09 August 2007

Rack Mounted PS3s

I was interested to read that Warhawk server cluster is using racks of PS3s. The obvious dig is that Sony just has heaps of PS3s lying around their offices. Seriously though, I get that you don't have to rewrite/recompile your code to work on other systems and can just use the same retail version you are giving the consumers but surely there is a better way to do it than this? I mean the cell processor was designed for rack mounted servers. I remember the reading about a cell based blade a while back, you'd think this would be a good way forwards for them.

Furthermore your interface either has a web system (which I doubt the released version has) or you have to get some poor sap to hook the system up to a screen to alter settings.

Anyway it just seems a waste, to me, to have something that includes components for graphics acceleration and a blu-ray drive to be used to run the headless job a dedicated server has.

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