Supercomputer maker Cray Inc. today announced that it teamed up with Microsoft Corp. and Intel Corp. to produce a desktop supercomputer. That's right. It will sit on a desktop. And maybe just as surprising, it has a starting price of $25,000.

The Cray CX1 supercomputer uses up to eight nodes and 16 Intel Xeon processors -- either dual-core or quad-core. It's the first Cray machine to use Intel processors. The CX1 has up to 4 terabytes of internal storage and 64 gigabytes of memory per node.

The machine also comes pre-installed with Windows HPC Server 2008 [or] Linux.



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If I sell the family cars, all my furniture and my dog, I might just be able to afford one of these babes, Sid!! It would do wonders for my RAC!! Probably end in divorce, though....and divorces cost more than $25K!! So I guess I'll give a pass!!

another article about that THING:

http://www.heise-online.co.uk/news/Mini-office-supercomputer--/111550

A quick look at the Cray CX1


Let’s take a look at the options available to you when you configure your Cray CX1 system.

You can get your Cray CX1 on either a rackmount rail kit (standard) or deskside rolling tray (extra - add $520). You can also add a set of two single phase hot swap power modules for $2,078.


Next up, blades (or nodes).


You can choose from a wide range of nodes, and customize each to suit:

* Compute Node (Single Socket) CN4800 - Starting Price: $2,774.00

* Compute Node (Dual Socket) CN5400 - Starting Price: $5,886.00

* Storage Node (4 Hard Drive) CS5404 - Starting Price: $7,357.00

* Storage Node (8 Hard Drive) CS5408 - Starting Price: $8,652.00

* Visualization Node CV5401 - Starting Price: $8,106.00

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Cray Unveils Personal Supercomputer


The CX1 is Cray's new personal supercomputer. The unit is small -- it's meant to fit beside a desk -- and it can be plugged into a wall socket on standard office power. Users can configure it in a variety of ways to suit their specific needs, but fully outfitted for computation, it will hold up to eight nodes, each with two dual- or quad-core Intel Xeon processors, and up to 64 GB of memory per node.

The machine is very versatile, with configuration options that allow users to mix and match storage, compute and visualization capability in the same box. The system can be configured with up to 4 TB of storage, and comes with Gigabit Ethernet or InfiniBand networking.

The Cray CX1 is highly versatile with a variety of blades that can be mixed and matched to customize the system to meet varying user requirements. It is designed with eight nodes in a chassis with eight slots for blades. The CC48 is a single-socket and the CC54 is a dual-socket blade -- both with dual- or quad-core Intel Xeon processors and 8 DIMM slots per blade. A single chassis supports up to 16 Intel Xeon dual-core or quad-core processors -- for a maximum of 64 cores. In addition, each node can accommodate up to 64GB of memory.




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Cray CX1 Deskside Supercomputer


Having led the industry for decades with innovations in enterprise-level high performance computing, Cray has found a way to harness the quad core performance and reliability of the Intel Xeon processor to make supercomputing available to you.

The Cray CX1 personal and workgroup supercomputer provides a bridge from the datacenter to your desktop.

Manifold Runs over 1,920 Processor Cores in New GIS Supercomputing Desktop Record




At the North American Conference for Manifold GIS Users in Denver, Colorado, Manifold set a new record by demonstrating simultaneous use of over 1,920 processor cores to perform a remote sensing image computation at supercomputer speed with over 5 teraflops of performance. Manifold demonstrated the new software on a desktop 64-bit Windows PC equipped with four NVIDIA-based GTX 295 GPU cards costing less than $500 each. (Illustration at right shows the demonstration hardware.)

The demonstration showed how a desktop Windows PC using inexpensive consumer components and running a $245 Manifold GIS package can run over one hundred times faster than any other GIS or remote sensing software package, even those costing tens of thousands of dollars more than Manifold.


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As multicore and cluster computing become more criticial for enterprise productivity, developers are faced with more challenging coding, modeling, testing, debugging and deployment processes. The Cray CX1-iWS offers a modular, easily configurable and scalable deskside cluster, providing a computing platform to match the latest needs of today's developer.

Beowulf Portable Cluster by Nor-Tech





Researchers in the field of fluid dynamics studying the complexities of a liquid flow can already acquire data from their experiments at extremely high speeds. However, the flow of information tends to bottleneck while processing. Using Time-Resolved Stereo Particle Image Velocimetry (TRSPIV),which seeds a flow with laser-illuminated particles, scientists can see the entire 3D structure of the flow, allowing for more intricate measurements of vectors and velocity.

Nor-Tech designed and configured a portable, personal cluster that operates within the energy restrictions of a simple fluid dynamics lab. Supporting a capacity of 52 cores, the system runs easily on a single 110VAC 20-amp circuit (or up to 96 cores on two 110VAC 20-amp circuits.) See the table at the right for detailed energy usage statistics.

The complete 15U high-performance, personal cluster is entirely mobile and contained in a ruggedized, shockmounted chassis. The Cluster can be packaged in minutes and shipped anywhere around the campus, country or even world.


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