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U.S. Air Force Building Supercomputer From 2,000 PlayStation 3s

Feb 3, 2010#1

Hylian

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3177781

U.S. Air Force Building Supercomputer From 2,000 PlayStation 3s

The 500 TeraFLOPS Heterogeneous Cluster will be used to process images for target recognition.

By Dustin Quillen, 02/01/2010

Sony's been bragging for a while now that the PlayStation 3 "only does everything," and now they can add yet another item to the list: neuromorphic computing.

According to military news site Stars and Stripes, a U.S. Air Force research facility in Rome, N.Y. plans to link 2,000 of Sony's machines in order to form a bargain-bin supercomputer. Called the 500 TeraFLOPS Heterogeneous Cluster, the massive collection of PS3s will be used to process everything from synthetic-aperture radar images to programs designed to mimic the human mind's ability to recognize pictures.

Dr. Richard Linderman, senior scientist for Advanced Computing Architectures at the Rome facility, explains: "With Neuromorphic Computing, as an example, we will broadcast an image to all PS3s and ask if it matches an image it has in its hard drive."

"Humans can routinely do these things, but a computer struggles to do it," added the lab's high performance computing director Mark Barnell. "In a general sense, we are interested in making it autonomous."

The Air Force researchers opted to use PS3s for their studies because of the console's low price-to-performance ratio, as well as the system's relatively small power consumption rate. The cell processor's ability to easily work in tandem with other cells also played an important part in the researchers' decision.

"Supercomputers used to be unique with unique processors. By taking advantage of a growing market, the gaming market, we are bringing the price performance to just $2 to $3 per gigaFLOPS," Linderman commented.

:wtf: I really am not sure what to think about this.

Feb 3, 2010#2

Chazwozel

Hint: they're doing this because it's cheaper than outsourcing to a contractor to make them a specific parts.

Feb 3, 2010#3

zero

Chazwozel said:
Hint: they're doing this because it's cheaper than outsourcing to a contractor to make them a specific parts.

Feb 3, 2010#4

Baerdog

When you put it that way, zero, you make it sound hilarious.

Feb 3, 2010#5

Chazwozel

zero;337155][QUOTE=Chazwozel said:
Hint: they're doing this because it's cheaper than outsourcing to a contractor to make them a specific parts.

Even worse... Sony's "razor and blades" business model means that they sell PS3 at loss expecting to make profit out of licensed games.

When you buy 2000 ps3 and not a single game, you're effectively forcing Sony to pay for a large part of your supercomputer.[/QUOTE]

That's Sony's problem right? Not the Air Force. Anyway, the bragging rights, and pretty much advertisement of the console, can't be all bad for business.

Feb 3, 2010#6

zero

Chazwozel said:
That's Sony's problem right? Not the Air Force. Anyway, the bragging rights, and pretty much advertisement of the console, can't be all bad for business.

Ohh, Air Force is certainly in their right to do that. As you say, if they decided to sell cutting-edge computing hardware at loss, it's their problem. And although I suspect they see this particular case as a publicity opportunity, believe me, it is not the first case of ps3 supercomputer, and they're spreading FAST. The Computation Fluid Dynamics group here at USP is also building one. I suppose it is only a matter of time before someone at Sony have a "now, waitasecond..." moment.

Feb 3, 2010#7

phil

they ordered 2001 though. The last one was just for the guy connecting them all.

I think other branches should buy that many, but use them as incentives to join. The commercials would be great then. See the world, better yourself, serve your country, and hey here's a ps3 while you're at it.

Feb 3, 2010#8

Denbrought

Weren't the ps2 chips used in some military project or other too? I remember reading about it when I was a kid.

Feb 3, 2010#9

AshburnerX

This isn't all the surprising. The power and abilities of the chips in some consoles are kind of staggering and it's one of the reasons why it's illegal to export them to some of our "enemy nations". Basically, the US Government is worried some third world dictator is going to do the same thing we are, only they are going to use them to make actual weapons. It's a stretch, but not by much.

Feb 3, 2010#10

zero

AshburnerX said:
This isn't all the surprising. The power and abilities of the chips in some consoles are kind of staggering and it's one of the reasons why it's illegal to export them to some of our "enemy nations". Basically, the US Government is worried some third world dictator is going to do the same thing we are, only they are going to use them to make actual weapons. It's a stretch, but not by much.

Feb 3, 2010#11

Soliloquy

AshburnerX said:
This isn't all the surprising. The power and abilities of the chips in some consoles are kind of staggering and it's one of the reasons why it's illegal to export them to some of our "enemy nations". Basically, the US Government is worried some third world dictator is going to do the same thing we are, only they are going to use them to make actual weapons. It's a stretch, but not by much.

But doesn't that violate the license agreement? Why would they violate the license agreement?

Feb 3, 2010#12

Baerdog

zero;337247][QUOTE=AshburnerX said:
This isn't all the surprising. The power and abilities of the chips in some consoles are kind of staggering and it's one of the reasons why it's illegal to export them to some of our "enemy nations". Basically, the US Government is worried some third world dictator is going to do the same thing we are, only they are going to use them to make actual weapons. It's a stretch, but not by much.

Feb 3, 2010#13

bhamv3

Denbrought said:
Weren't the ps2 chips used in some military project or other too? I remember reading about it when I was a kid.

I remember that too, I was thinking this was a repeat news story.

Also, obligatory "it would've been cheaper if they used Xbox 360s instead" joke.

Feb 3, 2010#14

Rob King

I had a talk with a friend of mine about this a few months back. It's apparently very commonplace, and is spreading more and more. He works with the university's math department, and has been trying to pitch this to a few professors as a cost-effective means of doing their simulations.

Feb 3, 2010#15

AshburnerX

Rob King said:
I had a talk with a friend of mine about this a few months back. It's apparently very commonplace, and is spreading more and more. He works with the university's math department, and has been trying to pitch this to a few professors as a cost-effective means of doing their simulations.

Feb 3, 2010#16

Tinwhistler

zero;337247][QUOTE=AshburnerX said:
This isn't all the surprising. The power and abilities of the chips in some consoles are kind of staggering and it's one of the reasons why it's illegal to export them to some of our \"enemy nations\". Basically, the US Government is worried some third world dictator is going to do the same thing we are, only they are going to use them to make actual weapons. It's a stretch, but not by much.

Uhn? The US government forbids the exportation of a JAPANESE processor to their "enemy nations"? (Yeah, I understand that IBM is also heavily involved with the cell processor, but it would still surprise me the US government had any saying on whoever can Sony export to...)[/QUOTE]

Japan puts things on export restriction, also.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/reviews/4748761/Game-console-could-be-used-in-missiles.html

But, really, that's not that relevant. The US can restrict the export of anything it wants within it's own borders. I don't know for sure if PS3s are export restricted in the US (a cursory search was unfruitful) but if it was, it doesn't matter if it was made in Japan or not, If it's shipped to the US, then the US is well within its rights to prevent it's export once it's here.

Feb 3, 2010#17

sixpackshaker

bhamv3;337254][QUOTE=Denbrought said:
Weren't the ps2 chips used in some military project or other too? I remember reading about it when I was a kid.

I remember that too, I was thinking this was a repeat news story.

Also, obligatory "it would've been cheaper if they used Xbox 360s instead" joke.[/QUOTE]

Also, obligatory "They don't want to deal with 2001 Red Rings of Death." joke.

Feb 3, 2010#18

David

AshburnerX;337332][QUOTE=Rob King said:
I had a talk with a friend of mine about this a few months back. It's apparently very commonplace, and is spreading more and more. He works with the university's math department, and has been trying to pitch this to a few professors as a cost-effective means of doing their simulations.

So what happens when somebody breaks into the lab at night and steals one? Kinda seems like putting a PILE OF VIDEO GAME SYSTEMS in a college is asking for theft, even if they've been modified to not work like a normal one.[/QUOTE]

Simple: protect the PS3s with automated machine gun turrets which may only be fooled by either walking passed them in a cardboard box or shocking them and somehow hacking them with a game of Pipes.

Feb 3, 2010#19

Rob King

AshburnerX;337332][QUOTE=Rob King said:
I had a talk with a friend of mine about this a few months back. It's apparently very commonplace, and is spreading more and more. He works with the university's math department, and has been trying to pitch this to a few professors as a cost-effective means of doing their simulations.

Feb 3, 2010#20

Soliloquy

Rob King;337347][QUOTE=AshburnerX;337332][QUOTE=Rob King said:
I had a talk with a friend of mine about this a few months back. It's apparently very commonplace, and is spreading more and more. He works with the university's math department, and has been trying to pitch this to a few professors as a cost-effective means of doing their simulations.

So what happens when somebody breaks into the lab at night and steals one? Kinda seems like putting a PILE OF VIDEO GAME SYSTEMS in a college is asking for theft, even if they've been modified to not work like a normal one.[/QUOTE]

Nobody steals the university's sweet computers either. Or their servers. Or their other supercomputers. I doubt it'll be a problem.[/QUOTE]

If it's absolutely necessary, you could cover the set-up with some boring-looking plastic casing, so it's not immediately recognizable as PS3s.

And if you add one of these, no one will dare mess with it:

Well, that, or they might try to disassemble it in hopes of getting it to sing "daisy, daisy"

Feb 3, 2010#21

Chibibar

Rob King;337347][QUOTE=AshburnerX;337332][QUOTE=Rob King said:
I had a talk with a friend of mine about this a few months back. It's apparently very commonplace, and is spreading more and more. He works with the university's math department, and has been trying to pitch this to a few professors as a cost-effective means of doing their simulations.

So what happens when somebody breaks into the lab at night and steals one? Kinda seems like putting a PILE OF VIDEO GAME SYSTEMS in a college is asking for theft, even if they've been modified to not work like a normal one.[/QUOTE]

Nobody steals the university's sweet computers either. Or their servers. Or their other supercomputers. I doubt it'll be a problem.[/QUOTE]

well..... the server would need to be "reconfigure" to play games

PS3 original design IS for games.

Of course I wonder how hard is it to "reformat" the unit if you steal one

now on military application: you could guard it with turrets (they do have those) hehe.

as for selling at a loss: well that is Sony's problem. They made an awesome machine and someone figure out a way to do great things with it. (Sadly it is CHEAPER to do it this way than using an actual super computer)

Feb 3, 2010#22

Baerdog

Chibibar said:
(Sadly it is CHEAPER to do it this way than using an actual super computer)

There's nothing sad about that. It's the other manufacturer's are being undercut by Sony, that is their own problem not the Air Force's. Either they will lower their own prices or improve their product to justify the higher cost. It's basic economics.

Feb 3, 2010#23

Chibibar

Baerdog7;337364][QUOTE=Chibibar said:
(Sadly it is CHEAPER to do it this way than using an actual super computer)

yea. Of course Sony didn't account people might use their machine the other way (well I think they did when the first idea was pitch and Sony went with it. I can't remember when and too lazy to search) Sony is kinda "stuck" now since they lower the price again to gain more customer but didn't expect a massive sales to make "cheap" super computers. Sony can't quite raise the price either

Feb 3, 2010#24

HCGLNS

Guys you're implying that a United States Military tender specifiying a unique part is going to actually lose money for that unique supplier. These are the people who pay $2000 for an ashtray, The article itself implies that they are spending almost twice the value of a PS3 you can buy at Best Buy.

Feb 3, 2010#25

Alucard

Guess you 360 users are miffed right? hahahaha. That aside interesting that they're using a video game console to do this type of stuff.

Feb 3, 2010#26

SpecialKO

Why does no one realize that the Air Force is accidentally building SkyNet?!

Game over, man, game over! :rip:

Feb 3, 2010#27

Chibibar

BlackCat said:
Guess you 360 users are miffed right? hahahaha. That aside interesting that they're using a video game console to do this type of stuff.

I personally exchange 5 units of 360 with RRD

trade for a PS3

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