Alienware wins supercomputer bid.

Ikonomi

Diamond Member
Dec 19, 2003
6,056
1
0
I can't click that link.

Edit: Now I can click that link.

I wonder if the supercomputer is going to have a huge alien eye motif going on.
 

dartworth

Lifer
Jul 29, 2001
15,195
1
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ALIENWARE SUPER COMPUTER SET TO INVADE FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY CAMPUS


FIU Selects Alienware to Supply the College of Engineering With Parallel Computers for Scientific Research

MIAMI, Florida ? February 17, 2004 ? Alienware®, the leading manufacturer of high-performance computer desktop, mobile, and professional systems, today announced that Florida International University has chosen Alienware to deploy a powerful distributed-memory parallel computer to be utilized by the College of Engineering for advanced scientific research in its new Computational Science and Engineering initiative. The parallel computer will be located in the Multi-disciplinary Analysis, Inverse Design, Robust Optimization and Control (MAIDROC) Laboratory at FIU. The server cluster, using high-quality Seagate® hard drives and 98 AMDTM OpteronTM CPUs, will operate as a powerful research tool used in the study of hurricane simulation and tracking, protein folding, advanced materials research, biomedical research, and many other sciences. An official ribbon cutting ceremony scheduled to take place on February 25th at 8:30am on FIU?s campus will mark the beginning of the initiative.

?This project will enable FIU to join other world-class research colleges by enabling advanced computational analysis and design optimization in many fields,? said George S. Dulikravich, Ph.D., Professor and Chairman of the Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at FIU. ?Through an extensive bid process, Alienware was chosen because they had exceptional quality and reliability while running intensive applications, 24/7 customer support by specially trained personnel, the availability of customized configurations to meet FIU?s requirements, and the best overall value.?

?Alienware has allocated a full complement of sales and customer support resources to make it fast and easy for educational, business and government institutions to acquire and implement high-performance Alienware systems,? said Kevin Wasielewski, vice president of marketing for Alienware Corporation. ?Alienware provides a very compelling opportunity for institutions searching to implement a server cluster or outfit their offices with new systems - power, performance and reliability at an unprecedented value.?

?Seagate has provided both Cheetah and Barracuda hard drives for FIU's new distributed memory parallel computer, to help ensure the Alienware system meets the varied and demanding storage needs of FIU's advanced research programs,? said Brian Dexheimer, Seagate executive vice president of Sales, Marketing and Customer Service. ?With abundant gigabytes of pooled Seagate storage, these linked systems create a redundant, powerful processing system with failover protection and plenty of storage for the researchers who access the system, easing the way for future scientific advances.?

 

EyeMWing

Banned
Jun 13, 2003
15,670
1
0
TEH PAIN. TEH PAIN.

Edit: Oops, nevermind, it's Dell's inflation that's twice that of Alienware.
 
Jan 31, 2002
40,819
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Originally posted by: EyeMWing
TEH PAIN. TEH PAIN.

Edit: Oops, nevermind, it's Dell's inflation that's twice that of Alienware.

Yeah, Alienware upped it to 2.25x when they introduced the Riceboy-Approved paintjobs. They're mAd tYt3 y0.

- M4H
 
Oct 9, 1999
15,218
3
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98 processors..

thats not powerful enough.. to be called a super computer...

My renderfarm ver1.0 had 16 computers, 32 processors and 16x1024mb of memory. It ran 32 P3-600EB (133 mhz 256full speed cache).

The later version ran 32 computers, 64 processors, 1024mbx32 and had 1.4ghz AMD MP processors.

 

ThePresence

Elite Member
Nov 19, 2001
27,730
16
81
Wow, I didn't realize they were tha big of a company. I thought it was a bunch of geeks in a garage somewhere... :confused:
 

lokiju

Lifer
May 29, 2003
18,536
5
0
It should be noted that Alienware is based in Miami and so is this school so its probally a large factor in why this is the case.
 

Eug

Lifer
Mar 11, 2000
23,583
996
126
Originally posted by: The_good_guy
98 processors..

thats not powerful enough.. to be called a super computer...
Yeah, a 98 CPU cluster ain't too big, but at least it will be doing scientific work meant for clusters.

Personally I hate the design of Alienware computers, but if they can pull this off, it will give them some real cred. Good luck to them.
 

EyeMWing

Banned
Jun 13, 2003
15,670
1
0
Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire
Originally posted by: EyeMWing
TEH PAIN. TEH PAIN.

Edit: Oops, nevermind, it's Dell's inflation that's twice that of Alienware.

Yeah, Alienware upped it to 2.25x when they introduced the Riceboy-Approved paintjobs. They're mAd tYt3 y0.

- M4H

Heh. Actually, I have a real honest-to-god comparison of a homebuilt system, a Dell, an Alienware and a Falcon Northwest with identical specs.

Alienware cost about 1.5x the homebuilt
Dell cost about 3x
Falcon cost 6x.

Alienware's cases are respectable, but only because they're Chieftec/Antec style server towers with custom exterior and a few bonus interior features. The exterior styling sucks BALLS, the interior is first rate.
 

jrphoenix

Golden Member
Feb 29, 2004
1,295
2
81
Originally posted by: ThePresence
Wow, I didn't realize they were tha big of a company. I thought it was a bunch of geeks in a garage somewhere... :confused:

You would actually be very surpised..... Alienware was rated as one of the best priavtely held companies by Forbe magazine! Alienware Story. Good company that is getting bigger by the day... may go public in the future???