US Airforce procures 300 PS3 units

[one]

http://www.fbo.gov/spg/USAF/AFMC/AFRLRRS/FA8751-08-R-0016/SynopsisP.html
The Air Force Research Laboratory is conducting a technology assessment of certain cell processors. The processors in the Sony PlayStation 3 are the only brand on the market that utilizes the specific cell processor characteristics needed for this program at an acceptable cost.

[3dilettante]

I wonder why the Air Force couldn't just phone up IBM for some evaluation Cell blades.
Those would more likely fit more specifications for actual work than the PS3 can.

[Arwin]

I wonder why the Air Force couldn't just phone up IBM for some evaluation Cell blades.
Those would more likely fit more specifications for actual work than the PS3 can.

How do you know? There are plenty of examples out there now with researchers chaining a couple of PS3's and getting excellent results. If one cheap blade would cost 15000 and come with 2 cell processors, you can buy almost 40 PS3's for that same price. And maybe they have a whole research team that can test, develop and learn, and use 6 PS3s each, or make any combination they want to. There is a lot of code out there even in the public domain I think for chaining PS3s and distributed computing, so I think it makes sense.

[Carl B]

I think that they acquired their PS3's from Terra Soft; either that or this is an additional order on top of a previous contract... or potentially Terra Soft was brought in just on the software side.

But in any event, the Air Force Research Lab is listed as one of Terra Soft's Cell-related customers:

http://www.terrasoftsolutions.com/showcase/cellebration/

[Malo]

AND they get to play games during their lunch break.

[3dilettante]

How do you know? There are plenty of examples out there now with researchers chaining a couple of PS3's and getting excellent results. If one cheap blade would cost 15000 and come with 2 cell processors, you can buy almost 40 PS3's for that same price. And maybe they have a whole research team that can test, develop and learn, and use 6 PS3s each, or make any combination they want to. There is a lot of code out there even in the public domain I think for chaining PS3s and distributed computing, so I think it makes sense.

IBM's interest in spreading Cell around means getting machines for evaluation, which is why these are supposedly being acquired, isn't going to cost 15000.

The PS3's limited onboard memory would also make me think that a number of possible uses would opt for a Cell model with more capacity, which would make the PS3 less applicable.

[paawl]

I can attest that Cell blades aren't immediately available from IBM,
even if you're doing research under an Air Force contract. My group
got put on a loooong waiting list. Fortunately, it looks like Mercury
Computer is going to be able to help us before IBM does, but we have
to wait on Mercury's availability too. Right now, the only Cell
processor we have in our lab is---you guessed it---a PS3.

[Shifty Geezer]

Why the lack of availability? Are pretty much all Cell's being made going into PS3s? Is there a lack of 1:8 functioning Cells, with yields at that quality low?

[Enzyme]

A lot of there Cell processors are probably going to IBM's Roadrunner project right now.

[Carl B]

Roadrunner is using the HPC-targeted chips rather than the regular Cell.

[patsu]

Apparently, US is not alone and not the first:
http://formerspook.blogspot.com/2008/03/saddams-last-laugh-or-how-to-control.html :lol: