[SOLVED] About CRAY Super Computer

[Dom46]

Once upon a time, CRAY made a desktop super computer. Are today's desktop computers more powerful than the CRAY super computer of the past, or, will you get more computing power from an old CRAY desktop?

 

[mdd1963]

I saw some hefty Silicon Graphics (workstation) rigs in 2001 or so, but, do not recall hearing of any 'super desktops' by Cray....

I'd expect assorted 5950X or 12900K systems to thoroughly trash most of what was considered 'exotic' from 20 years ago...

 

[Dom46]

I saw some hefty Silicon Graphics (workstation) rigs in 2001 or so, but, do not recall hearing of any 'super desktops' by Cray....

I'd expect assorted 5950X or 12900K systems to thoroughly trash most of what was considered 'exotic' from 20 years ago...

Thanks for the reply.

Yes, I'm thinking that it is time to treat myself to a new computer and am touching all possibilities.

I found this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/274963123726, and I was wondering if it might offer me more processing power than say, the Intel i9.

Also weighing if I want to build my own or buy something ready to go out of the box.

I used to dig Dell, but, I feel they became cheaply made. Do I get another HP? What about an IBM?

Who knows. I'm still early in my research.

Thank you!

 

[Zerk2012]

Once upon a time, CRAY made a desktop super computer. Are today's desktop computers more powerful than the CRAY super computer of the past, or, will you get more computing power from an old CRAY desktop?

More computing power doing what?.

From my understanding those were servers.

 

[USAFRet]

No, that $5k Cray thing would be trounced by any current system at 1/3 the price.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cray_CX1
"the single-width compute blade supports dual-socket Intel Xeon 5400, 5500, and 5600 series processors

Compare those Xeons with any current CPU, Intel or Ryzen.

Just because it is a "Cray", and a "server" does not mean it is "better".

 

[helper800]

For 5k you can make a computer with much more raw compute of any type that what is in that archaic museum piece.

 

[hotaru.hino]

I found this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/274963123726, and I was wondering if it might offer me more processing power than say, the Intel i9.

I would argue that's not even a supercomputer. Supercomputers in the past 20-30 years have always been multiple nodes linked together to form one giant computer system.

And while I could make the case that if that computer is fully kitted out with the best configuration that was available to it is stronger than a single i9, it'd be very hard to have the computer run at that performance on a single task. And even then, the CPUs it has lacks hardware improvements made over the last 15 or so years. This is also on top of the thing consume multiple times more power than an i9 system.

Besides that, a single RTX 3090 would eat it for lunch and want seconds. I'd lower that bar to a 3070 even. Heck, the most recent mobile GPUs have the same compute power as the best supercomputer from 2000.

 

[helper800]

Something like this which is similar in cost considering the 300 dollars in shipping for that 20 year old monstrosity would blow it out of the water;

PCPartPicker Part List

CPU: AMD Threadripper 3960X 3.8 GHz 24-Core Processor ($1740.00 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U14S TR4-SP3 82.52 CFM CPU Cooler ($89.95 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte TRX40 AORUS PRO WIFI ATX sTRX4 Motherboard ($399.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 128 GB (8 x 16 GB) DDR4-3000 CL15 Memory ($539.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 970 Evo Plus 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive ($109.00 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial MX500 2 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($174.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial MX500 2 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($174.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce RTX 3080 Ti 12 GB GAMING AMP Holo Video Card ($1899.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Corsair 4000D Airflow ATX Mid Tower Case ($94.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G6 1000 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply ($152.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $5376.87
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2022-02-17 13:06 EST-0500