Seeing the specificiations on the new Cell chip, I think the current crop of super-computers have a lot of trouble heading their way.
This is the #1 supercomputer in the world:
http://www.top500.org/sublist/System.php?id=7101
Rpeak of ~92 Teraflops.
This is the new PlayStation3:
http://www.theregister.com/2005/05/17/sony_unveils_ps3/
Sony claims there are 2.18 Teraflops in this box.
Even being ultra-conservative, and saying the PS3 is only good for 1Teraflop, you only need 100 of them to exceed the #1 supercomputer.
Say they cost $1000 each (including the infrastructure costs per unit), you are only at $100,000 USD, compared to a few million for the existing supercomputer.
This is the #1 supercomputer in the world:
http://www.top500.org/sublist/System.php?id=7101
Rpeak of ~92 Teraflops.
This is the new PlayStation3:
http://www.theregister.com/2005/05/17/sony_unveils_ps3/
Sony claims there are 2.18 Teraflops in this box.
Even being ultra-conservative, and saying the PS3 is only good for 1Teraflop, you only need 100 of them to exceed the #1 supercomputer.
Say they cost $1000 each (including the infrastructure costs per unit), you are only at $100,000 USD, compared to a few million for the existing supercomputer.