Who wants a Big Mac? (besides me, that is)

[Wonk]

G5 cluster secures elite spot for Apple, IBM
By Ashlee Vance in Chicago
Posted: 04/11/2003 at 22:43 GMT

With some help from Virginia Tech, Apple has managed to join the ranks of the high-performance computing elite, as the "Big Mac" cluster is set to capture the title of the world's third fastest supercomputer.

The cluster made up of 2,200 G5 processors has reached 10.28 teraflops. This places it behind the 5,120 processor Earth Simulator system - 35.9 teraflops - and the 8,160 processor ASCI Q system - 13.8 teraflops. The results for the Mac G5 cluster, which was built at Virginia Tech, are appearing just as the maintainers of the top 500 list prepare to announce their latest high-performance computing results.

(snip)

Beyond performance, the Mac-based cluster also comes with a far lower price-tag than other top systems. The Virginia Tech researchers say they paid full price for the new G5s and still managed to build Big Mac for just more than $5 million. The Earth Simulator and ASCI Q systems cost hundreds of millions of dollars to build and maintain.

more...
http://www.theregister.com/content/61/33780.html

[Ellen Forradalom]

1. Would you like fries with that?

Seriously, sounds like fun. My Mac-addict husband will be drooling.

[jmowreader]

2. That must be one huge Photoshop file to need this!

..

[BlueJazz]

3. If it's a Mac, you still wouldn't be able ....

....to get any software for the damn thing!

JK :)

[Wonk]

4. You just don't see them shrinkwrapped on the racks at big box stores.

http://www.apple.com/macosx/applications/