Super computer

is there a such thing as a super computer like what is the best current computer in the world how much does it cost?

Yes there are such things as super computers. Here is a list of the top performing super computers as of November 2008

http://www.top500.org/lists/2008/11

But super computers are not like the desktop you have under your desk. Typically they are clusters running very customized hardware and software and are usually designed to meet a certain goal or task. The cost of a super computer is probably in the millions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supercompu ... are_design

Cray does offer a super computer to buy but you better have deep pockets to get one.

http://www.cray.com/products/CX1.aspx

Some guys did build an 8 node super computer using PS3's.

http://blogs.zdnet.com/storage/?p=220

That would be your cheapest option.

super computers are very costly .

supercomputer is a computer which performs at a rate of speed which is far above that of other computers. Given the constantly changing world of computing, it should come as no surprise to learn that most supercomputers bear their superlative titles for a few years, at best. Computer programmers are fond of saying that today's supercomputer will become tomorrow's computer; the computer you are reading this article on is probably more powerful than most historic supercomputers, for example.

The term “supercomputer” was coined in 1929 by the New York World, referring to tabulators manufactured by IBM. To modern computer users, these tabulators would probably appear awkward, slow, and cumbersome to use, but at the time, they represented the cutting edge of technology. This continues to be true of supercomputers today, which harness immense processing power so that they are incredibly fast, sophisticated, and powerful.

The primary use for supercomputers is in scientific computing, which requires high-powered computers to perform complex calculations. Scientific organizations like NASA boast supercomputers the size of rooms for the purpose of performing calculations, rendering complex formulas, and performing other tasks which require a formidable amount of computer power

if you actually want to create one, a multi-gpu cuda option would be good. I know someone who is generating rainbow tables with 4x 285 gtx cards

wow...

grinch2171, you have a lot information!

but it's very costly for me!

I don't see why any individual would need so much processing power unless you're doing some serious research or number crunching.

But definitely cool!

What has always 'piqued' my interest was how they utilized that cluster. I saw something off of Engadget, where a guy took a rack of 5 PC's with a bunch of SLI'd video cards and played Crysis with it as a cluster. How do you go about doing that? How does Windows XP or Vista even utilize that asymmetrical multiprocessing from those other 4 PC's? With Linux it's really a no-brainer but did he really use WINE to run Crysis? (I can't find the darn post or the you tube video!)

I see Microsoft has a Compute Cluster Pack but I can I use that with Windows Vista/Se7en Ultimate x64? Like build a decent workstation with some SLI'd graphics and then have an infiniband network connecting a bunch of micro-atx PC's with a basic processor and single gaming card each running Windows Server 2008 x64. Then use MCCP to create a large cluster and go hog wild.

I mean, I could do the same with Linux and possibly run a VM of Windows Vista but can that VM use the power I have? Especially gaming? Weird.