In an effort to enable more credible global climate change predictions, researchers from UC Berkeley believe that the way to go is a new kind of cloud supercomputer that includes 20 million processors delivering a peak performance of 200 PFlops to simulate 1-km scale climate models.

We are just about ready to transition from the Gigaflop into the Petaflop era and the new proposal from UC Berkeley and Tensilica could, at least on paper, put supercomputer development into warp speed. In a dramatic departure from current supercomputer architectures and upcoming hybrid systems, this proposed system would rely on embedded processors with minimal power consumption.

The researchers believe that 20 million Tensilica RISC processors would deliver at least 10 PFlops of sustained performance, while topping out at about 200 PFlops. The power consumption of such a system is estimated at about 4 Mega Watts and the construction and typical operation cost at about $75 million. A 200 PFlops system that is built on today’s common architecture could cost up to $1 billion and consume 200 Mega Watts – which is the equivalent of what a city with 100,000 people consumes.

In comparison, the currently fastest supercomputer tops out at 596 TFlops.

So, what would a 200 PFlop system be able to accomplish? Read the full story at TG Daily.

Looking for a something special for your home computer? Then you should definitely take a look at the latest Steampunk LCD mod by Datamancer.

It’s going to be featured in an upcoming remake of the old Nosferatu silent film and then most likely be auctioned on eBay. Not sure if it will blend with my recent home furnishing, but maybe with yours?! If so you should follow the updates at Datamancer.net.

Besides this quite unique LCD mod a lot of other DIY stuff is featured as well. Very inspiring indeed

fit-PC is a tiny, noiseless, extremely power-efficient PC - designed by CompuLab - one of the leading vendors in embedded computing. fit-PC draws only 3-5 Watts when running Windows or Linux - consuming as little power as a standard PC does in stand-by mode. fit-PC is built of eco-friendly materials – from the lead-free computer board to the all-aluminium case. That together with its low power consumption puts fit-PC in a class of its own in green computing.

As you clearly have noticed it’s extremely tiny, measuring in at incredible 116×120x40mm. Total weight is 500g and that includes 256MB RAM, 60GB Hard disk, motherboard with integrated Geode LX display controller up to 1920×1440 and a AMD Geode LX800 500MHz CPU + a few basic ports (2xUSB 2.0, 2xEthernet, VGA and audio).

With a price tag around 250 Euro this could easily become a best-seller in the home and small business market. For more information please visit fit-pc.com.

ASUS Introduces World’s First EAH3650 Model with 1GB Graphics Memory.

This powerful graphics card features the latest generation of ATI GPUs; and with an unparalleled large onboard memory size, is designed to provide feature-rich DirectX 10.1 gaming and the best multimedia playback at ultra-high resolutions and maximum quality settings.

Additionally, it natively supports HDMI and is equipped with a noiseless cooling solution – allowing home theater lovers to enjoy enhanced and convenient home multimedia to the fullest.

Specifications

Click here for more information about this promising graphic card.

The picotux 100 is the world’s smallest Linux computer, only slightly larger (35mm×19mm×19mm) than an RJ45 connector. Inside, there is an ARM7 CPU at 55 MHz running uClinux kernel 2.4.27 and Busybox 1.0.

Two communication interfaces are provided, 10/100 Mbit half/full duplex Ethernet and a serial port with up to 230.400 baud. Five additional lines can be used for either general input/output or serial handshaking.