Supercomputer competes in first international competition
>>Print ViewPublication Date: 11/13/2007
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Eight Purdue students built a supercomputer that can predict the future of the environment by showing impacts of various elements on the climate.
The supercomputer is a high-performance computer that will be competing Nov. 12 to 15 against six teams from around the world, with two teams from Indiana, at the inaugural Cluster Challenge in Reno, Nev.
The computer, named HP DL 145, is designed to solve various scientific problems.
"It can really do about anything," said Preston Smith, a graduate student and Purdue's team leader.
For the challenge, teams have to run the 8-foot-19-inch wide computer for two days. The computer consists of 16 machines, which are an inch-and-a-half wide, stacked on top of each other.
"Everybody has different types of hardware they're going to run," Smith said.
The 16 machines use software that allows them to solve problems of climate change, chemistry and atom structure.
The supercomputer runs on 30 amps of power, which is equal to one circuit in a house or enough electricity to run a refrigerator.
Smith said teams have to run problems with their supercomputers, but they will not find out exactly what those are until the challenge begins. When the time is up, whichever team has the most problems completed wins.
The challenge, open to undergraduates, is a new opportunity for students.
"There's no limit to what they're going to get out of it," Smith said.
A new high-performance computing course taught by Jeff Evans, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering technology, is how students learned to construct a supercomputer for the Cluster Challenge.
The team faced problems like learning how to run the complex applications and hardware failures, said Andy Howard, a junior in the College of Technology and a member of Purdue's team.
"I think the competition is going to be stiff, but we have a chance," he said.