cray discovers the joys of overclocking

[v8envy]

Text

In a nutshell, Cray's making supercomputers with Intel chips rather than AMD like they used to. Tiny impact on the bottom line, to be sure. But may be a hint re: where server market is headed next.

 

[Idontcare]

So Cray is following SUN for the exact same market reasons.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01...er=rssuserland&emc=rss

 

[myocardia]

I'm not surprised. If I were building a supercomputer, I'd definitely use a Nehalem. I mean, who could afford to buy the electricity for 1,000 or more Barcelonas, even if they performed the same?

 

[Nemesis 1]

This news from Cray really does make me feel vary comportable in the fact that . Nehalem must infact be something vary special. Crays top brass have know doubt put Nehalem threw some runs and like what they see.

 

[Idontcare]

Originally posted by: Nemesis 1
This news from Cray really does make me feel vary comportable in the fact that . Nehalem must infact be something vary special. Crays top brass have know doubt put Nehalem threw some runs and like what they see.

Yep, similiar to Apple switching to C2D before it's release was rather foretelling of what was to come in summer of 2006.

 

[AmberClad]

Does it actually say they'll be using Intel chips to make supercomputers though? I saw this story briefly yesterday, and it sounded like it was basically a research partnership.

(didn't really look into it though, since I don't really have much interest in HPC)

Edit: Ok, I'm an idiot...the headline states specifically they'll be using Intel chips. Carry on then .

 

[Nemesis 1]

There are other articles out saying much more. Basicly that Cray will use Intel nehalem as its top dog primary machines. But amd would still be used.

 

[v8envy]

Yeah, that's what I read between the lines as well. Now I'm wondering if it's the new string primitive instructions in SSE4.?, or if Nehalem's FPU performance is going to make power look like utter poo. Either way, gimme gimme! And by that I don't mean shares of AMD either.

 

[aka1nas]

I'd imagine that it is more due to Nehalem finally ditching the FSB for a more scalable interconnect. Intel is/was probably more able to reliably supply chips in volume and on time, which would have made them the preferred vendor if not for the interconnect advantages that Opterons had.

 

[nyker96]

This I can see coming long time ago. Actually read some more it seems that Barcelona isn't delivered on time and Cray lost cash. So only logical choice is to go with Intel, better cpu, cheaper/performance on the high end, a ton of them (45nm chips) coming soon, filling a big order no problem, power saving, etc etc. Buying a barcelona in my book feels like going back to the Q6600 generation instead of getting a new chip while there's already Quad 45nm running around, this is just not happening.

 

[Idontcare]

Hmmm, didn't see this get quoted in the other articles on the topic:

Cray is seeking approval from DARPA for its plans to shift the Cascade design to Intel processors using QPI that provides links at up to 6.4 GTransfers/second.
http://www.eetimes.com/news/se...ml?articleID=207402549