10 petaflop supercomputer in the making, will take US back to 1 on top500

Re:10 petaflop supercomputer in the making, will take US bac... by mortenjorck on Wednesday November 17, 2010 @11:29PM (#1916879)

This is going to sound somewhat shallow, but I hope this new installation gets some decent visual design. Look at some of the classic supercomputers, such as the fantastic Thinking Machines CM-1: http://www.mission-base.com/tamiko/cm/CM-1_500w.gif

Now look at the current reigning champ in 2010: http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/10/mod-65...

Sure, the visual design of a supercomputing installation doesn't have any bearing on its actual utility. But having a certain presence commands respect—even if the researchers using it know it's just stagecraft, there's an undeniable attraction to working on something that isn't just a great engineering achievement, but also looks the part.

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Re:10 petaflop supercomputer in the making, will take US bac... by blhack on Thursday November 18, 2010 @12:03AM (#1916948)

Huh, maybe it's because I already know what it does, but I actually think that racks of machines are really cool looking.

Stuff like this: http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&q=Marenostrum&gbv...

is just really cool.

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Re:10 petaflop supercomputer in the making, will take US bac... by mortenjorck on Thursday November 18, 2010 @01:41PM (#1918794)

Well, yes, but that's the MareNostrum!

It may be a bunch of 1U blade servers, but the architecture plays a huge part in building its presence: The location, the contrast between classical ecclesiastical design and stark modernism, the glass, the color choices, the dramatic lighting...

Compare that with a gray room with a drop ceiling and fluorescent lights. The hardware may be the same, but the effect is not in the same ballpark!

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Re:10 petaflop supercomputer in the making, will take US bac... by wmf on Thursday November 18, 2010 @12:59AM (#1917053)

I don't think IBM does blinkenlights or Cray/SGI-style colors. It's all about the black monoliths.

The inside of the PERCS nodes look pretty cool though, with all the copper pipes and fibers.

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Re:10 petaflop supercomputer in the making, will take US bac... by brc on Wednesday November 17, 2010 @11:49PM (#1916921)

I'll put my vote in for it looking something like the computer in Oceans Thirteen. That looked quite cool as a hollywood representation of computing power.

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