What’s the super in supercomputing? A leading-edge CPU or the number of processors slaved to build the computational behemoth?
If you ask the Barcelona Supercomputing Center, numbers count. That’s why it has chosen to build a high performance computer out of an ARM-based chip that powers Samsung’s US$249 Chromebook.
You read that right.
(Samsung’s Chromebook)
According to a report in ComputerWorld U.S., the goal is to build a supercomputer from commodity parts, including 2,000 Samsung-made ARM processors. Why? To save power.
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There is no doubt that the CPUs in modern laptops are tremendously more powerful than the ones we used five years ago, but who would have thought that a processor in a light device would suffice? Truth is, the BSC’s goals are modest. Still, from little things great ideas grow.