Wow, this guys is really smart. Well, not really just your normal plain Joe, he’s a Astrophysicist with the Cluster Workshop. (that’s a early stage distributed computation working group with The University of Massachusetts (Dartmouth))
Never underestimate the power of a human’s brain, that’s what built this thing man.
Last year, Khanna’s construction of a small supercomputer using eight Sony-donated Playstation 3 gaming consoles made headlines nationwide in the scientific community. On the consoles, he is solving complex equations designed to predict the properties of gravitational waves generated by the black holes located at the center of the galaxies.
“Science budgets have been significantly dropping over the last decade,” Khanna said. “Here’s a way that people can do science projects less expensively. This new web site will show people how to move forward.”
Typically, scientists rent supercomputer time by the hour. A single simulation can cost more than 5,000 hours at $1 per hour on the National Science Foundation’s TeraGrid computing infrastructure. “For the same cost, you can build your own supercomputer and it works just as well if not better,” Khanna said. “Plus, you can use it over and over again, indefinitely.” The cost for his initial Playstation grid was $4,000.
As the architect of this research, Dr. Gaurav Khanna is employing his so-called “gravity grid” of PS3s to help measure these theoretical gravity waves — ripples in space-time that travel at the speed of light — that Einstein’s Theory of Relativity predicted would emerge when such an event takes place.
Well it seems that he, with his team, had already solved the mystery of black hole vibrations. with 16 Playstation 3 supercomputer. [Read here]
If you are interested in the geeky aspect of his research and the process of his work and stuffs, why playstation 3′s Cell(the central processing unit) is so powerful.. and all the technicalities..[Read here]
Or if you have like $4000 extra cash to spare and wants a supercomputer.. here’s the tutorial [Read here]
Good luck in building one!
Oh yes don’t forget about the
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7 Comments
wow i didn’t know ps3 has the capabilities to be a supercomputer. Can I ask one after your project LOL
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um, i didn’t do that, lol.
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Is there a limit for the number of PS3? I mean can you combine 100 PS3 together?
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From what i’ve read, i dont think there’s a limit..
i’m not so sure though.
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What’s the name of that bluesy instrumental song in Fallout 3?
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i’m not sure man, sorry.
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USAF just bought 1700 PS3 for grid computing…
hmm..
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