Most Expensive Computer in the World

Written by: tom Filed Under: Electronics, World on October 7th, 2006

The Japanese government estimates the Earth Simulator cost $400,000,000, making it the most expensive computer ever built. The budget for the Earth Simulator project was authorized for the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA) and the Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Development Corporation (PNC) in 1997, and NEC Corporation made the winning bid for the Japanese project.

Earth_Simulator

By May 2002, the 640 processor node supercomputer was benchmarked with Linpack as having 35.86 TFlop/s performance. This gave it the top spot on the TOP500 Supercomputer Sites list until 2004 when IBM’s BlueGene/L supercomputer took its place using an architecture that cost less than half as much to implement.

Each processor node in the Earth Simulator contains 8 vector processors running at 500MHz with 16GB of shared memory, and the total main memory in the machine is 10 terabytes. The operating system running on the supercomputer is NEC’s UNIX-based OS called “SUPER-UX” which is used on NEC’s SX Series of supercomputers.

This expensive computer is used for a wide variety of international projects, most of which are related to atmospheric, climate, and oceanographic simulation.


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(106) Comments

106 comments...What do you think?

  1. Posted by Church and Tucker 1st February, 2007 at 12:48 pm

    you could create the Matrix

  2. Posted by vinny 27th February, 2007 at 1:20 pm

    you can take the green pill and go back to fairy land or take the red and devl deeper into the rabbit hole

  3. Posted by wrong 27th February, 2007 at 9:55 pm

    actually the pills were blue and red, not green and red.

  4. Posted by Ajith 7th March, 2007 at 3:06 pm

    I could buy that.

  5. Posted by Yearight 9th March, 2007 at 2:31 pm

    Yeah right, you wish you could buy it… -.^

  6. Posted by XSkildpaddenX 13th March, 2007 at 2:09 pm

    “-the total main memory in the machine is 10 terabytes.” No loading time in games… COOOL!!! must own:P

  7. Posted by bob 13th March, 2007 at 8:49 pm

    u wish u could buy that u poor person hahaha matrix nerd.

  8. Posted by WoW! 14th March, 2007 at 9:42 am

    ZOMG! Spend less money!

  9. Posted by Haris 20th March, 2007 at 1:29 am

    I wish I had one of those :)

  10. Posted by dippydo 22nd March, 2007 at 11:03 am

    umm….will it run WOW?

  11. Posted by EssRocks 16th April, 2007 at 7:17 am

    im sure it would. my computer at home runs it lol.

  12. Posted by mikey 26th April, 2007 at 4:57 am

    thats pocket money

  13. Posted by John Daly 26th April, 2007 at 5:14 am

    does it come with a taylor made r7 425

  14. Posted by Catman 6th May, 2007 at 8:40 pm

    and like… then we decided to give it all like, you know wicked flames and stuff… cept we wanted it to look all cools an barneywell he was keepin it real i `spose :P lol.

  15. Posted by Dakes 9th May, 2007 at 3:54 pm

    Still doesn’t run STALKER with full AA though…

  16. Posted by steve chen 10th May, 2007 at 1:08 pm

    that is pocket money i have that in my pocket right now so i went an got them so does anybody want one for 1000 dallers

  17. Posted by Computer Knowitall 14th May, 2007 at 7:06 am

    Overall, one has summarized that your personal computer system includes above mediocre system performance, very impressive dear chaps

  18. Posted by Pentium 1 14th May, 2007 at 7:13 am

    I have used the same computer system for years, (Amstrad 92)and it still has state of the art performance that could be a serious rival of the Earth simulator, I would maybe consider swapping my Amstrad 92 for the Earth simulator!

  19. Posted by stefan 5th June, 2007 at 4:35 am

    I need to ask someone who knows: does this computer run win95 normally? ;)

  20. Posted by Jack 21st June, 2007 at 11:15 pm

    10 terabytes isnt that amazaing when Aleinware is offering a 4 tetrabyte fully loaded gaming pc for 5 grand.

  21. Posted by Crysis 22nd June, 2007 at 3:01 am

    Hmmm.. It might even be able to play Crysis without lagging

  22. Posted by stevo 25th June, 2007 at 7:57 am

    i wonder if that thing has the internet on it?

  23. Posted by brat 7th July, 2007 at 6:22 am

    Think It’ll run Doom?

  24. Posted by deniz 15th July, 2007 at 10:05 pm

    lol lets hack it =D!

  25. Posted by Name (required) 9th August, 2007 at 11:35 pm

    I can afford it, but I shall only purchase it if it will run on AAA batteries.

  26. Posted by ~BaDd_BoY~ 11th August, 2007 at 12:56 am

    it will destroy doom!!! not just run it

  27. Posted by Oscar Zuleta 11th August, 2007 at 1:01 am

    Its too much of a computer. all you need is a nvidia sli,2gb ramn,maibe 2 terrabytes hardrive, core 2 extreme, 3 ghz and its costs $5000….Much less than that. by the way, its an

  28. Posted by Eurybia 25th August, 2007 at 11:40 am

    @Jack

    Dude, that’s 10 terabytes of RAM, not HDD space…if Alienware is indeed offering 4 Tera’s of RAM for $5,000 then I think someone made a wee bit of a mistake!

  29. Posted by Henry Ovansa 12th September, 2007 at 8:54 am

    Under what classification can this 10 terabyte computer be?

  30. Posted by Woody 13th September, 2007 at 5:34 pm

    dude 10 tb of ram total with each node having 16gb of ram thats over 600 nodes thats one hell of a electric bill.

  31. Posted by Dan2002sk8er 16th October, 2007 at 12:08 am

    The specs on this computer might be impressive they could have saved a lot of money and bought 17 PS3s that would be 34 tera-flops processing power. I don’t think they would miss the 1.86tf. and it would only cost $8,483 that is a far way away from $400,000,000. so this doesn’t impress me.

  32. Posted by albert 24th December, 2007 at 6:45 am

    Finally, a machine that can actually run Crysis with full sliders and highest resolution. lolz.

  33. Posted by JowMa'ammy 6th May, 2008 at 7:24 pm

    Wow. Lol. Thats useless! Go get a few Xbox360s and Ps3s for god sake!

  34. Posted by JMD 6th June, 2008 at 12:05 pm

    Wow…..great system…. i sure hope its not operating with microsoft vista…hahaha

  35. Posted by ragain 23rd June, 2008 at 12:27 pm

    To people like Jack,

    they are talking about 10terabytes of proccessing speed of information at one time.

    the alienware is how much it can hold on the harddrive at one time.

    Two complete different things.

  36. Posted by ragain 23rd June, 2008 at 12:28 pm

    Crap, also I forgot this was made back in 2004, we have made quite a few jumps in computer speeds since then.

  37. Posted by matt 26th July, 2008 at 6:54 pm

    How much do you bet that this computer cant even play crisis lol.

  38. Posted by joe 18th August, 2008 at 10:54 am

    of corse it cant pley games its not what its made for !)(:

  39. Posted by Jack Schitt 20th November, 2008 at 11:01 pm

    I’ll bet Bejeweled 2 would run without any lag between levels

  40. Posted by nastyben 1st December, 2008 at 2:25 pm

    too bad it cant play crysis at full speed though.

  41. Posted by except 7th December, 2008 at 10:59 am

    It may not be able to play games but it could memorize every game ever made with that much memory. A terabyte is 1000 gigs

  42. Posted by Lolz 10th December, 2008 at 12:00 am

    LOLZ im reading some of your posts like”I can get something almost as good as that from best buy” or “alienware is selling something like that” and i just have to laugh…do you realy think the people who are making such a powerful machine would really over look the fact that a computer from alienware or whatever is3000000000000000000 dollars cheaper? Its just a thought but i think thiers might be a bit better for that kind of price.

  43. Posted by deepak 13th December, 2008 at 1:36 am

    keep prepared for most expensive computer i am comming

  44. Posted by connor 7th January, 2009 at 3:22 pm

    now way back when… a computer was as large as a house, that would run a calculator. now a computer that big will run EVERYTHING!!!

  45. Posted by tomtom 15th January, 2009 at 6:09 am

    will it play solitare with no lag?

  46. Posted by Dr. Jones 19th January, 2009 at 6:38 pm

    Im getting my Bathtub ready as we speak, 15 gallons of Liquid Nitrogen should cover the heating aspect of owning one of these suckers!

  47. Posted by John 25th January, 2009 at 9:00 pm

    hmmmmmnnnn. THis might be a better choice of computer if you would like to recreate the earth…… 3d printer required

  48. Posted by jake 29th January, 2009 at 4:23 pm

    it would suck if it got a virus

  49. Posted by lol 2nd February, 2009 at 6:25 am

    oh it was made in 2004 … thats y 10 terabytes doesnt seem much for a computer the size of canary wharf … i mean u can get a 1 terrabyte harddrive now for about a hundred quid

  50. Posted by coolkid 11th February, 2009 at 9:37 am

    idiots…..it doesnt even have a monitor

  51. Posted by Waz 15th February, 2009 at 1:05 am

    my sick new microbee would smash that

  52. Posted by Zach 26th February, 2009 at 9:28 am

    wow that’s something, that’s a lot of money. It would suck if it broke though.

  53. Posted by Brandon Alward 19th March, 2009 at 9:09 am

    will it play halo

  54. Posted by Jay 28th March, 2009 at 3:14 pm

    Umm, it does not have video card, atleast nobody says it here…

  55. Posted by Bob 4th April, 2009 at 1:27 pm

    Yeah… Well… I bet it can’t make coffie…

  56. Posted by Ronnie 12th April, 2009 at 5:35 pm

    Naw it wont play halo it just cost 400,000,000.Brandon,
    dude i really hope your joking.

  57. Posted by SJBOSS 1st May, 2009 at 8:23 pm

    This Computer will make any Alienware Computers look Ancient :D

  58. Posted by Eric 19th May, 2009 at 5:06 pm

    will it play starcraft?

  59. Posted by helo 7th June, 2009 at 9:00 pm

    well, all i can say is HOLY @$#1. lol

  60. Posted by Foster 7th June, 2009 at 10:22 pm

    Can it run Chuck Norris without lagging?

    …No. No it can’t.

  61. Posted by Mike 24th June, 2009 at 1:23 am

    this thing is horrible, 500 mgz!!! are you all retarded? processors today have at least a 1333 mgz fsb and thats just the front side bus. The real speed is like 2-3 ghz and motherboards today can hold up to 32 gigs of ram also the 400,000,000 million dollors does not say anything, it was built in 1997 so its really old and probably really big to. So ya it sucks compared to even the lowest priced alienware comp.

  62. Posted by Mike 24th June, 2009 at 1:26 am

    my bad it was made in 2004

  63. Posted by Person 27th June, 2009 at 8:51 pm

    So I was comparing this computer to the Mac Pro…

    Mac Pro (as high-tech as it can get) costs $21,810.95. 32 g memory as opposed to 16 (shocker), 4 terrobyte hard drive, Two 2.93GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon along with all the software you would ever need and two 30″ displays! Intense. Huh? But seriously, that computer is overpriced even with how good it is.

  64. Posted by donna 13th July, 2009 at 7:33 pm

    If that PC would make me rich, i would but it:D

  65. Posted by jose 20th July, 2009 at 10:17 am

    it still cant run crysis lol

  66. Posted by Boogity 20th July, 2009 at 7:05 pm

    WOW….it would suck if someone plugged this computer into the wall without a surge protector…..lightning storm and: sizzle, sizzle, fry, fry……It would make you want to cry, cry!!!

  67. Posted by joemamabioch 31st July, 2009 at 7:18 pm

    $400,000,000, only? ill take 3 :)

  68. Posted by streetlordz.tk 4th August, 2009 at 10:28 am

    ma rig is running slow fro games… and i am lookin for a system in which i can play ma fav game…DAVE ……..

  69. Posted by ^^ 9th August, 2009 at 2:32 am

    will it run super mario?

  70. Posted by NAAB MOSES 13th August, 2009 at 3:29 pm

    i think it will be good to have them many produced

  71. Posted by Jon 15th August, 2009 at 1:53 pm

    A terabyte is actually 1024 Gigabytes, not one thousand. That’s a Terabit.

  72. Posted by Muhammad 20th August, 2009 at 6:04 am

    what the hell…i prefer to buy 300 cars of bugatti veyron.

  73. Posted by braha 24th August, 2009 at 2:32 pm

    is very chif for eliene , because is primitive for they

  74. Posted by even richer boy 29th August, 2009 at 1:44 pm

    i could buy 3 dose cheap comps and im going for the record of getting 25 buggatis got 17 already!

  75. Posted by ankur 1st September, 2009 at 4:08 am

    yar would it run spider

  76. Posted by Jeffrey 6th September, 2009 at 7:30 am

    Ummmm … I wish I had one of those….

  77. Posted by Ryan 8th September, 2009 at 5:25 am

    get out more

  78. Posted by kile 12th September, 2009 at 4:40 am

    I would like to let all those nooblets know, that Crysis is not hard to run at all, back in 2007 when we had 8800’s and 8600’s, thats when it was hard to run, but these days, with the excessivly overpowered 295’s, its shit easy to run.
    This Computer looks pretty powerfull, i would like to know what operating system it is running under, a Server Hybrid?
    @ John, a Terabit is actually 128 Gigabytes, a bit, is one eight of a byet, so if you have any number with Byte in it, divide it by 8, and you will have the Bit value.

  79. Posted by Nerd 13th September, 2009 at 12:44 pm

    No it wont run crysis because it has no graphics card.

  80. Posted by NerD 14th September, 2009 at 4:34 am

    Hmm… who would buy this computer? It probably wouldn’t get sold because so many rich people would want it…

  81. Posted by Kejung Kimsing 14th September, 2009 at 7:26 am

    Just I guess that the more expensive computer they built, they more virus would attack them. Let them not try to it.

  82. Posted by Super Jesus 14th September, 2009 at 8:34 am

    YOU CULD TAKE BATH WIT IT!

  83. Posted by Marcel Diallo 19th September, 2009 at 2:09 pm

    for $400,000,000 it better make coffee

  84. Posted by Marcel Diallo 19th September, 2009 at 2:10 pm

    man it cud run 1000 crisis without slowing down yep n i cud watch naruto whenever i wanted
    haha jk

  85. Posted by alex 22nd September, 2009 at 10:54 am

    hah. what if it broke :o . that would be a shit load of money gone to waste. also, nice comment, matrix nerd.

  86. Posted by john hargett 22nd September, 2009 at 12:06 pm

    that was so cool i want one

  87. Posted by this guy aaron 25th September, 2009 at 5:58 pm

    The real question is if this thing can eat bacon..

    If it cant its not worth it..

  88. Posted by 11daviso 15th October, 2009 at 4:46 pm

    Wow thats the same price as a Starbucks Coffee !!

  89. Posted by Aaron 23rd October, 2009 at 12:57 pm

    Wow if it can eat bacon it is better then my dog hahahah

  90. Posted by Vishal 29th October, 2009 at 4:05 am

    how expensive it is WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  91. Posted by Robert Pattinson 29th October, 2009 at 4:08 am

    what will hapen if it blasts’s how many years warenty do you give !!!!!!!!!!! ############# %%%%%%%%%%%

  92. Posted by justin 11th November, 2009 at 9:43 pm

    yall r nerds

  93. Posted by Shadows Fall 23rd November, 2009 at 5:51 am

    do think it could handle the 2D amazingness of Elder Scrolls 1

  94. Posted by matthew 25th November, 2009 at 4:12 am

    i had one of these but i dropped water on it and it broke.

    shame
    so i bought 2 more just incase another one breaks
    thats 12000000000 i spent.

    and no it doesnt play halo i feel cheated. but it does play explore disneyland.

  95. Posted by someone 1st December, 2009 at 10:23 am

    i tihnk this computer sucks but i can buy it tho

  96. Posted by Jordan 12th December, 2009 at 1:49 am

    hat computer is useless
    to use it you need a program made to use all of the processors
    that is why they cost so much
    64 bit progrmas amr made to use 2 cpu’s
    but if you run a 32 bit progam on a 64 bit computer it will only use one cpu
    so it wont go any faster

  97. Posted by moc 13th December, 2009 at 12:54 pm

    I will stay with my pentium4 i bet that pc is good at the things it is mention but cant be used in counter strike. ^^

  98. Posted by Richie Zola 25th December, 2009 at 12:24 am

    Only 10 TeraBytes? I was expecting at least 10 PetaBytes, or 1 HetroByte. They sell things for like $150 that give you 1TB of memory. With the money they bought on that, they could of just gotten 1 HB (Hetrobyte, 1000 Petabytes)

  99. Posted by Cocoy 25th December, 2009 at 9:48 am

    I bet it will run atari..

  100. Posted by niki 28th December, 2009 at 8:05 am

    I can buy thi becuse 400.000.000 $ are my pocket money for the week ;)

  101. Posted by Luffy 5th January, 2010 at 1:41 am

    hmmmm……….your just buying that stuff it can ruin ur life guys

  102. Posted by Julian 7th January, 2010 at 8:25 pm

    wow 400,000,000$ this shows you why you dont buy pre-built computers from Alien Ware haha te hee

  103. Posted by chrisblunt13 12th January, 2010 at 4:06 pm

    it sounds awesome!!!!!!!

  104. Posted by chrisblunt13 12th January, 2010 at 4:08 pm

    i could at least get 10 easily

  105. Posted by Mark 14th January, 2010 at 1:07 am

    I just was on dell.com and you can customize a dell server sooooo much that one unit that is 3u form can cost you $500,000 no joke!!!

    ok, so, one insane dell server is $500k,… times that by about 800!!! and you get the price of this setup!!
    800 dell servers each with 4 intel 6core xeon processors!! that’s 19,200 processors all clocked at 2.66ghz!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    pure insanity. ;xb
    The electric bill is gona be a big one tho…

  106. Posted by BLA IF F'ed u all 17th January, 2010 at 10:35 am

    LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL MY GRANDPA HAS THAT HE PLAYED WOW WITH -100000k latency

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