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

On Mon, 20 Dec 2010, Joshua J. Kugler wrote:

> 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.

They more than have their place. The whole CUDA/GPU exercise is only
applicable to a relatively small problem domain. Yes, it is extremely
efficient for what it does, but it's all the *other* stuff that a super
computer is capable of that makes them so valuable.

If anything, my money's on computers at some point coming with an array of
FPGAs standard. When that happens, even GPUs will be an endangered species.
Until then, supercomputers will remain where they are.

BTW, x86 is still an extremely crappy architecture. If performance and
scalability were the only criteria they'd never even be looked at. It's the
price point of commoditized hardware that's driving any interest there at
all.

         --Arthur Corliss
           Live Free or Die
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Received on Tue Dec 21 09:49:25 2010