherboard used is the "ASUS P6T7 WS
Supercomputer 'Ultimate Gamer'" Loaded with PCIe slots.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131390

j

-- 
Joshua Kugler
Part-Time System Admin/Programmer
http://www.eeinternet.com - Fairbanks, AK
PGP Key: http://pgp.mit.edu/  ID 0x73B13B6A
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Received on Mon Dec 20 20:26:25 2010

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