oh man, dark meat has all the flavor for me. I always go for the turkey thigh not the breast. One of our biggest exports is chicken legs since we have this breast fetish in the US.
Benson, I was home late yesterday so missed the OT during the day, but I’d like to offer a few comments on your super-computing post (thanks for it, btw.)
M4L has it right. You missing some trends in the industry on the GPU/CPU issue. There’s a reason AMD bought ATI back in 2006, and why the Chinese used GPUs (but not entirely) in their first attempt at a super-computer. GPUs are a whole lot faster, by orders of magnitude. Yes, there are issues with software adaptation and so on, but these issues can be addressed by folks with savvy and deep pockets, like AMD and Cray.
From what I’m reading CPUs are being used in super-computing for standard file and disc operations but the heavy lifting, the calculations, are being passed off to GPUs.
In fact, while the current Cray XE6M is based on AMD Opteron CPUs, you must have missed Cray’s press release that was issued just prior to the conference you attended! And, what it states is that the next gen replacement for this machine as well as the top of the Cray line (XE6) will be powered by GPUs. Permit me to quote:
“In September 2010, Cray announced that the Company is developing blades based on the NVIDIA Tesla 20-Series GPUs for the Cray XE6 supercomputer. The Cray XE6m supercomputer will also be available with blades featuring the same NVIDIA GPUs when they become available.â€
Supercomputers have always been used for oil exploration, weather forecasting, etc, and they participate in Moore’s law just like the rest of the industry. And granted supercomputers are sexy. But I’m a money and numbers guy so if there was about to be a sea change in the industry (sudden increased demand for super-computers) one would think it would be reflected in the stock prices. CRAY had a nice bump yesterday, closing at $6.82, but a year ago it was selling for $7.04. So the stock is down over a period that saw the NASDAQ go from 2169 to 2495.
I happen to own MLNX. I bought some at the end of March for $23.76. The stock took a huge hit in July, dropping from $25 to $15, based on a negative earning surprise (no one buying super-computers?). As a contrarian, I doubled down on my position at $16.42. The stock has recovered to $24.19 yesterday so I am up 20% on the position overall.
So nothing in these numbers indicates a huge and sudden interest in super-computing. But I’ll certainly add CRAY to my watch list and see if the numbers start to move.
Hell, it’s beginning to look like NVDA might be the stock to watch if you think super-computing will take off!
PS: When I used to collect photo monographs, my favorite work by Lee Friedlander was ‘Cray at Chippewa Falls’, commissioned by Cray as an in-house publication celebrating the 15th anniversary of Cray Research and never sold to the public. Unbeknownst to Friedlander, Cray also did a 4-page ‘preview’ print run. When I attended a Friedlander signing at a gallery some years ago, and presented both for signature, it was the first time he was aware of the ‘preview’ publication. That was pretty cool.
Which would you choose?
1) You receive $1 billion today but will only live for 15 more years.
2) You receive nothing today but will then be assured of living for 30 more years.
Amazing how many of the best-loved Christmas songs were written by jews, btw. White Christmas, for one.
Of course the Chinese invented Christmas hundreds of years before Jesus was born, so there’s that.
oh man, dark meat has all the flavor for me. I always go for the turkey thigh not the breast. One of our biggest exports is chicken legs since we have this breast fetish in the US.
By more4less on November 24, 2010 9:35 AM
I might just go out and get me a new Knicks cap
Will you leave the “59 Fifty” label on the brim??????
I’m pretty sure Papa Snaps bought it at their local grocery store. It was greasy and mostly dark meat. Hate dark meat!
as annoyed as I was earlier, am equally impressed as the Knicks now on 4 game winning streak. I might just go out and get me a new Knicks cap
By InsertSnappyNameHere on November 24, 2010 9:33 AM
I could change it to “Brown-skinned Christmas”! Ha!
Frankly that’s more appealing to me too.
Benson, I was home late yesterday so missed the OT during the day, but I’d like to offer a few comments on your super-computing post (thanks for it, btw.)
M4L has it right. You missing some trends in the industry on the GPU/CPU issue. There’s a reason AMD bought ATI back in 2006, and why the Chinese used GPUs (but not entirely) in their first attempt at a super-computer. GPUs are a whole lot faster, by orders of magnitude. Yes, there are issues with software adaptation and so on, but these issues can be addressed by folks with savvy and deep pockets, like AMD and Cray.
From what I’m reading CPUs are being used in super-computing for standard file and disc operations but the heavy lifting, the calculations, are being passed off to GPUs.
In fact, while the current Cray XE6M is based on AMD Opteron CPUs, you must have missed Cray’s press release that was issued just prior to the conference you attended! And, what it states is that the next gen replacement for this machine as well as the top of the Cray line (XE6) will be powered by GPUs. Permit me to quote:
“In September 2010, Cray announced that the Company is developing blades based on the NVIDIA Tesla 20-Series GPUs for the Cray XE6 supercomputer. The Cray XE6m supercomputer will also be available with blades featuring the same NVIDIA GPUs when they become available.â€
Here’s an article from the source about what is going on in the super-computer industry re GPUs vs. CPUs
http://www.hpcwire.com/news/GPUs-Accelerate-Scientific-Progress-106739963.html
Some of IBM’s super-computers are mixing CPUs and GPUs…
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13924_3-20005218-64.html
Supercomputers have always been used for oil exploration, weather forecasting, etc, and they participate in Moore’s law just like the rest of the industry. And granted supercomputers are sexy. But I’m a money and numbers guy so if there was about to be a sea change in the industry (sudden increased demand for super-computers) one would think it would be reflected in the stock prices. CRAY had a nice bump yesterday, closing at $6.82, but a year ago it was selling for $7.04. So the stock is down over a period that saw the NASDAQ go from 2169 to 2495.
I happen to own MLNX. I bought some at the end of March for $23.76. The stock took a huge hit in July, dropping from $25 to $15, based on a negative earning surprise (no one buying super-computers?). As a contrarian, I doubled down on my position at $16.42. The stock has recovered to $24.19 yesterday so I am up 20% on the position overall.
So nothing in these numbers indicates a huge and sudden interest in super-computing. But I’ll certainly add CRAY to my watch list and see if the numbers start to move.
Hell, it’s beginning to look like NVDA might be the stock to watch if you think super-computing will take off!
PS: When I used to collect photo monographs, my favorite work by Lee Friedlander was ‘Cray at Chippewa Falls’, commissioned by Cray as an in-house publication celebrating the 15th anniversary of Cray Research and never sold to the public. Unbeknownst to Friedlander, Cray also did a 4-page ‘preview’ print run. When I attended a Friedlander signing at a gallery some years ago, and presented both for signature, it was the first time he was aware of the ‘preview’ publication. That was pretty cool.
I could change it to “Brown-skinned Christmas”! Ha!