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GamesPosts Tagged: ‘supercomputers’
You asked: How fast is the fastest microprocessor chip, now and in the future? Marshall Brain answers: Today, in 2011, the fastest microprocessor chips that are commercially available to “normal people” are the six-core hyperthreaded chips from Intel. These chips run at approximately 3.3 gigahertz and each core can execute two threads. If everything is [...]
The last time a computer famously beat humans, the domain was chess. It is pretty easy to understand the basic brute-force technique that a computer chess engine uses to play the game. See How Chess Computers Work for details. The Watson program is more complicated than that. The “rules” of language are far more complex [...]
Jeopardy, IBM’s Watson Supercomputer vs. Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter, Day 3
by Marshall Brain | February 17, 2011
We have witnessed Watson’s prowess on Day 1 and Day 2: A look at last night’s Jeopardy game featuring IBM’s Watson Supercomputer, Brad Rutter and Ken Jennings Jeopardy, IBM’s Watson Supercomputer vs. Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter, Day 2 Last night was the final round, and Watson cleaned house: Final score on ‘Jeopardy!’: Computer 1, [...]
Jeopardy, IBM’s Watson Supercomputer vs. Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter, Day 2
by Marshall Brain | February 16, 2011
In Day 2, Watson continues to dominate: Watson Cleans House On Day 2 Of ‘Jeopardy!’ Challenge Veteran “Jeopardy!” champs Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter scored only five correct responses between them during the “Double Jeopardy!” round that aired Tuesday. They ended this first game of a two-game match with paltry earnings of $2,400 and $5,400, [...]
The following video offers 6 minutes of background, giving a quick tour of the Watson supercomputer before the game started. Then it shows 5 minutes of game play where Watson dominates the two human players: Here are statistics for the match: Watson Jeopardy Statistics Commentary: It’s Elementary, Dear Watson: Computers Win, Jeopardy! Viewers Lose As [...]
Think about the evolution of hard disk technology: Traditional (spinning) hard disks on a PATA connection. Traditional hard disks on a SATA connection (3Gbps) SSDs (solid state disks) on a SATA connection SSDs on a SATA+ connection (6Gbps) What’s next? Light Peak is one possibility. It is an optical connection that should provide up to [...]
Deserves a mention – China unseats U.S. as king of the Supercomputer
by Marshall Brain | October 28, 2010
So many people covered this development today, and it got so much conversation going, that it deserves a mention. China now owns the world’s fastest supercomputer: – China Unveils 2.507-Petaflop Supercomputer, the World’s Fastest Earlier this week China unveiled the world’s fastest bullet train, and today it boasts the world’s fastest supercomputer. Unveiled earlier today, [...]
Invention – The supercomputer that uses Atom processors
by Marshall Brain | June 14, 2010
The Intel Atom processor is a small, low-power, low-cost most commonly found in netbooks. You would not think of this chip as the core of a supercomputer. But the Atom processor has something going for it that is unexpected – “Atom processors deliver three times the performance per watt versus Intel’s server chips.”
Therefore, if you put hundreds of Atom processors to work, each one can’t do as much by itself, but the combination delivers impressive performance at unheard of power levels…
We have talked previously about CUDA, and its ability to bring supercomputer power to desktop computers through the graphics card. This post has a demonstration and explanation of CUDA: Fascinating to Watch – 4,000 flocking airplanes demonstrate the power of today’s graphics cards We have also looked at the types of supercomputers that graphics cards [...]
PS3 Supercomputers and TechStuff Gazes Into the Future
by Jonathan Strickland | December 31, 2009
It’s the last day of 2009 and I’m sitting in the unusually quiet headquarters of HowStuffWorks.com. There’s a skeleton crew here at the office. The official bubbling beakers have been cleared away, our steam-powered automatons sit lifelessly in the back corner and our Zoltar Fortune Telling Machine keeps telling me that I will meet a mysterious woman carrying a Google phone at CES next week. Clearly, it’s time to wrap up the year with a summary of the last two episodes of TechStuff for 2009.
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