Which Super Computer is the Most Expensive Ever?

July 7, 2015

Have you ever wondered which super computers are the most expensive? What can the most expensive computers do that normal computers can’t? What makes them so expensive? The first supercomputer dates back to the 60s and was known as the Atlas. It was found at Manchester University and is actually less powerful than desktop computers you’d find in homes today.

Technology gets better all of the time and every five years, supercomputers of today become almost obsolete. A supercomputer is measured in PetaFLOPS which is a processing speed equal to a million billion floating point operations per second made for really advanced needs like stimulating brain activity, forecasting global weather and security needs. Here is a look at the most expensive and what they can do that your computer can’t.

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The Trinity, a United States Supercomputer

The $174 million Trinity supercomputer should probably cost more for all of the things it can do. It’s not even the newest and strongest technology putting it at a reduced cost than what you’d expect. This machine was built for the US government by Cray and known as the Cray XC supercomputer.

It also contains a storage system for the National Nuclear Security Administration giving it the name Trinity. It’s been used to keep America’s nuclear arsenal safe, secure and effective. It’s going to be used to run the nation’s nuclear arsenal which means it’s the way that the US could deploy nukes in combat situations.

The Sierra and Summit

This $325 million United States supercomputer is the workings of Nvidia and IBM used to help America reclaim the top spot in supercomputer speeds, scientific research, technological breakthroughs and national security. It’s actually two supercomputers built using IBM Power Servers and Nvidia Tesla GPU accelerators to be known as Sierra and Summit. It’s going to be installed in 2017 and used to ensure safety and effectiveness of the nation’s nuclear program.

In addition to these supercomputers, the Chinese “Tianhe” is a $390 million computer and also the fastest current supercomputer while the Japanese “Earth Simulator” is a $500 million supercomputer built to run global climate models and evaluate global warming effects. The most expensive supercomputer? That would be the Japanese “Fujitsu K,” a $1.2 billion supercomputer and the fourth fastest in the world.