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Sphelx
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Clearspeed cards.

I've had a look around, and performed a search; the 'newest' results for "clearspeed" date all the way back to 2006.
As does most of the information concerning the possible implementation of clearspeed cards with BOINC agents.

I'm hardly 'up' on my CPU calculation types, and as such all the information in the forums and other sites didn't seem to very clearly state whether or not WCG BOINC-controlled projects would be able to get crunched by Clearspeed cards.
The F@H info is crumbling and dustily old, and there doesn't appear to of been anything new on the high performance FAQ in quite some time now (they appear more concerned with their PS3 work)

The other roadblock is the price of clearspeed cards.
I've heard some pretty wild speculations from all over the place, everything from $800-$15,000 per card.
But the one factor that seems to remain constant is that the company that builds them (Clearspeed themselves) apparently offer bulk discounts.


Perhaps if we had a show of hands, of who would be interested in buying a card; we could convince WCG to take a serious look at future programming to involve the power these cards have, into projects to come.

As for the issue of price; perhaps WCG may be willing to act as a escrow service of sorts - each member would pay the amount needed for the number of cards they wished to purchase; then WCG place the bulk order and mail them out to the individuals concerned?

Just a thought.
[Mar 28, 2008 10:00:27 AM]   Link   Report threatening or abusive post: please login first  Go to top 
Former Member
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Re: Clearspeed cards.

Hello Sphelx,
AMD and Intel ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larrabee_%28GPU%29 ) are in a race ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphics_processing_unit ) to combine CPUs with GPUs for high-speed parallel processing at low cost. Unless Clearspeed dramatically lowers the price, it will never be more than a niche product.

Lawrence

Edited incorrect URL
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[Edit 1 times, last edit by Former Member at Mar 28, 2008 11:11:37 AM]
[Mar 28, 2008 10:49:16 AM]   Link   Report threatening or abusive post: please login first  Go to top 
Sphelx
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Re: Clearspeed cards.

Has WCG actually started using GROMACS yet? Or is it still all in the works?
[Mar 28, 2008 11:01:18 AM]   Link   Report threatening or abusive post: please login first  Go to top 
Former Member
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Re: Clearspeed cards.

Hello Sphelx,
Only Folding@Home uses GROMACS. It is not a WCG project.
Lawrence
[Mar 28, 2008 11:06:11 AM]   Link   Report threatening or abusive post: please login first  Go to top 
Sphelx
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Re: Clearspeed cards.

Ah right, whoops. Thanks for the info though :)

Is it the case then that the CPU/GPU combination chipsets be able to provide the combined power of both processing units, without additional code being needed?
[Mar 28, 2008 11:19:12 AM]   Link   Report threatening or abusive post: please login first  Go to top 
Former Member
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Re: Clearspeed cards.

Hello Sphelx,
Making use of the GPU extensions will require special coding. But if they start mass-producing these chipsets a lot of programmers will be gainfully employed doing just that. Combining the CPU and GPU instruction streams really speeds up graphics processing. This has long been known in theory. Of course, there will probably be many compromises in GPU design slowing things down. So the final result is unclear. We will just have to wait and see.

Lawrence
[Mar 28, 2008 7:41:42 PM]   Link   Report threatening or abusive post: please login first  Go to top 
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