System X (computing)

System X (computing)

System X is a supercomputer assembled by Virginia Tech in the summer of 2003, that was originally composed of 1,100 Apple Power Mac G5 computers. System X is currently running at 12.25 Teraflops, (20.24 peak), and was ranked #280 in the July 2008 edition of the TOP500 list of the world's most powerful supercomputers. It is still the most powerful system categorized by TOP500 as "self made" by a university.

The supercomputer's name (pronounced "System Ten") originates from the use of the Mac OS X operating system for each node, and because it was the first university computer to achieve 10 teraflops on the high performance LINPACK benchmark. The supercomputer is also known as "Big Mac" or "Terascale Cluster". On November 16, 2003, it was ranked by the TOP500 list as the third-fastest supercomputer in the world. It is also touted as "the world’s most powerful and cheapest homebuilt supercomputer." [http://www.eng.vt.edu/tcf/faq.html]

System X was constructed with a relatively low budget of just $5.2 million, in the span of only three months, thanks in large part to using off-the-shelf G5 computers. (By comparison, the Earth Simulator, the fastest supercomputer at the time, cost approximately $400 million to build.)

In 2004, Virginia Tech upgraded its computer to Apple's newly-released Xserve G5 servers. The upgraded version ranked #7 in the 2004 TOP500 list.

In October 2004, Virginia Tech partially rebuilt System X at a cost of about $600,000. These improvements brought the computer's speed up to 12.25 Teraflops, which placed System X #14 on the 2005 TOP500 list.

Virginia Tech's system was the model for Xseed, a smaller system also made from Xserve servers and built by Bowie State University in Maryland. Xseed was ranked #166 in the 2005 TOP500.

External links

* [http://www.arc.vt.edu/arc/SystemX/index.php Virginia Tech - System X]
* [http://www.arc.vt.edu/ Virginia Tech - Advanced Research Computing]
* [http://www.top500.org/ TOP500 website]
* [http://www.apple.com/education/science/profiles/vatech/ Apple Profiles: Virginia Tech, 2003]
* [http://www.apple.com/science/profiles/vatech2/ Apple Profiles: Virginia Tech, 2005]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLujLtgBJC0 Film about System X, YouTube]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • system — sys‧tem [ˈsɪstm] noun [countable] an arrangement or organization of ideas, methods, or ways of working: • Deregulation has created worries about the stability of the country s financial system. • All staff will benefit from a well run… …   Financial and business terms

  • System X — may refer to:*IBM System x (computing) an intel based server platform by IBM*System X (telephony) a digital switching platform developed for British Telecom British Telecom*System X (computing) a supercomputer system, built by Virginia Tech* Mac… …   Wikipedia

  • system disk — UK US noun [countable] [singular system disk plural system disks] computing a disk that holds the system software Thesaurus: computer memory …   Useful english dictionary

  • system disk — UK / US noun [countable] Word forms system disk : singular system disk plural system disks computing a disk that holds the system software …   English dictionary

  • system operator — UK / US noun [countable] Word forms system operator : singular system operator plural system operators computing someone whose job is to manage a bulletin board or a computer system …   English dictionary

  • Computing Machinery and Intelligence — Computing Machinery and Intelligence, written by Alan Turing and published in 1950 in Mind, is a seminal paper on the topic of artificial intelligence in which the concept of what is now known as the Turing test was introduced to a wide audience …   Wikipedia

  • System of Physical Quantities — of Nikolay A. Plotnikov (SPQ) the classification of physical quantities or physical operators, that makes it possible to reveal their dependence on the geometry of space time and fundamental physical constants in the form of differential… …   Wikipedia

  • computing — com‧put‧ing [kəmˈpjuːtɪŋ] noun [uncountable] COMPUTING the activity of using a computer, or writing computer programs: • How are your computing skills? • She studied computing at college. • wireless mobile computing devices ˈgrid comˌputing …   Financial and business terms

  • System i5 — System i Modell 570 mit Power 6 Prozessoren (Oktober 2007) i5 Modell 570 (2006) System i (frühere Namen AS/400 oder eServer iSeries oder System i5) ist eine Computer Baureihe der Firma IBM. IBMs Systeme …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • System Center Configuration Manager — Developer(s) Microsoft Corporation Stable release Configuration Manager 2007 R3 SP2 / 2010 Development status Active Operating system Microsoft Windows …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”