Computer Processes More Than 1.026 Quadrillion Calculations per Second

[engine]

An American military supercomputer, assembled from components originally designed for video game machines, has reached a long-sought-after computing milestone by processing more than 1.026 quadrillion calculations per second.
The new machine is more than twice as fast as the previous fastest supercomputer, the I.B.M. BlueGene/L, which is based at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California.

The new $133 million supercomputer, called Roadrunner in a reference to the state bird of New Mexico, was devised and built by engineers and scientists at I.B.M. and Los Alamos National Laboratory, based in Los Alamos, N.M. It will be used principally to solve classified military problems to ensure that the nation’s stockpile of nuclear weapons will continue to work correctly as they age. The Roadrunner will simulate the behavior of the weapons in the first fraction of a second during an explosion.

Computer Processes More Than 1.026 Quadrillion Calculations per Second [nytimes.com]

I can't imagine how fast that is!

[LifeinAsia]

I think it's really called SkyNet.

The Roadrunner will simulate the behavior of the weapons in the first fraction of a second during an explosion.

Um, it expands very, very quickly and gets very, very hot. They needed to spend $133 million to figure out that? I could've told them that for half the price.

[OutdoorWebcams]

The Roadrunner will simulate the behavior of the weapons in the first fraction of a second during an explosion.

assembled from components originally designed for video game machines

Is there a connection? Hopefully not!

[Dabrowski]

I wonder how long it'll be before they have it playing Kasparov?

[BillyS]

Ten years from now my desktop will be faster... I'm going to save myself $133 million and hold off on this purchase until then.