Dec 3, 2010

US Air Force Builds Supercomputer with 1,760 PS3s

US Department of Defense engineers and Sony built the most powerful computer in the Department’s inventory by linking 1,760 PlayStation 3 gaming consoles. The supercomputer, nicknamed the Condor Cluster, will allow very fast analysis of large high-resolution imagery — billions of pixels a minute, taking what used to take several hours down to mere seconds. Its sophisticated algorithms also will allow scientists to better identify objects flying in space, where movement and distance create blurring, with higher-quality images than possible before. Its capacity makes the PlayStation 3 cluster about the 33rd largest computer in the world, and it's currently housed at the US Air Force Research Laboratory in Rome, New York.

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