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64 Raspberry Pis + Legos = Supercomputer

By - Source: Liliputing

Computer engineers combine 64 Raspberry Pis and a Lego-built framework to create a DIY supercomputer.

Earlier this year, Raspberry Pi lured the world in with the scent of a $35, linux-powered mini-PC. Since its release, the device has been used for a number of creative purposes. But one team of engineers at the University of Southampton has decided one Raspberry Pi just isn't enough. Instead, the group gathered up a whopping 64 mini-computers and combined them to create one gigantic, super Raspberry Pi.Taking good notice of Moore's Law, the team realized the cost of creating a supercomputer has dropped exponentially over the years, allowing them to create one for as little as £2,500. (approx. $4,000 USD) Combining 64 Raspberry Pi devices, 64 16GB SD cards and a modular framework made of Legos, the team was able to make a system with 11 GHz of processing power and 1TB of memory.

Led by professor Simon Cox, the team has kindly created a detailed guide for anybody looking to create their own Raspberry Pi supercomputer. Head on over to the Southampton page to check it out!

 

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  • 0
    theFatHobbit , September 22, 2012 3:23 AM
    Still needs custard.
  • 0
    bemused_fred , September 22, 2012 4:33 AM
    ....SO AWESOME!! That's really cool! That's a pretty clever thing to think of.
  • 1
    djp2010 , September 23, 2012 10:28 PM
    Yes, absolutely awesome!
    Congratulation to Prof S Cox. Any relation to Prof B Cox?

    So, how many points per day will it make if it can run a folding@home client?
    And how much power would that draw?
  • 3
    MockingbirdUK , September 24, 2012 9:20 PM
    The plural of "Lego" is "Lego". The non-word "Legos" needs to be removed from our language. On topic - awesome.
  • 0
    raringcoder , September 26, 2012 8:16 PM
    djp2010Yes, absolutely awesome!Congratulation to Prof S Cox. Any relation to Prof B Cox?So, how many points per day will it make if it can run a folding@home client?And how much power would that draw?
    I think the RPi needs a 1A (or 750mA) @ 5V power supply, so that's roughly 5 watts - per device, so 320 watts all told perhaps? Either way, on par with a graphics card these days.
  • 0
    raringcoder , September 26, 2012 8:22 PM
    The only thing I don't get is 64 Pi CPUs @ 700MHz is more like 44GHz, not 11GHz. And now they can use the officially supported change to OC to 1GHz per Pi, so it should be 64GHz...
  • 0
    anonymous@guest , September 28, 2012 3:26 AM
    overhead?