PS3 Cell chip powers record-smashing supercomputer

The Cell chip that forms the brainsof your slick black PS3 has been used to power the fastest supercomputer in the world.

IBM's roadrunner supercomputer has shot into the record books after having become the first computer to process one quadrillion calculations per second. That's like one of those numbers you make up after a billion and, in more technical terms, is a whole freakinglot.

It managed that with 12,960 Cell processors combined with 6,948 dual core AMD Opteron chips. We'd love to get Crysis running on that bad boy.

The previous record holder, the Blue Gene computer, had many more processors - 212,992 to be exact - but only managed half the processing speed (around 478.2 teraflops, if you know what they are). You can gohereif you want to geek out on more specifics.

What does that mean for games? Nothing. But you can rest in the knowledge tonight that your PS3 has a good brain in its box.

Courtesy of CVG.

Jun 10, 2008