This article is misleading: The cards are already “AI accelerators” they just come in monstrous sizes and coolers that aren’t suitable for cramming more than one into a computer (server) case.
What the Chinese chop shops are doing is removing the components and resoldering them on to smaller PCBs and putting on smaller (but more powerful and jet-engine loud) exhaust-style coolers.
Basically it’s just old fashioned harvesting and re-using of PCB components. A common thing during the shortages of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Btw, about the
smaller (but more powerful and jet-engine loud) exhaust-style coolers.
Why not make double-sided racks with fans twice the size, higher cooling efficiency?
Not sure exactly what you’re asking, but usually servers are built in a way that several units can be stacked on top of each other in a rack, which makes it important that air comes in from the front and exits from the back. The smaller coolers then allow you to cram more GPUs next to each other since the higher heat density won’t matter due to the airflow speed inside the case.
Reminds me of when Iraq supposedly imported thousands of PS2s to make a supercomputer.
https://www.ign.com/articles/2000/12/20/iraq-scores-hordes-of-ps2s-at-us-gamers-expense
Maybe this is why it was so easy to get a PS2 in iraq. That’s crazy, 20 years later and mystery solved for me.
There’s also the one with ps3, which is more suitable because ps3’s cpu is a supercomputer one
Would explain why the Air Force used PS3s, can’t be behind the tech curve!
It made sense. There were also university CS departments doing the same thing. The Cell processor in the PS3 was pretty damn powerful for the price at the time.
and iirc, it had Linux support, so it was perfect because Sony was selling the hardware at a loss to sell more units and consequently sell more games.
when people started buying ps3s to install Linux, Sony made a firmware update to block this.
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