Playstation 3 cluster

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The considerable computing capability of the PlayStation 3 has raised interest in using multiple, networked PS3s for various purposes.[1]

Contents

[edit] PS3 Clusters

The NCSA has already built a cluster based on the PlayStation 2.[2] Terra Soft Solutions has a version of Yellow Dog Linux for the PlayStation 3,[3] and sells PS3s with Linux pre-installed,[4] in single units, and 8 and 32 node clusters.[5] In addition, RapidMind is pushing their stream programming package for the PS3.[6]

On January 3, 2007, Dr. Frank Mueller, Associate Professor of Computer Science at NCSU, clustered 8 PS3s. Mueller commented that the 512 MB of system RAM is a limitation for this particular application, and is considering attempting to retrofit more RAM. Software includes: Fedora Core 5 Linux ppc64, MPICH2, OpenMP v2.5, GNU Compiler Collection and CellSDK 1.1.[7][8][9]

[edit] Single PS3

Even a single PS3 can be used to significantly accelerate some computations. Marc Stevens, Arjen K. Lenstra, and Benne de Wegerhave demonstarted using a single PS3 to calculate perform an MD5 hash attack in a few hours. They say: "Essentially, a single PlayStation 3 performs like a cluster of 30 PCs at the price of only one"[10]

[edit] Using the PS3 to Help Medical Research

On March 22, 2007, SCE and Stanford University expanded the Folding@home project to the PS3.[11] Along with thousands of PCs already joined over the Internet, PS3 owners are able to lend the computing power of their game systems to the study of improper protein folding and associated diseases, such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Huntington's, cystic fibrosis, and several forms of cancer. The software was included as part of the 1.6 firmware update (March 22, 2007), and can be set to run manually or automatically when the PS3 is idle through the Cross Media Bar. The processed information is then sent back to project's central servers over the Internet. Processing power from PS3 users is greatly contributing to the Folding@home project, and PS3s have overtaken all other participating operating systems in teraflops contributed.[12][13] As of April 23, 2007, more than 250,000 PS3 owners have allowed the Folding@home software to be run on their systems, averaging over 400 teraFLOPS and peaking at over 700. By comparison, the world's most powerful supercomputer, Blue Gene has a peak performance of 280.6 teraFLOPS.[14] Latest report stated that Folding@Home has past 1PF (petaFLOPS) mark, of which 800TF(teraFLOPS) are supplied by PlayStation 3.

The Computational Biochemistry and Biophysics Lab in Barcelona has launched a distributed computing project called PS3GRID. This project is expected to run sixteen times faster than an equivalent project on a standard PC. Like most distributed computing projects, it is designed to run only when the computer is idle.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Building Supercomputer Using Playstation 3. Console Watcher.com (2006-08-28). Retrieved on 2006-08-28.
  2. ^ Scientific Computing on the Sony PlayStation 2. NCSA.
  3. ^ Terra Soft to Provide Linux for PLAYSTATION 3. Terra Soft.
  4. ^ Linux pre-installed on PS3. Terra Soft.
  5. ^ Linux clusters. Terra Soft. Retrieved on 2007-06-05.
  6. ^ RapidMind and Terra Soft partner to unleash PlayStation 3 for Linux. RapidMind.
  7. ^ Engineer Creates First Academic Playstation 3 Computing Cluster. PhysOrg.com.
  8. ^ NC State Engineer Creates First Academic Playstation 3 Computing Cluster. College of Engineering, North Carolina State University.
  9. ^ Sony PS3 Cluster (IBM Cell BE). Frank Mueller, Associate Professor, College of Engineering, North Carolina State University.
  10. ^ Nostradamus
  11. ^ Folding@home. Sony Computer Entertainment. Retrieved on 2007-03-18.
  12. ^ PS3 doubles Folding@Home's processing power.
  13. ^ Folding@Home - Client statistics by OS. Stanford University.
  14. ^ BBC News (2007-04-26). PS3 boosts protein research plan. Retrieved on 2007-04-26.