Skip to main content

Nvidia’s mini supercomputer is the fastest single computer humanity has built

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Nvidia has laid claim to building the “fastest single computer humanity has ever created,” by linking up 16 of its Volta-generation Tesla V100 graphics cards in a fashion that lets them operate as a singular unit. The Nvidia NVSwitch interconnect technology that facilitates it gives the sum of the whole two petaflops of computing power.

Recommended Videos

Unsurprisingly considering the new focus Nvidia has on artificial intelligence and data processing in recent years, this new HGX-2 GPU server is designed to aid those industries. With a half-terabyte of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) it is said to be capable of replacing as many as 300 CPU-driven servers on its own, offering a much more powerful and compact computing solution for data-driven tasks.

This is made possible through the combination of the 16 Tesla V100 graphics chips, which Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang claimed can “talk to every one of the GPUs simultaneously at a bandwidth of 300 GB/s, 10 times PCI Express, so everyone can talk to each other all at the same time,” per TechRadar.

But this GPU-driven powerhouse is just the beginning. Although incredibly capable in its own right, it could simply act as the basis for even more powerful arrays of graphics card processing systems.

“With the HGX-2 server building block, we’ll be able to quickly develop new systems that can meet the growing needs of our customers who demand the highest performance at scale,”  Lenovo’s vice president and general manager Paul Ju said.

This news was announced at Nvidia’s own GPU Technology Conference in Taiwan and comes just a week ahead of the larger Computex show which will no doubt bring more news of Nvidia hardware developments. However, as exciting as it is, it will not be of much use to Nvidia fans who are clamoring to learn more about its next-generation graphics cards. We still don’t know if they will be Turing, or Volta based, or be called 1100 or 2000-series cards. What seems likely though, is that they will be very powerful.

Considering it’s been two years since Nvidia released its last-generation graphics cards and prices have been rather crazy since then, we would certainly hope so.

Jon Martindale
Jon Martindale is a freelance evergreen writer and occasional section coordinator, covering how to guides, best-of lists, and…
GPUs are too expensive: how to buy a graphics card right now
The RTX 5080 sitting on a pink background.

It's like it's 2021 all over again. The prices of the best graphics cards are through the roof, and frankly, even the worst GPUs we've seen in the last few years are expensive. Every single card from the current generation is selling well above the recommended list price (MSRP), and unfortunately, what little remains of the previous gens is pricey, too.

If you're struggling to buy a GPU right now, I can relate. I've been through this myself in the last cryptocurrency mining-fueled GPU shortage when my old GTX 1060 was on its last legs and I was desperate to snag a new card. Here's what's happening right now and what you can do to still buy a graphics card right now.
New report says the MSRP is pretty much dead

Read more
Prices of Nvidia’s best GPU rise by up to $500 – what it means for you
RTX 5090 vs 4090.

It seems that we're not destined to have some of the best graphics cards at reasonable prices -- at least not just yet. Now, even a manufacturer that was previously known as budget-friendly is racking up the prices in its own online store. The Nvidia partner in question is Zotac, and not only did the company raise the prices of the RTX 5090, but it also removed the card that was previously sold at MSRP.

As spotted by a Reddit user in the r/Nvidia community, the prices of Zotac's versions of the RTX 5090 went up by a whole lot. The flagship card, the Zotac RTX 5090 Amp Extreme Infinity, costs a whopping $3,000. (It should come as no surprise that it's currently sold out, though.)

Read more
Nvidia may finally let gamers buy some GPUs at a reasonable price
Logo on the RTX 4060 Ti graphics card.

Nvidia's getting ready to expand its list of the best graphics cards soon, and thanks to leakers, we now have a rumored date for when these new GPUs might hit the shelves. The date is not the part that excites me the most, though. According to the leak, Nvidia will require that its add-in channel (AIC) partners will have to offer at least one model at the recommended list price (MSRP) -- something we desperately need right now. But how long will it last?

The scoop comes from HKEPC, a Hong Kong-based publication. According to HKEPC, Nvidia revealed the release dates for the RTX 5060 Ti 16GB, RTX 5060 Ti 8GB, and the RTX 5060 (which will likely come with 8GB VRAM, although some sources say 12GB). Keep in mind that the following is still a rumor until Nvidia itself confirms otherwise, which, by the sound of it, won't happen for a while.

Read more