[sdiy] fantasy computer poll

[phillip m gallo]

To DIY this for $100k then each processor with 4 GB each, Backplane and
PSupply is produced for ~$195.00 each labor included.

I assumed we were talking of a "Deep Blue" or "Blue Gene" format computing
complex. The least expensive component of a system of this complexity is the
actual hardware embodiment.  Design, configuration, mounting, powering,
cooling and maintenance is where the real sophistication rears it's head.
It's not by accident that systems of this level are generally supported by
personnel of equal or greater sophistication.

But imagined a Fry's weekly special el cheapo PC clones (there goes the
shared memory and platform reliability) you'd still be hard pressed to
acquire at $195 and still afford power strips, let alone ADC/DACs even
acquired as SoundBlaster cards.

Now 512 8051's or PICs is more than do-able at this price as you could mount
16 to a board and use multiport interconnection with a  simpler backplane as
bandwidth requirement are much lower. You would have money left over for
some hi-quality converters as well. You still wouldn't avoid the
config/mount/power/cooling/maint but it does reduce nicely.

regards,
p

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl
[mailto:owner-synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl]On Behalf Of Richard Wentk
Sent: Saturday, May 28, 2005 4:47 PM
To: synth-diy at dropmix.xs4all.nl
Subject: Re: [sdiy] fantasy computer poll


At 20:06 28/05/2005, Phil Harbison wrote:
>I know this isn't an analog topic, and I don't mean to start
>another digital-vs-analog thread; however, this is DIY (sort
>of) so I hope nobody objects to this poll.
>
>Suppose you were given a computer with the following specs.
>
>    + 512 processors (each PowerPC G4 or Pentium4 class)
>    + 2 Terabytes (2024GB) of DDR2 memory (not disk, *RAM*)
>    + 10 Gigabit Ethernet connections to the outside world
>    + Each processor is interconnected (i.e can share memory
>      or pass messages to the other processors)
>    + Assume any necessary I/O devices are available (e.g.
>      DACs, ADCs, MIDI, SCSI, etc.)

This being a DIY list, it's maybe worth mentioning that you can build one
of these for about $100,000 now.

Hey, it's not peanuts, but some people have that kind of cash lying around.

It's also a reasonable spec for a generic desktop machine 10-15 years from
now. Although it's more likely that we'll see some kind of Grid system
offering distributed computing on demand, instead of big boxes in one place
that spend a lot of time idle.

>What would you do with it? Other than the obvious application
>(generating enough virtual porn to last a lifetime) I can
>think of a few applications.
>
>    + directly synthesize an entire orchestra

Ha. Processor power won't be the problem for that one. But you'll run out
of life before you can finish the job properly. (Unless you use samples.
But that would be boring.)

>   + search genomics databases for DNA matches

Boring.

>   + large scale simulations (e.g. global weather, US economy)

Also boring.

>   + extremely fast database server

Yawn and a half.

>   + extremely fast search engine (Google on steroids)

Google has slightly better hardware than this, I suspect.

>   + CGI and animation rendering

That would be more likely. Some of my renders literally take days. It would
be good to get that time down to minutes.

>   + signal processing (FFTs, FIR filters, etc.)

Even more likely.

I think some kind of ultimate digisynth would be a good goal. Kyma on
steroids would do it for me.

Richard




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