IBM has started selling its BladeCenter JS20 blade servers at up to 2.2 GHz, utilizing the G5 970 series CPUs. These 2.2 GHz blades are what are used in Spain's new 4564 processor JS20 supercomputer in Barcelona. Up until now, IBM only sold 1.6 GHz JS20 blade servers.
It is good to see that IBM now feels that constraints on G5 970FX supplies have eased enough that the release of 2.2 GHz CPUs to the general public in volume is feasible. Xserves with 2.3 GHz 970FX CPUs, which are currently found only in the VT supercomputer, will no doubt also be widely available in the next few months. Apple has said, however, that 2.5 GHz supplies (for Power Macs) will continue to be constrained for the remainder of this calendar year.
Friday, October 15, 2004
Thursday, October 14, 2004
VT again adds machines, and again boost score
Quick update: As of today, Virginia Tech is now at 1100 machines (2200 CPUs), with a score of 12050 Gflops/s (59.5% efficiency). With every benchmark update, not only has VT added machines, but they have also slightly increased efficiency.
Apple 2004 Q4 financials posted
Apple yesterday posted it's 2004 fourth quarter results.
They handily beat market expectations, with a profit of $106 million (26 cents per share) on $2.35 billion revenue, which is more than double the profits of the same quarter last year. They shipped 836000 Macs, which includes a huge increase in laptop sales. The iBook is up 74% over last year, and the PowerBook is up 21%. Overall unit sales showed only a 6% increase, due to constraints in G5 CPU supplies, which slowed Power Mac sales and left a 2 month gap where no iMacs were sold at all. Apple predicts that CPU supplies will improve in Q1 2005, but that the 2.5 GHz G5 will continue to be constrained. It seems clear we will not see a 3 GHz G5 any time soon.
The big news, however, is the iPod (and mini). Apple sold a whopping 2016000 iPods in a single quarter, up 500% from last year. That amount represents over a third of all iPods sold to date. Truly impressive. Apple also saw a correspondingly large increase in iTunes Music Store sales.
Apple forecasts revenue of close to $2.9 billion in the coming quarter, with earnings of approximately 40 cents per share. And it seems that Merrill-Lynch believes them. They have raised the target stock price of AAPL to US$49. Just last year, AAPL was under US$20.
They handily beat market expectations, with a profit of $106 million (26 cents per share) on $2.35 billion revenue, which is more than double the profits of the same quarter last year. They shipped 836000 Macs, which includes a huge increase in laptop sales. The iBook is up 74% over last year, and the PowerBook is up 21%. Overall unit sales showed only a 6% increase, due to constraints in G5 CPU supplies, which slowed Power Mac sales and left a 2 month gap where no iMacs were sold at all. Apple predicts that CPU supplies will improve in Q1 2005, but that the 2.5 GHz G5 will continue to be constrained. It seems clear we will not see a 3 GHz G5 any time soon.
The big news, however, is the iPod (and mini). Apple sold a whopping 2016000 iPods in a single quarter, up 500% from last year. That amount represents over a third of all iPods sold to date. Truly impressive. Apple also saw a correspondingly large increase in iTunes Music Store sales.
Apple forecasts revenue of close to $2.9 billion in the coming quarter, with earnings of approximately 40 cents per share. And it seems that Merrill-Lynch believes them. They have raised the target stock price of AAPL to US$49. Just last year, AAPL was under US$20.
Tuesday, October 12, 2004
Virginia Tech adds machines, boosts score
Quick update: As of today, Virginia Tech is now at 1080 machines (2160 CPUs), and solidly in fifth place with a score of 11770 (59% efficiency). (VT was previously at 10930, with 1024 machines.)
Saturday, October 09, 2004
VT G5 Xserve supercomputer benchmarks now available
A few months ago, Virginia Tech completed the assembly of their new G5 Xserve based supercomputer, using 2.3 GHz Xserves which are unavailable to the general public.
Virginia Tech has now submitted its new Linpack benchmark scores to the interim Top 500 list:
IBM now leads the list with its BlueGene cluster of 16384 0.7 GHz PowerPC 440 CPUs. Japan's Earth Simulator, long in the lead, now is in second place. It appears that third and fourth place on this interim list are the same Itanium 2 based machine just with different amounts of CPUs. If this is the case, the lower score will be removed for the final list, and fourth place would thus belong to ASCI Q. Another BlueGene cluster (with a smaller number of CPUs, at lower clock speed) gets fifth place.
In sixth place is Virginia Tech's Xserve G5 cluster, and the list confirms its use of 2.3 GHz G5s. The system also uses less CPUs than the previous system, at 2048 2.3 GHz CPUs compared to the previous 2200 2.0 GHz G5s. Despite the fewer CPUs, the new system has a higher theoretical peak score, and with it VT has managed to hit 10930 Gflops/s (58.0% efficiency vs. peak), just edging past their previous score of 10280 (58.4% vs. peak), which ranked third at the time. If VT adds more nodes to its current Xserve system, or tweaks their bench a bit more, it is possible they could reach 11000 Gflops/s or higher. However, VT would need a 7% boost in overall speed to move up one place into the top five, since BlueGene DD1 is already at 11680 Gflops/s.
It is also interesting to note that as it stands currently, the three of the top six are PowerPC based systems, including 2 BlueGene clusters, and VT's G5 system. The other three systems include one (Earth Simulator) that uses custom chips from NEC, one that uses Alpha chips, and one that uses Intel's Itanium 2 chips.
Virginia Tech has now submitted its new Linpack benchmark scores to the interim Top 500 list:
IBM now leads the list with its BlueGene cluster of 16384 0.7 GHz PowerPC 440 CPUs. Japan's Earth Simulator, long in the lead, now is in second place. It appears that third and fourth place on this interim list are the same Itanium 2 based machine just with different amounts of CPUs. If this is the case, the lower score will be removed for the final list, and fourth place would thus belong to ASCI Q. Another BlueGene cluster (with a smaller number of CPUs, at lower clock speed) gets fifth place.
In sixth place is Virginia Tech's Xserve G5 cluster, and the list confirms its use of 2.3 GHz G5s. The system also uses less CPUs than the previous system, at 2048 2.3 GHz CPUs compared to the previous 2200 2.0 GHz G5s. Despite the fewer CPUs, the new system has a higher theoretical peak score, and with it VT has managed to hit 10930 Gflops/s (58.0% efficiency vs. peak), just edging past their previous score of 10280 (58.4% vs. peak), which ranked third at the time. If VT adds more nodes to its current Xserve system, or tweaks their bench a bit more, it is possible they could reach 11000 Gflops/s or higher. However, VT would need a 7% boost in overall speed to move up one place into the top five, since BlueGene DD1 is already at 11680 Gflops/s.
It is also interesting to note that as it stands currently, the three of the top six are PowerPC based systems, including 2 BlueGene clusters, and VT's G5 system. The other three systems include one (Earth Simulator) that uses custom chips from NEC, one that uses Alpha chips, and one that uses Intel's Itanium 2 chips.
Sunday, October 03, 2004
Ars Technica reviews Power Mac dual G5 2.5 GHz
Ars Technica has published a review of Apple's new dual G5 2.5 GHz Power Mac. Included are pictures of the CPU and cooling system assembly, removed from the G5 Power Mac case.
Also expect to see a dual G5 Power Mac review from AnandTech, later this week.
Also expect to see a dual G5 Power Mac review from AnandTech, later this week.
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