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

[David Waybright]

It's already been proven on LTT that if anyone trys to use this system the repairs, PM, up keep, power, and all other expenses to run it makes it useless compared to todays tech!

It's only worth parting out unless the damage has turned it into scrap!

Sadly I fear when the hardware goes on ebay because no one will know whether it might have been damaged and that shear volume of hardware on ebay at one time will make the prices drop HARD!

Thanks,


David Eugene Waybright
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Today's Topics:

   1.  47-Ton Cheyenne Supercomputer Sold To Mystery Buyer For
      $480, 000 (Herbert Johnson)


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Sat, 11 May 2024 11:22:43 -0400
From: Herbert Johnson <hjohnson at retrotechnology.info>
To: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic at lists.vcfed.org>
Subject: [vcf-midatlantic] 47-Ton Cheyenne Supercomputer Sold To
        Mystery Buyer For $480, 000
Message-ID:
        <081ed6c2-fc30-4cee-8187-b304dab4d347 at retrotechnology.info>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed

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


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