[vcf-midatlantic] 47-Ton Cheyenne Supercomputer Sold To Mystery Buyer For $480, 000

[Herbert Johnson]

There's speculation about what might be done with this computer, what it 
costs to run, value of parts. Consider how *massive* this system is, 
running costs, maintenance. Plumbing - pipes with fluids to every board 
- is a serious problem, it's literally leaking. Seven year old 
processors and RAM have some value, but thousands of them? storage? 
transaction costs?

Either junking or reuse, is a business proposition that needs like a 
million dollars capitalization (half to buy, the rest to fund removal & 
storage and reinstallation, pay for the first month of operation, or 
months of storage for resale, costs like those).

I found two resources online which are informative (doesn't mean every 
post is fact-based).

https://cowboystatedaily.com/2024/05/07/cheyenne-supercomputer-sold-to-mystery-buyer-for-480-000/

The local newspaper has some thoughtful considerations. Actual 
reportage! How about that.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40197277

This is pretty informative, posts from people who actually deinstalled 
and or run computers or parted-out computers of this class.

Since the universe of bidders was small, what some winner might do is 
hard to predict. Doesn't seem like the sale price was for parting-out, 
more like for reuse where electricity and labor is cheaper. But anyone 
with a million dollar budget could have bought this for any oddball 
reason. Oddball at scale is entirely possible. Word will likely emerge.

Regards Herb Johnson


-- 
Herbert R. Johnson, New Jersey USA
https://www.retrotechnology.com OR .net
preserve, recover, restore 1970's computing
email: hjohnson AT retrotechnology DOT com
or try later herbjohnson AT comcast DOT net