IBM rolls out systems based on "fastest chip on Earth"

It's not the first time IBM has tossed around "world's fastest" language when discussing its Power6 processors, but the company's now found reason to boast again, with it recently announcing that it's released some new supercomputers based on its new "world's most powerful microprocessor." Getting that distinction is IBM's latest Power 575 "Hydro-Cluster" supercomputer which, thanks to some nifty in-rack water-cooling measures, is able to accommodate the company's speedy new 5GHz Power6 processor. According to IBM, that processor should deliver "two-to-three times the performance per core of comparable HP or Sun processors," while still requiring only about the same amount of energy as previous Power5 processors. For its part, Sun is a bit skeptical IBM's focus on speed, with a company spokesperson telling the San Francisco Chronicle that "it's an easier marketing message to deliver to say that faster gigahertz means a faster processor," adding that Sun instead focuses on multithreading to make its processors more efficient.

Read - IBM press release
Read - SFGate, "IBM chip is fastest on Earth"

[Via Slashdot]

[Lowest Ranked @ Apr 10th 2008 5:25PM]

I could of swore about 15 minutes ago I took the fastest chip on Earth.



Wait, thats not a lisp is it?

[STIEN @ Apr 10th 2008 5:27PM]

i have the fastest chip.

its called a ruffle rocket

[Lupo @ Apr 10th 2008 5:35PM]

a standard-issue ruffle rocket is nowhere near as capable as "The Pringles Projectile"

[Drew Lewis @ Apr 11th 2008 3:49AM]

What is a ruffle rocket.

[STIEN @ Apr 11th 2008 10:29AM]

its a ruffle with a rocket attached. duh...

@Lupo
your feeble pringles are no match for my lay launcher

[Billy Fiul @ Apr 10th 2008 5:34PM]

Dear Engadget,

Totally digging the new site design. Keep up the great work.

Your friend,
Billy

[Lupo @ Apr 10th 2008 5:39PM]

Dear Engadget, Your redesign makes text more difficult to read and makes your search box disappear, yet I can not stop compulsively checking the site. Why?

[Lowest Ranked @ Apr 10th 2008 5:42PM]

Ugg? Is that you?

Its addicted because they lace their articles with crack.

[Yubastard @ Apr 10th 2008 5:57PM]

looks good but I liked the other one more

[TomTom2007 @ Apr 10th 2008 6:02PM]

I like the new layout too, allows to post bigger pictures, take advantage of the wide screen.

[wesg @ Apr 10th 2008 6:09PM]

As long as we're on the topic of the site redesign, I would like to add that the comment section is harder to follow. It was so much easier to pick out the "highest ranked" comments before, but now the text appears too light.

My $0.02

[Neebs @ Apr 10th 2008 6:10PM]

Actually TomTom the previous system would always scale pictures depending on your resolution.

[ssuk @ Apr 10th 2008 6:17PM]

I like the new layout, the old one was acceptable, but pages sometimes took far too long to load because of all the extra images and crap clogging up the place. Now the site is more simplistic, it loads right away and is more friendly to mobile devices.

May I make a slight suggestion, change the background from #FFFFFF (white) to a slight off-white colour? All the light colours are never really balanced by any darker colours in the site and after a while, it strains the eyes.

[gusbrown @ Apr 10th 2008 6:09PM]

If I wear polarized sunglasses while browsing I can see the search field.

[Lowest Ranked @ Apr 10th 2008 6:31PM]

Adjust the brightness and contrast on your monitor.

[ace_spades @ Apr 10th 2008 6:13PM]

Wasn't the Power5 the same as the G5?

[someshow @ Apr 11th 2008 4:05PM]

I think the Power4 was the basis for the Apple G5 chip.

The Power5 was the basis of the Xbox 360 /PS3 Chips.


Power6 is new and has not made into a consumer chip yet.


Still I doubt you could use a Power5 or Power6 in a laptop, so even if they are faster Apple is still justified for moving to intel.

[ethana2 @ Apr 10th 2008 6:32PM]

The search field needs to use a proper platform neutral text entry box and button widget.

So how much would it cost me as a consumer to pick up a G6 liquid cooled rig?
'cause I am by no means tied to x86, and there's always qemu..

[digitallysick @ Apr 10th 2008 6:36PM]

IBM, the same people that apple quit useing and switched to intel because they just couldn't produce a fast chip? So these are probably just the same chips but overclocked and watercooled huh

[peasantslayer @ Apr 10th 2008 6:46PM]

sweet

[ED @ Apr 10th 2008 7:20PM]

For a moment after reading the first sentence I was wondering "What's the world's fastest language???"

[Ivan @ Apr 10th 2008 7:37PM]

I'm going to have to call BS on this one. I've heard far too many stories of people having to run their IBM systems at 20% because they wlil start shutting down if you run them any faster.

[Chris in CA @ Apr 11th 2008 2:00PM]

Actually this development is handy for those new businesses that need a SuperComputer and Steam Plant all in one easy to manage footprint. This could be the first internet controlled steam plant with a RAID array.

[Tyler @ Apr 10th 2008 8:52PM]

And no boards or operating systems are compatible = garbage

[Edward @ Apr 11th 2008 9:02AM]

dunno, ever heard of Linux or AIX? These processors are for big-iron UNIX servers, and not the lame Wintel server market.

[Danny @ Apr 11th 2008 11:00AM]

@Edward: That's how you have to talk! Go *NIX!

[Eric @ Apr 10th 2008 11:21PM]

I'm in

[|Geektorious Maximus| @ Apr 10th 2008 11:48PM]

IBM is just has a shitty attitude because Apple dumped them for Intel, so they wanna go workout and look better....and and wear better clothes and date better look women and and and .....................*sniff*.....I'm done.

[|Geektorious Maximus| @ Apr 10th 2008 11:53PM]

I'm SO over you Sarah Marshall!!!!!! I mean IBM!

[caspianhiro @ Apr 11th 2008 8:02PM]

Hardly. Apple dropped IBM Power specifically because IBM would not make them a special, cheaper slower chip for the consumer market.

At the time, Power chip manufacturing capacity INCREASED after they quit make chips for apple. IBM Makes and sell all they can. Also, the following quarter after Apple's announcement, it had NO MEASURABLE effect on earnings.

Are you *really* sure Apple dumped IBM? Apple is a consumer product, and it deserves a consumer chip. Power is NOT for consumers.

Also, the PS3 uses Cell processors, which actually have very little in common with Power chips.

It's all well and good to beat up on IBM, but at least give credit where due. If it was a Toshiba, Hitachi or some other foreign company would you still be hating? These things are designed mostly in Austin, Texas.

[RichardBronosky @ Apr 11th 2008 1:21AM]

Shouldn't that be:
Sun is a bit skeptical [of] IBM's focus on speed

[Jeff @ Apr 11th 2008 2:21AM]

apple 'dumped' ibm because ibm didnt find it worthwhile to pander to apple's every design wish. ibm didn't make enough off the processors to want to allocate engineering resources to apples requests.

apple spun the 'dumping' of ibm to sound like they were in control, when ibm was more than happy to let the agreement expire. ibm no longer had to try and keep the price per unit low for the consumer market with cut down power 5's (definitely not the -same- as g5!). they could focus on processors that would make them serious cash --big iron pricing trumps consumer nickel+dime any day.

[huh @ Apr 11th 2008 3:14AM]

Big iron and .. ps3 and .. wii?

[Gorsefox @ Apr 12th 2008 3:07AM]

Please do not confuse Power5, Power6 etc with the PowerPC chips. These are two different chip ranges.

And Apples discontinued use of the architecture was probably offset by the use in XBox, PS3, and Nintendo.

[Andy @ Apr 11th 2008 8:22AM]

I love it when fast comes down to clock speed, anyone here of Moores law :) Clock speed does not mean fast performance in the real world, testing application performance is the true meaning of fast. Oh yea what is the power and btu's of this again... melt down!!!

[caspianhiro @ Apr 12th 2008 10:04AM]

Actually, the most efficient performance/per watt computer in the world is Power based. For high performance computing.

You are correct though that clock speed is NOT the best way to measure performance. Throughput on real world applications is.

And in the "REAL real world" none of this matters to you, because only reasonably large companies with professional IT staffs can generate the kind of workload this system can handle.

Air is a horrible way to transfer heat. Water is much better. New designs will find better ways to pump heat out of the datacenter.

If you want to cool a data center, then start with virtualization. On Intel, you can usually consolidate about 6 servers to one server, often more than that.

With IBM's System z, they consolidated over 4,000 servers to just 39. That is how you cool your data center.

[Ben Mathew @ Apr 11th 2008 4:11PM]

Awesome.

[TechisCHeap @ May 10th 2008 3:46AM]

Soon enough some Liberal Democrat in the House or Senate ways and Means commitiee / or national Security Commitiee will give the blue prints and specs to China for a retirement bribe, and they will have the technology. It always happens. Same as our military technology. Some Senator, usually a Democrat gives up National Security for a nice paycheck.