Editing System X (supercomputer)

{{about|the supercomputer|the IBM product line|IBM System x}}
[[File:Virginia tech xserve cluster.jpg|thumb|Xserve cluster System X at Virginia Tech]]
'''System X''' (pronounced ''"System Ten"'') was a [[supercomputer]] assembled by [[Virginia Tech]]'s Advanced Research Computing facility in the summer of 2003. Costing US$5.2 million,<ref name="System X History">{{cite web|title=System X History|url=http://www.arc.vt.edu/resources/hpc/history/sysX_history.php|work=Advanced Research Computing section of Virginia Tech website|publisher=Virginia Tech|access-date=18 May 2014|url-status=bot: unknown|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130702094516/http://www.arc.vt.edu/resources/hpc/history/sysX_history.php|archive-date=2 July 2013}}</ref> it was originally composed of 1,100 [[Apple Inc.|Apple]] [[Power Mac G5]] computers<ref>Varadarajan, S. ''System X: building the Virginia Tech supercomputer '' in Proceedings. 13th International Conference on Computer Communications and Networks, 2004. ICCCN 2004. {{ISBN|0-7803-8814-3}}</ref> with dual 2.0&nbsp;GHz processors.<ref name="System X History"/> System X was decommissioned on May 21, 2012.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.arc.vt.edu/resources/hpc/systemx.php |title=System X (Linux/OS X): ARC HPC Resources |publisher=Virginia Tech |date=2012-05-21 |access-date=2014-05-18 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150203032437/http://www.arc.vt.edu/resources/hpc/systemx.php |archive-date=2015-02-03 }}</ref> The supercomputer is also known as '''Big Mac''' or '''Terascale Cluster'''.

System X ran at 12.25 Teraflops, (20.24 peak), and was ranked #3 on November 16, 2003 <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.top500.org/lists/2003/11 |title=Lists &#124; TOP500 Supercomputer Sites |publisher=TOP500 |access-date=2014-05-18}}</ref> and #280 in the July 2008 edition of the [[TOP500]] list of the world's most powerful supercomputers.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://top500.org/system/7286 |title=System X - 1100 Dual 2.3 GHz Apple XServe/Mellanox Infiniband 4X/Cisco GigE &#124; TOP500 Supercomputer Sites |publisher=TOP500 |access-date=2014-05-18}}</ref> The system used error-correcting ([[ECC RAM|ECC]]) RAM, which is important for accuracy due to the rate of bits flipped by [[cosmic ray]]s or other interference sources in its vast number of RAM chips.

== Background ==
The supercomputer's name originates from the use of the [[Mac OS X]] [[operating system]] for each node, and because it was the first university computer to achieve 10 [[Flops|teraflops]] on the high performance [[LINPACK|LINPACK benchmark]]. In 2003 it was also touted as "the world's most powerful and cheapest homebuilt supercomputer."<ref name="System X History"/> System X was constructed with a relatively low budget of just $5.2 million, in the span of only three months, thanks in large part to using off-the-shelf Power Mac G5 computers.  By comparison, the [[Earth Simulator]], the fastest supercomputer at the time, cost approximately $400 million to build.

== Upgrade to Server-Grade Parts ==
In 2004, Virginia Tech upgraded its computer to Apple's newly released, [[Xserve]] G5 servers. The upgraded version ranked #7 in the 2004 [[TOP500]] list and its server-grade [[Dynamic random access memory#Errors and error correction|error-correcting memory]] solved the problem of cosmic ray interference. In October 2004, Virginia Tech partially rebuilt System X at a cost of about $600,000.  These improvements brought the computer's speed up to 12.25 Teraflops, which placed System X #14 on the 2005 [[TOP500]] list.

== Similar Projects ==
Virginia Tech's system was the model for Xseed, a smaller system also made from Xserve servers and built by [[Bowie State University]] in [[Maryland]]. Xseed was ranked #166 in the 2005 [[TOP500]].

[[System G (supercomputer)|System G]] has 324 Mac Pros (2592 processor cores) with QDR [[InfiniBand]] in Virginia Tech's Center for High-End Computing Systems.

==See also==
* [[History of supercomputing]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20120206080029/http://www.arc.vt.edu/arc/SystemX/index.php Virginia Tech - System X] (via [[Internet Archive]])
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20080828093932/http://www.checs.eng.vt.edu/resources.php CHECS Computing Resources: Experimental Facilities - System G, Production Computing Facilities - System X] (via [[Internet Archive]])
* [http://www.arc.vt.edu/ Virginia Tech - Advanced Research Computing]
* [http://www.top500.org/ TOP500 website]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLujLtgBJC0 Film about System X, YouTube]

{{Virginia Tech}}

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[[Category:One-of-a-kind computers]]
[[Category:Supercomputers]]
[[Category:Virginia Tech]]