Key Takeaways
- Own a piece of supercomputing history – bid on the decommissioned Cheyenne system until May 3
- Don’t expect free shipping – the winner must hire professional movers to transport the massive computer.
- Cheyenne’s specs may not be cutting-edge, but its performance was impressive during its time.
If you’ve ever wanted to own a supercomputer, now’s going to be your chance. The US General Services Administration is holding an auction for its decommissioned Cheyenne supercomputer that was installed back in 2016. The system was an absolute beast when it debuted and was the 20th most powered PC in the world at the time.
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While it was meant to be replaced some years back, the pandemic caused supply issues, which delayed the supercomputer’s successor. With that said, it’s now time for Cheyenne to get a new home, which makes it the perfect chance to own this piece of history. The auction is now live with an end date set for May 3.
No free shipping free
The folks at Ars Technica spotted the auction being held on the US General Services Administration website and, as you can imagine, this isn’t going to be your typical eBay auction with free shipping included. Instead, whoever wins the behemoth of a computer will be required to hire a professional moving company to take care of pick-up and delivery.
If you’re at least a little serious about picking up this beauty, it’s going to be a good idea to review the supplied documentation to see what’s in store when it comes to pick up. So, if you plan on making a bid, be sure to keep that cost in mind, as it sounds like it can add up to a pretty hefty sum.
When it comes to the specifications of the device, you’re looking at 8,064 processor units, with a total core count that sits at a whopping 145,152. These are all housed in 28 water-cooled rack units, which are managed by 224 switches. This is a 5.34-petaflops system which has done quite a bit of processing during its time with over 7 billion core-hours delivered.
Of course, this is nowhere near as powerful as what we are seeing today. Nvidia’s latest Grace Hopper GH200 chip delivers a staggering 16 petaflops of power, which is roughly three times what Cheyenne did at its peak. Of course, there are also some examples from Intel that also deliver some staggering numbers as well. Regardless, for its time, Cheyenne was an absolute beast and performed its job well.
Now, as far as issues go, there are some, with the website listing “faulty quick disconnects,” which seems like it could be a headache to repair. At the time of writing, the auction has fetched a little over $31,000, and will no doubt keep rising higher as the closing date draws nearer. Again, the closing date for the auction is set for May 3, so get your bid in before then if you’re serious.