Nvidia pitches Tesla GPU-as-CPU tech 'personal supercomputer'

Nvidia has introduced a desktop computer architecture based on its Tesla graphics chip and it's calling the system the first "real" desktop supercomputer. The typical spec comprises an AMD four-core Phenom processor plus a trio of Tesla C1060 two-slot cards and a Quadro FX card to take the GPU total to four. The Quadro handles …

[Matt Bryant]

Not a rig for gamers?

I know a few enthusiasts that have spent over £4000 on their rigs because they have to be at the bleeding edge and wring every last fps they can out of their games. I'm sure if Alienware came out with a rig with Tesla cards programmed for game physics, graphics and sound assistance it would sell to the same types, or just Crysis owners..... oh, and Vista users (I know, old joke!).

[Joe K]

/obligatory

Will it run Crysis?

[Anonymous Coward]

oh come on...

If they want people to take it seriously as a 'personal supercomputer' they need to significantly ramp up the storage and memory (several terabyte raid array + at least 8 GB ram), and ship it with linux with the necessary optimised BLAS libs installed.

As it is it's a good step forward but falls significantly short of the 'must buy' mark.

[Tom]

"4Tflops of floating-point maths"

Must try harder.

[Gordon Grant]

Nice

I like it, a bit pricey for me right now..

It would just do nicely in F@H, but hmm Seventeen or Bust, Intelligence Realms, any other BOINC project although these would probably need someone with CUDA experience to tweak the client for it..

I can see it now a few people will want them and just so they can say "Roadkill sold here" to a few people..

[Iain]

@AC (why AC? do you work for Nvidia)

I agree, 2GB RAM seems somewhat out of proportion. Or does it only ship with a 32bit OS?

[Anonymous Coward]

@oh come on...

These are aimed as a "supercomputer at a desk" solution for researchers. And not for a cluster supercomputer solution (the rackmount ones are good for that). Invariably several terabyte raid arrays are provided by the SAN and not on a desktop. I see one of the machines is specced with 16gb ram and does have a linux option (cuda drivers have been available for linux for a while).

[Joe K]

In all seriousness

A computer has just been released that can, finally, run Crysis without a hitch.

Only $8000 to you sir.

http://gizmodo.com/5092059/falcon-northwest-mach-v-fastest-pc-yet-runs-crysis-at-60fps

And they wonder why PC gaming is fucked.

[Anonymous Coward]

@@oh come on..

If you're working on a serious project with large input and output data sets 120 GB is going to go nowhere - you'd probably run through that much data in a couple of days, if that. Even if the data is stored remotely in the long term, as it typically is, it's obviously more efficient to have the data locally and the less often you need to rsync the better.

We've got a 8 proc xeon with 24 GB ram and a 5 TB raid array dell machine stuffed away here for midweight processing. I'd hesitate to call it a desktop though as it's incredibly loud, but it's the kind of spec memory/storage wise researchers need!!

[Peyton]

@@@oh come on..

Most research environments involve collaboration - so your data has to go on the SAN just so everyone can see it. On top of that, sometimes data can be expensive to obtain, so you want to get it on the most resilient hardware ASAP. On top of that, even if you've got a beefy desktop, chances are good that will only do for preliminary work, and eventually your data has got to go on the SAN anyway for cluster access.

I agree with some of the other posts - our researchers complain that we don't have 64+GB blades for them yet and they're stuck with a "paltry" 32...

[Anonymous Coward]

Obligatory Paris

Yes, but will it keep her warm on a cold winter night without dimming the city lights when you turn it on? I would keep her warm for free if she turned me on.

[John Savard]

But gamers' rigs can play too

No, the example system discussed in the article isn't a rig for gamers.

But one can get, not 4 Tflops, but 1 Tflop or thereabouts, on systems with a GeForce GTX280, or an ATI 4850 or 4870 video card, which would be found in rigs for gamers.

[alex d]

Worth pointing out

No need to waste money on this. You can build a computer with four GTX280s that will in fact have better performance. (It's a complete misconception that you need Tesla to use NVIDIA's tech.)

[Darren7160]

Perceptions

It is interesting to read the perceptions of price. I seem to remember paying thousands for my first computer which was a pretty good deal for a 20 Mghz 386SX. I also remember reading about the 386DX and the hot new 486 but they were up over $10,000.

For you younger people, have fun and go out and look for old computer advertisements.