A node of BlueGene/L, currently the world's fastest supercomputer.
From:
Andy
(Mon Apr 11 03:23:11 2005)
A full cabinet like that is supposed to house 1024 processors, but unfortunately, the hotel couldn't provide the 30 KVA needed to power it. They slimmed it down to 160 processors so it only needed 5 KVA.
From:
Andy
(Mon Apr 11 03:34:17 2005)
In case you're wondering about the shape, it's related to cooling. The slanted section that opens at the bottom takes in cool air and the section that opens at the top exhausts hot air.
From:
Andy
(Mon Apr 11 03:35:41 2005)
Normally there are several of these in a line and the slants are only at the ends. In the middle, a vertical part is divided similarly along the diagonal, with cold air coming up and left, and hot air coming from the right and going up.
