Cell's immense power is largely undisputed by the scientific community. [email protected] is just one example of how Cell and the PS3 can compute massive amounts of data for the sake of scientific research. An astrophysicist recently linked eight PS3 systems together and was able to compute the same amount of data as 200 supercomputers. After Gaurav Khanna created code optimized for the PS3, Sony took attention and donated a few systems to his research."Basically, it's almost like a replacement," he told Wired. "I don't have to use that supercomputer anymore, which is a good thing." While one PS3 costs $500, a single supercomputer can cost $5000. The cost of eight PS3s is incredibly negligible compared to the massive cost of traditional supercomputers.
With his PS3s at hand, Khanna will be researching gravitational waves.
[Via Digg]
21. i wonder if linking ps3s together like this could be applied to gaming. like having several ps3s doing seperate part of a complex program that wouldnt be possible with just one, but making all the players benefit from it. in a multi player game, one could render the objects, while another focuses on physics, and another handles all the player data. Making for a massive world, or ridiculous physics.
Posted at 9:25PM on Oct 17th 2007 by proArchy