[Beowulf] Supercomputers - iPad versus Cray

[Lux, Jim (337C)]

Of some interest is Jack Dongarra's measurements on the iPad
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/09/the-ipad-in-your-hand-as-fast-as-a-supercomputer-of-yore/

And his speculation on a cluster.  (wouldn't be a Beowulf: not commodity hardware, not open source OS, etc.)

While it might do the flops, the interconnect bandwidth is quite low. I assume it would have to use WiFi (I don't know how fast the tether port is, but I don't think it's a real ball o'fire.   It's hard to measure.  You can plug a USB disk drive into the photo adapter so maybe your interconnect could simulate that.

From: "Hearns, John" <john.hearns at mclaren.com<mailto:john.hearns at mclaren.com>>
Date: Thu, 8 Mar 2012 05:43:10 -0800
To: "beowulf at beowulf.org<mailto:beowulf at beowulf.org>" <beowulf at beowulf.org<mailto:beowulf at beowulf.org>>
Subject: [Beowulf] Supercomputers - iPad versus Cray

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/03/08/supercomputing_vs_home_usage/

A rather nice Register article on costs for supercomputers, adjusted to 2010  dollars,
And a rather interesting cost per megaflop table on the second page.

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