Specifications
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2004 MAXIMUMPC13
W
hile AMD and Intel boast about their upcoming
dual-core processors, how would you like a
computer with 131,072 processors?
IBM has dazzled the not-easily-impressed scientific
community by breaking the world speed record with
its new BlueGene/L supercomputer. BlueGene/L scored
a whopping 70.72 trillion floating-point operations per
second (teraflops) on the Linpack benchmark, which
blew away NASA’s brand-new Columbia supercomputer
(51.87 teraflops) and doubled the performance of the
previous world champion, NEC’s Earth Simulator. And
BlueGene/L isn’t even finished. It’s a working prototype
of a machine IBM will deliver to the Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory next year. The prototype has only
one-fourth as many processors as envisioned for the
finished system.
You would expect a world-class supercomputer like
BlueGene/L to scream at a multi-gigahertz clock speed.
But you would be wrong. BlueGene/L plods along at
700MHz. It’s a great example of how multiprocessing
can deliver superior performance without resorting to
stratospheric clock frequencies. Yep, there’s good reason
why AMD and Intel are betting that their new multi-core
designs will boost PC performance.
Besides its slow-poke clock speed, BlueGene/L has
other oddities. It’s based on a 5-year-old 32-bit PowerPC
440 processor core previously found only in chips for
embedded applications, like networking equipment. It’s a
sound design, but not as advanced as the latest Pentium
4 or Athlon 64. It doesn’t even have a floating-point unit
(FPU), a requirement for scientific computing. IBM had
to graft a newly designed FPU onto the PowerPC 440 to
make it suitable for a supercomputer.
At the same time, IBM integrated two PowerPC 440
cores on one chip, just as AMD and Intel are doing with
their dual-core chips. But whereas AMD and Intel will
manufacture their dual-core wonders with the latest
90-nanometer fabrication technology, IBM is making
BlueGene/L chips with an old-hat 0.13-micron process.
The secret to BlueGene/L’s success is massive
parallelism. The finished supercomputer will have 65,536
dual-core chips with 131,072 processor cores. They’re
linked by five independent wiring networks for control
signals and data. Remarkably, one network runs at
1.4GHz, making BlueGene/L the first processor I know
of that drives an I/O interface faster than the CPU core.
Usually, I/O runs slower than the core.
BlueGene/L’s massively parallel system architecture
isn’t easily imitated by PCs. Very little PC software has
the parallelism inherent in many scientific applications.
Nevertheless, IBM’s multicore, multiprocessor,
multinetwork supercomputer contains important clues
about the future of general-purpose computing.
The Superiority of
Designer Genes
Tom Halfhill was formerly a senior editor for Byte magazine and
now an analyst for Microprocessor Report.
FAST FORWARD BY TOM R. HALFHILL
Quick Start
15JANUARY 2005 MAXIMUMPC
Abit Launches Fatal1ty Line
of Gaming Hardware
The first celebrity-endorsed mobo and videocard
leaves us hot—and cold
A
bit recently unveiled the first celebrity-endorsed line of gaming hard-
ware when it pulled the wraps off its “Fatal1ty” AA8XE motherboard
and X700XT videocard. Both are endorsed by Jonathan “Fatal1ty”
Wendel, who is one of the most successful players—competitively and in
terms of media exposure—on the fledgling pro gaming circuit.
Fatal1ty’s partnership with Abit is notable because it is the first celebrity
endorsement of a PC component, and also because the motherboard Abit
has crafted is a jam-packed specimen we can’t wait to test in the Lab. The
red PCB mobo is based on Intel’s new 925x LG775 chipset. Besides boast-
ing PCI Express, dual LAN, and onboard 7.1 channel audio, it features
a frosty cooling solution that includes two fans over the DDR2 memory
slots, a wind tunnel around the CPU, and a vertical fan over the PCI
Express video slot. Case modders will appreciate that the board is backlit
with red LEDs, and overclockers will enjoy the ability to tune FSB speeds
and CPU voltages from within Windows.
Unfortunately, as impressive as the Fatal1ty mobo is, Abit’s celebrity-
endorsed videocard is equally discouraging—and puzzling. Abit chose a
gimpy eight-pipe X700XT videocard to bear Fatal1ty’s name, which makes
no sense. While Abit promises a custom-cooling solution for the card, it
still won’t be any match for faster, 16- and 12-pipe cards in 3D perfor-
mance.
For full details on Abit’s new line of Fatal1ty gaming hardware, check
out www.abit-usa.com. You can expect a review of both products as soon as
they’re released.
If you’re considering
a career in
professional gaming,
just think: Someday
you could have a
motherboard named
after you.
All Passengers: Please Stow Your
Subwoofers and Prepare for Takeoff
The guy sitting next to
you on the bus or plane
might not like it, but
Saitek’s new Notebook
subwoofer lets you take
your bass on the road for
mobile thumpage. It runs
off any USB port and
pumps out 2 watts of
lap-shaking bass. Check
it out at
www.saitek.com.
If you’re considering
professional gaming,
All Passengers:
Please Stow Your