Personal supercomputer
Encyclopedia
A personal supercomputer (PSC) is a computer
built for the demand of a powerful computer system. On the civil basis, PSCs are typically built by the user. However government computers have been built by contract companies and/or governmental experts. Although considerably more expensive than a personal computer
, PSCs are still affordable by many people. A few of them like TYANPSC which uses 40 Xeon processors helps 256 gigaflops of data execution per second. Technical advances continue to make personal supercomputers more affordable and powerful.
Personal supercomputing is still in its infancy. A common way of building a PSC is syncing several computers with fast networking
(commonly dual gigabit
Ethernet
switching per processor) linked by a gigabit network switch. Some PSCs use clustered GPUs.
Computer
A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...
built for the demand of a powerful computer system. On the civil basis, PSCs are typically built by the user. However government computers have been built by contract companies and/or governmental experts. Although considerably more expensive than a personal computer
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
, PSCs are still affordable by many people. A few of them like TYANPSC which uses 40 Xeon processors helps 256 gigaflops of data execution per second. Technical advances continue to make personal supercomputers more affordable and powerful.
Personal supercomputing is still in its infancy. A common way of building a PSC is syncing several computers with fast networking
Computer network
A computer network, often simply referred to as a network, is a collection of hardware components and computers interconnected by communication channels that allow sharing of resources and information....
(commonly dual gigabit
Gigabit
The gigabit is a multiple of the unit bit for digital information or computer storage. The prefix giga is defined in the International System of Units as a multiplier of 109 , and therefore...
Ethernet
Ethernet
Ethernet is a family of computer networking technologies for local area networks commercially introduced in 1980. Standardized in IEEE 802.3, Ethernet has largely replaced competing wired LAN technologies....
switching per processor) linked by a gigabit network switch. Some PSCs use clustered GPUs.
Applications
They can be used in medical applications for processing brain and body scans, resulting in faster diagnosis.Examples
- Nvidia Tesla Personal SupercomputerNvidia Tesla Personal SupercomputerThe Tesla Personal Supercomputer is a desktop computer that is backed by Nvidia and built by Dell, Lenovo and other companies...
- SGI OctaneSGI OctaneThe Octane and the similar Octane2 are UNIX workstations marketed by SGI. Both are 2-way SMP-capable workstations, originally based on the MIPS R10000 microprocessor. Newer Octanes are based on MIPS R12000 and R14000. The Octane2 has four improvements compared to Octane, a revised power supply,...
- Cray CX1Cray CX1The Cray CX1 is a deskside high-performance workstation designed by Cray Inc., based on the x86-64 processor architecture. It was launched on September 16, 2008. It comprises a single chassis blade server design that supports a maximum of eight modular single-width blades, giving up to 96...
- TyanPSC