- Monday, 16 November 2009
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Would you know a bottom if you saw one? - Kevin Delaney, WSJ
IBM supercomputer dual boots Windows and Linux
IBM HAS PROBABLY just built the biggest ever dual-boot Windows/Linux HPC system for a consortium of Swedish research groups and universities.
The record-chasing firm will apparently unveil its 5,376 Intel Xeon quad-core processor blade system later on today. Computer World claims the system is able to reach an impressive 46 sustained teraflops on a beta version of Windows HPC Server 2008, with each chip apparently running at 2.5GHz and using 50 watts.
What makes the achievement particularly noteworthy is the fact that it is a relative rarity for an HPC system to be built on Windows rather than exclusively on Linux, which makes up around 85 per cent of all HPC systems in the world.
But the Vole has long been interested in catching up with its rivals in the HPC field, and slowly but surely, by plundering the Volish vault to buy up bits and bobs to improve its cluster software, it looks like furry fiend might finally be making inroads.
The mega computer, which sits in the Umea University, about 680km north of Stockholm, is amongst the top 50 most powerful machines currently in existence. Not a bad place for the Vole to stake its flag. µ
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As text states wrongly Ume university is not in Stockholm but rather in the second most northern state of Sweden, called Western Bothnia. Just liked to let you know.
So you can use the Linux OS to browse the web and do email. When you feel like fraggin some Strogg a quick reboot and your playing Q4. Then again maybe the Linux port of Q4 would work on this one without stuttering so maybe Far Cry II on windows. Wonder what the 3dmark score is?

Dual booting your HPC must really be a geeks dream. Personally I'd use 2 HPC's with a KVM switch but that's just me.
There's definitely a Windows Cluster server OS....maybe it's only for Itaniums? I'm not sure about its architecture.
...will it run Crysis at full settings?
In the world of the Vole the user interface and the operating system are one and the same. Its an easy enough mistake to make if you work with PC type computers, but as you leave that world behind the role of the UI becomes less and less important. At that point the operating system becomes not at all important, it shrinks back to its original function, and you then look for something that 'just plain works'. This is why 'ix' systems have typically had the high performance market to themselves -- its not that you can't run Windows, its just pointless.
Will it Run Vista?
Fast?

How fast is Windows compared to Linux on this one?