US Air Force to buy 2200 PS3 units

By Ellie Gibson Published 24 November, 2009

For crazy supercomputing research.

The US Air Force is fast becoming one of Sony's most loyal customers with plans to purchase 2200 PS3 consoles.

That's according to a Government document (spotted by Information Week) stating the consoles will be for use by the Air Force Research Laboratory in Rome, New York.

The lab uses PS3s to carry out supercomputing research and already has 336 of them. Scientists are trying to find out if technology which makes use of the Cell processor could be used for military purposes. They use the consoles for multiple radar image and high-def video processing, plus research into "neuromorphic computing" - building computers which act like real brains. AAAAA.

The Department of Defense initially signed off $118,000 for this research, but a further $2 million was set aside in June. Enough change for a few copies of Uncharted, then.

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (24) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Olemak #1 2 years ago

    Will they sell these consoles at street price? Since the attach rate for them will be nil, then this is a pretty bad deal for Sony unless they charge a premium. Something I dont quite see how they might get away with.

    They should do a server blade version of the PS3;there seems to be a demand for it.

  • GreyBeard #2 2 years ago

    Well, they'll almost certainly be test kits for flexibility, which are a lot more expensive than stock PS3's so Sony will make decent bank off that.

  • Xerx3s #3 2 years ago

    Olemak: Even if they sell them at a loss and don't make money on games, it's still a win for sony. Every unit sold is one more unit produced. Every unit produced is to have the ability to drive costs down.

  • Doctor_What #4 2 years ago

    Skynet was made by Sony! I knew it!

  • miiiguel #5 2 years ago

    What are you talking about 2200?! This serves, if much for publicity, 2200 is completly irrelevant, at loss or profit.

  • RandomTerrain #6 2 years ago

    So the real reason isn't for one huge LAN game of Modern Warfare 2?
    I just thought the timing and everything...
    Oh, you think I'm jesting? :D

  • StooMonster #7 2 years ago

    PR PR PR.

    Firstly, they cannot use new PS3 to run Linux; so why would they buy them, unless to play games or Blu-ray movies. :)

    Secondly, they would be far better off buying CUDA kit from Nvidia. For example the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) has just built a supercomputer consists of 28 Dual Xeon E5462 Compute Nodes for a total of 1024 2.8GHz compute cores plus 64 Tesla S1070 modules which means 256 GPUs with a total of 61,440 streaming processor cores.

    2200 cells only has 13,200 (usable) SPE.

    Much rather have one of these http://ww w.nvidia.co.uk/page/tesla_compu...

  • DutchDemons #8 2 years ago

    couldn't they just phone Sony and ask for custom made CELL processors at a decent price?

    That's just as effective, PR wise, and a lot less retarded than the story as it is.

  • Skurmedel #9 2 years ago

    Who knows what they are going to do with it. I don't think they are looking for the best way to build a supercomputer with CELL chips. Maybe the fact the PS3 is a console and consumer end is part of the research.
    Edited by 1 at 24/11/09 @ 09:46

  • davisorle #10 2 years ago

    @StooMonster

    Tell me about it.. Its freaking rediculous. And indeed for starters they would need the older versions that can run linux, yet all the "researches" started when Linux was not compatible with PS3 anymore and after the slim version... I just dont get it.

  • lockload #11 2 years ago

    I hope they are not buying slims as the other os function is no more

  • laudy #12 2 years ago

    "Firstly, they cannot use new PS3 to run Linux; so why would they buy them, unless to play games or Blu-ray movies. :)"

    Assuming they are purchasing new ones, I'm sure they've done their research before deciding to purchase them...perhaps all they want are PS3's for their Barracks? But then why would they release a news story about supercomputing? I don't give a shit what the US Air Force want them for so any smoke and mirrors would be totally unnecessary, imo.

  • penhalion #13 2 years ago

    Like everyone else here. I don't believe this for a second. The PS3 slim doesn't run linux and sony don't make the phat version anymore. Using CUDA would be faster and a heck of a lot more cost effective, given that the kit can be used for a lot of other simulations.

    Sounds like this is a covert way to buy the troops a few thousand PS3s to play with for christmas (something I approve of by the way). Maybe this is the only way to get the christmas order through requisitions.

  • dominalien #14 2 years ago

    That's... pretty random. Even if Sony makes a custom slim which can run Linux.

    Sounds like this is a covert way to buy the troops a few thousand PS3s to play with for christmas (something I approve of by the way). Maybe this is the only way to get the christmas order through requisitions.

    Shouldn't they rather buy X360s? Domestic company and all that.

  • MeBrains #15 2 years ago

    lord: ibm just announced that they'll stop development of the cell architecture. parts of it will live on, but the CPU in itself will be no more.

    [link url=http://arstechnica.com/hardware/ne ws/2009/11/end-of-the-line-for-ibms-cell.ars
    ]http://ar stechnica.com/hardware/news/200...[/link]

  • nasanu #16 2 years ago

    Wow fanboys ahoy. There was a similar article on here the other day and you are all screaming pr bullshit!!!! Now there is this with government docs to go along with it and you are still at it. What is so scary in your minds about the PS3 being cheap and powerful?

  • Gurgeh #17 2 years ago

    @nasanu

    Read the link in the comment above you. The Cell processor is being killed off.

    " IBM's decision to call it quits on the line confirms suspicions that Cell's overall commercial success has been limited, and there will be a number of cheaper, higher-performance, more widely supported alternatives to the processor starting in 2010"

  • secombe #18 2 years ago

    I love the fact that people think they are ordering 2200 PS3s without doing a bit of research first. I imagine they will be custom units modified to whatever spec is required.

  • BlueHaze_Sean #19 2 years ago

    They are not buying slims

    The versions they are after are the 160gig Models CECHP01 or 989038.

    "The contractor shall provide the following items on a Firm Fixed Price basis:

    Item 1: Sony Playstation 3 (160 GB Version)
    Model/ Part Number: CECHP01 or 989038
    UPC: 711719803805
    QTY: 2,200"
    Edited by 2 at 24/11/09 @ 16:34

  • laudy #20 2 years ago

    @ secombe

    I completely agree. It's not as if they walked into JC Penney's and just took them off the shelf, but hey ho, it MUST be bullshit.

  • solidSnake04 #21 2 years ago

    one day the cell is out of the water next day there someone somewhere that wants to put it to good use.

  • Twin_snakes #22 2 years ago

    Why would the US airforce do PR for sony?

  • electrolite #23 2 years ago

    Didn't Saddam buy a load of PS2 Emoshunenjun supercomputah's to powwer his missiles back in 2000?

  • electrolite #24 2 years ago

    Yes. Yes he did

    http://ww w.theregister.co.uk/2000/12/19/...