Most powerful computers on Earth

[GenghisK]

http://www.top500.org/list/2003/11/

It's really amazing. The earth simulator is still on top but look who got the 3rd place, hehe. Clustered PowerPC G5
And the French meteo supercomp is only 280th

 

[Turner]

Cool.. . . I was just reading last week that IBM's new chip, don't recall the name, showed up at 73. And it's a prototype. . .

Cool find, GK

 

[Cactus_Jack]

Does the list include supercomputers?

 

[Mikoyan]

Yes, several supercomputer systems are listed.

 

[Cactus_Jack]

To be honest i find it hard to believe that the list is not all super computers. So you are saying we can buy a computer that is more powerfull than one thats to made to calculate the weather? must be a few computers missing from this.

 

[Kinniken]

This list includes all the known supercomputers.

The #3 on the list is not one G5, but 1100 of them connected together (each of which though is a standard G5 you can buy from Apple's website). It is still a very impressive accomplishment, since it is the cheapest computer in the top 10 and the only one made from non-specialised hardware and assembled by a non-professional team (mainly University students). Plus, it runs a desktop OS (Mac OS X) and it is the first G5-based supercomputer. The makers of custom-built, incredibly expensive machines like HP are feeling the heat
Oh, and it was planned, bought and assembled in less than six months.

 

[Aphex_Twin]

Yes, the Japanese built the most powerful computer in the world, with a noble purpose (understanding Earth's climate). However I'm not surprised the Americans built their most powerful computers to simulate nuclear tests

 

[Mrogreturns]

I read this morning that NEC has produced quantum logic gates. They say they are 10% of the way to producing a working quantum chip. However, they say there are several major breakthroughs needed before that happens. To give an idea of the potential of such computers- it is said that calculations that would take about 5 million years with today's fastest supercomputer would take a few seconds on a quantum computer.

 

[Turner]

Isn't the quantum computer the one that supposed to mimic human thought process? Or am I confusing that with something else?

 

[Aphex_Twin]

You are confusing that with something else.

 

[Mrogreturns]

RE quantum computer- According to the article- normal logic gates are either open or closed at any given time, while a quantum logic gate can be both open and closed at the same time. YThe upshot is that it permits a great deal of parallel processing.

I think the mimiking of human thought processes- use of heuristics and "common knowledge" etc is a different issue AFAIK.

@ Turner- nice to see your old avatar back BTW

 

[Turner]

Mrog - Did it for you, baby! But yeah, it is nice seeing it back.

But I was more or less referring to not actual thought, but the mechanics behind the thought. Massive parallel processing is how the human brain works, right? And the quantum computer is a step in that direction. Not that I'm thrilled with the thought of a computer that can think like a human can.

 

[Speedo]

Well if you take enough comps of any type and link them together, you'll have a darn powerful system.

The most powerful home PC processor available now is the Athlon 64 FX-51, beating the G5 and 32bit Pentium4's.

 

[Mrogreturns]

Originally posted by Turner_727

But I was more or less referring to not actual thought, but the mechanics behind the thought. Massive parallel processing is how the human brain works, right? And the quantum computer is a step in that direction. Not that I'm thrilled with the thought of a computer that can think like a human can.

Ok- I get you- yeah I guess you could say that the parallel processing is something in common with brain function. I don't know much about either quantum physics or computers, however, so I'm not best placed to make a comparison

And as for the smiley- put it on t-shirts and you could be rolling in the green stuff.

 

[Phantom Lord]

Hey, ours (or the company I work for) is exactly Nr. 500!

But I know that at the time they made the list only 60% of the processors of the cluster were installed, so it's faster now.