A Cray-1 supercomputer replica from 30 "obsolete" Mac Minis
Summary
A computer history museum in Spain built a full-size replica of the 1976 Cray-1 supercomputer using 30 old Mac Mini computers from 2012 and 2014. This cluster of Mac Minis works together to perform calculations much faster than the original machine and uses a quiet, natural cooling system.Key Facts
- The replica is a 1:1 size visual copy of the Cray-1 supercomputer from 1976.
- The project took 18 months and uses 30 Mac Minis from 2012 and 2014 models.
- The combined performance of the Mac Mini cluster is about 1.3 teraflops (trillion operations per second).
- The original Cray-1's peak performance was about 160 megaflops (million operations per second).
- The cluster runs on macOS Mojave and uses MPI (Message Passing Interface) to share tasks between Macs.
- The Macs are mounted vertically in a steel and aluminum frame that cools the system quietly using natural air flow.
- The only noise comes from network switches, which the museum plans to replace with silent versions.
- Visitors can watch the system run matrix calculations in real time to see how the cluster works.
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