PS3 HPC Clustering

[Carl B]

Do you guys remember that discussion we were having last month with regard to the potential gains, pitfalls, and difficulties associated with creating a PS3 compute cluster?

Well... the future is now!

Article

 

[crazygambit]

Very interesting, thanks for the link.

This caught my eye.

astute observers will note that Terra Soft currently has plans in the works to actually begin selling Playstation 3 consoles with Yellow Dog Linux pre-installed.

I didn't know they would be selling them, I thought they'd just sell the DVDs to install the software. Hey if they can find me a PS3 I'd be willing to buy it

Sony can't be too happy about this though. They obviously don't wanna sell PS3s for this function at a loss where they won't make any money back on games. Plus they lose the sales of their Cell blades and what not.

 

[Carl B]

IMO Sony can't be anything but happy with this; PS3 is a loss leader sure, but if you're buying it, then I think Sony can be reasonably assured that you will act like a 'normal' consumer would as time goes on. But I do not think you are the target.

On the corporate side, anything that puts Cell into peoples clusters and into peoples minds is a win for Sony. Sony gets money for each Cell sold, but the server sales belong to IBM and/or Mercury. So although yes IBM with their servers is good for Sony on a per-processor basis, that potential sale going to a PS3 instead doesn't cost them anything more than the cost of the PS3 itself. Yet if that will help the adoption rate of the architecture, I assure you Sony is more than willing to pay that couple hundred dollar subsidy per node. Terra Soft will probably offer them at a slight premium as well to help defer some of Sony's hardware costs.

I guess we'll see soon enough!

 

[Arwin]

Sony can't be too happy about this though. They obviously don't wanna sell PS3s for this function at a loss where they won't make any money back on games. Plus they lose the sales of their Cell blades and what not.

I doubt that. I mean, sure, initially they may take a little bit of a hit on the PS3s, but I don't think they actually take that big of a hit on the hardware as people are suspecting, and I also think they will be able to reduce the cost considerably over the next year.

The Cell blades, apart from being sold by IBM, have a completely different target market and they are built as servers with very expensive networking equipment, more memory and so on. As far as the clustering goes, they initiated that clustering project themselves.

I think Sony (and IBM behind them) are willingly encroaching on the PC domain. They know their strengths, and it is not software, so they are making their system more open.

EDIT: Oh and if you read the full article

The potential is clear; customers seeking to add or experiment with Cell in their compute clusters could do so as easily as by purchasing a Playstation 3 and integrating it through Y-HPC. With a per cluster licensing fee of ~$4000, and a per node licensing fee of ~$200, a Y-HPC 2.0 managed cluster has the option of adding Cell into the mix at a potential cost of under $1000 per node - a significant savings over the larger tin offered by IBM and Mercury that will likely appeal to HPC operations running on smaller budgets.

Though what this initiative may mean for Terra Soft, for Playstation 3, and for Cell in general won't be known until 2007 at the earliest (when the software begins shipping), one thing is for certain: if you are one of those that has ever dreamed of creating your own supercomputing cluster out of video gaming consoles, your time has come.

 

[crazygambit]

You make very good points, I hadn't thought about that. If Sony is really serious about making the PLAYSTATION (whichever iteration it may be) your next computer then this is a good move. Since I'm assuming it's pretty much a given that some version of Cell will be present on PS4. Maybe they will come out with different versions down the line with more RAM or maybe even processing power just for this purpose like Kutaragi sort of hinted at previously (of course gaming would remain the same). Very interesting indeed.

 

[Carl B]

Well again though, this is completely seperate from Cell 'your friendly game console chip.' In fact, it's not even about 'PS3 your desktop replacement.' It's all about targeting the scientific community and the developers head-on, and giving them a low cost means of experimenting with/utilizing an architecture that they may otherwise be hesitant to pay out for at QS20 prices.

Remember, Cell is about more than just video games and PCs in your living room.

The HPC push has been building slowly but steadily over the past year, and this is the latest feather in that hat. Next year we see the consumer electronics push begin with 65nm... that will be another interesting area to watch Cell compete in.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

You make very good points, I hadn't thought about that. If Sony is really serious about making the PLAYSTATION (whichever iteration it may be) your next computer then this is a good move.

It's more then that. Imagine how much money Sony would make if for the next 20 years, the CPU of choice for portable devices, CE goods, and power-users, was Cell. Cell's in every mobile phone, digicam, TV, HD disc player, etc. That's more what they're aiming at. That can't happen without an experienced Cell coding base, which needs a Cell development platform for the masses. Hence PS3. Geeks will get PS3's for programming Cell, and then be able to take those skills to jobs where Cell then becomes a viable option for the hardware being developed. No-one would stick a Cell in a mobile phone if no-one knows how to write code for it. PS3 is a development ground for the skills-pool that future industry would need if Cell is ever to be adopted.

 

[one]

One day someone will figure out how to make a game on 4 PS3s by using this technique.
http://gametomorrow.com/blog/index.php/2006/11/12/cell-interactive-ray-tracer-irt-at-sc06/

 

[blakjedi]

It would be ironic if MS one day had to support Windows on Cell!

 

[INKster]

It would be ironic if MS one day had to support Windows on Cell!

They once supported it on one of it's PowerPC ancestors.
Windows NT, up until 4.0, had a PowerPC version.

 

[Carl B]

I'd be surprised also if MS didn't have some dormant and/or secret project involving a stripped down Windows running on the 360, which in a form would of course run on the Cell as well by it's very nature.