Cray-1 Casemod Runs Way Faster Than the Original

July 31st, 2010 by: Technabob

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While Cray Research may have only sold about eighty of it’s monstrous Cray-1 supercomputers back in the 1970s, its unusual hexadecagon design made it one of the most iconic computer systems of all time. So it was only a matter of time before somebody would do a Cray-1 inspired casemod.

Lovingly crafted by modder Daryl Brach, this Cray-1 mod is built primarily out of plywood. Daryl’s version measures in at just 25.6-inches tall, making it a 1/3rd scale model of the original 77-inch tall, 5.5 ton Cray-1. The mini version even has the padded seats around the outside of the computer like the original.

In place of the Cray-1′s 200,000 integrated circuits, 60 miles of wire, and prehistoric computing brains running at a whopping 80MHz, the new version sports a pair of modern PCs in the base, which certainly blow away the computing muscle of the original Cray-1.

Check out the full build log here.

[via bit-tech.net]