PlayStation 3 cluster

The considerable computing capability of the PlayStation 3's Cell microprocessors has raised interest in using multiple, networked PS3s for various tasks that require affordable high-performance computing.[1]

A cluster of PlayStation 3s running a Linux operating system

PS3 clusters

The National Center for Supercomputing Applications had 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 North Carolina State University, clustered 8 PS3s. Mueller commented that the 256 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]

In Summer 2007, Gaurav Khanna, a professor in the Physics Department of the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth independently built a message-passing based cluster using 8 PS3s running Fedora Linux. This cluster was built with support from Sony Computer Entertainment and was the first such cluster that generated published scientific results. Dubbed as the "PS3 Gravity Grid", this PS3 cluster performs astrophysical simulations of large supermassive black holes capturing smaller compact objects.[10] Khanna claims that the cluster's performance exceeds that of a 100+ Intel Xeon core based traditional Linux cluster on his simulations. The PS3 Gravity Grid gathered significant media attention through 2007,[11][12] 2008,[13][14] 2009[15][16][17] and 2010.[18][19] Khanna also created a DIY website[20] on how to build such clusters, accessible to the general public.

In November 2010 the Air Force Research Laboratory created a powerful supercomputer, nicknamed the "Condor Cluster," by connecting together 1,760 Sony PS3s which include 168 separate graphical processing units and 84 coordinating servers in a parallel array capable of performing 500 trillion floating-point operations per second (500 TFLOPS).[21] As built the Condor Cluster was the 33rd largest supercomputer in the world and would be used to analyse high definition satellite imagery.[22]

Single PS3

Even a single PS3 can be used to significantly accelerate some computations. Marc Stevens, Arjen K. Lenstra, and Benne de Weger have demonstrated using a single PS3 to perform an MD5 bruteforce in a few hours. They say: "Essentially, a single PlayStation 3 performs like a cluster of 30 PCs at the price of only one" (in November 2007).[23]

Medical research

On March 22, 2007, SCE and Stanford University expanded the Folding@home project to the PS3.[24] 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 are third to both NVIDIA and AMD GPUs in terms of teraflops contributed.[25] As of March 2011, more than a million PS3 owners have allowed the Folding@home software to be run on their systems, with over 27,000 currently active, for a total of 8.1 petaFLOPS. By comparison, the world's most powerful supercomputer as of November 2010, the Tianhe-IA has a peak performance of 2.56 petaFLOPS, or 2,566 teraFLOPS.[26] The latest report stated that Folding@Home has passed the 5 native petaFLOP mark, of which 767 teraFLOPS are supplied by PlayStation 3 clients.

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.

eHiTS Lightning is the first virtual screening and molecular docking software for the PS3.[27] It was released by SimBioSys.[28] as reported by Bio-IT World in July 2008.[29] This application runs up to 30x faster on a single PS3 than on a regular single CPU PC, and it also runs on PS3 clusters, achieving screening of huge chemical compound libraries in a matter of hours or days rather than weeks, which used to be the standard expectation.

The decline of the PS3 cluster

On March 28, 2010, Sony announced it would be disabling the ability to run other operating systems with the v3.21 update due to security concerns about OtherOS.[30] This update would not affect any existing supercomputing clusters, due to the fact that they are not connected to PSN and would not be forced to update. However, it would make replacing the individual consoles that compose the clusters very difficult if not impossible, since any newer models with the v3.21 or higher would not support Linux installation directly.[31] This caused the end of the PS3's common use for clustered computing, though there are projects like "The Condor" that were still being created with older PS3 units, and have come online after the April 1, 2010 update was released.[32] It is possible that a workaround might be to replace the damaged TSOP on older (ie PS3 fat) consoles with non-fatal hardware failures such as defective shaders or YLOD combined with an X-ray and BGA rework of affected memory chips. This would be acceptable for some applications as in principle it would then be custom hardware under the DMCA and not classed as reverse engineering. Additional modifications would include upgrading the thermal profile (ie larger fan/more voltage) and replacing TSOP completely with a socket so any surplus 256MB SD card can be installed in its place as some hackers have already done for development purposes only.

See also

References
  1. "Building Supercomputer Using Playstation 3". Console Watcher.com. 2006-08-28. Archived from the original on 2007-02-06. Retrieved 2006-08-28.
  2. "Scientific Computing on the Sony PlayStation 2". NCSA. Archived from the original on 2004-11-20.
  3. "Terra Soft to Provide Linux for PLAYSTATION 3". Terra Soft.
  4. "Linux pre-installed on PS3". Terra Soft. Archived from the original on 2007-12-11.
  5. "Linux clusters". Terra Soft. Archived from the original on May 27, 2007. Retrieved 2007-06-05.
  6. "RapidMind and Terra Soft partner to unleash PlayStation 3 for Linux". RapidMind. Archived from the original on 2007-08-22.
  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. "PS3 Gravity Grid". Gaurav Khanna, Associate Professor, College of Engineering, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.
  11. "Astrophysicist Replaces Supercomputer with Eight PlayStation 3s". Wired. 2007-10-17.
  12. "PS3 cluster creates homemade, cheaper supercomputer".
  13. Highfield, Roger (2008-02-17). "Why scientists love games consoles". The Daily Telegraph. London.
  14. Peckham, Matt (2008-12-23). "Nothing Escapes the Pull of a PlayStation 3, Not Even a Black Hole". The Washington Post.
  15. "Playstation 3 Consoles Tackle Black Hole Vibrations".
  16. "Playstation 3: A Discount Supercomputer?".
  17. "The Supercomputer Goes Personal".
  18. "The PlayStation powered super-computer". BBC News. 2010-09-04.
  19. Farrell, John (2010-11-12). "Black Holes and Quantum Loops: More Than Just a Game". Forbes.
  20. "PS3Cluster.Org". Gaurav Khanna, Associate Professor, College of Engineering, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.
  21. "AFRL to hold ribbon cutting for Condor supercomputer". www.wpafb.af.mil. The Official Web Site of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. 17 November 2010. Archived from the original on 9 December 2010. Retrieved 2010-12-15.
  22. Koff, Stephen (November 30, 2010). "Defense Department discusses new Sony PlayStation supercomputer". blog.cleveland.com. Retrieved 2011-03-28.
  23. "Nostradamus". Win.tue.nl. Retrieved 2012-09-19.
  24. "Folding@home". Sony Computer Entertainment. Archived from the original on 2007-03-18. Retrieved 2007-03-18.
  25. "Folding@Home – Client statistics by OS". Stanford University.
  26. Electronista (2009-11-16). "TOP500 listing for Tianhe1A". top500.org. Archived from the original on 2010-11-17. Retrieved 2010-04-09.
  27. "The Cell/B.E. Technology Opens New Frontiers in Molecular Modeling". Archived from the original on 2012-09-10.eHiTS Lightning
  28. "eHiTS Lightning by SimBioSys, Inc". Archived from the original on 2012-09-12.SimBioSys, Inc
  29. "Bio-IT World, July 2008".Bio-IT World, July 2008
  30. "PS3 Firmware (v3.21) Update – PlayStation Blog". Blog.us.playstation.com. Retrieved 2012-09-19.
  31. McElroy, Justin (2010-05-12). "Air Force disappointed by PS3's Other OS removal". Joystiq. Retrieved 2012-09-19.
  32. Dave Tobin, The Post-Standard. "Rome Lab's supercomputer is made up of 1,700 off-the-shelf PlayStation 3 gaming consoles". syracuse.com. Retrieved 2012-09-19.
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