When you think of cutting-edge scientific research, a stack of old gaming consoles probably isn’t the first thing that comes to mind.
But what if those consoles could be repurposed into something far more powerful than just playing Call of Duty?
That’s exactly what Guarav Khanna, a black hole physicist at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, did—turning PlayStation 3 consoles into a low-cost supercomputer to study gravitational waves.
From Gaming to Groundbreaking Science
Supercomputers are essential for modeling complex astrophysical events, such as the collision of black holes, but they come at an astronomical cost—often reaching millions of dollars.
Faced with budget constraints, Khanna devised an unconventional solution: he linked together multiple PS3 consoles to create a makeshift supercomputer capable of crunching vast amounts of data.
“Science has become expensive,” Khanna told The New York Times.
“There’s simply not that much money going around, either at the university or the federal level.
Supercomputing allows scientists to make up for the resources they don’t have.”
By 2009, Khanna had built his first PlayStation-based supercomputer using 16 PS3 consoles, with some donated by Sony.
Running on Linux, this DIY system accelerated calculations nearly tenfold compared to a standard desktop computer, allowing Khanna to model the elusive gravitational waves predicted by Einstein’s theory of relativity.
The Unexpected Power of PlayStation 3
The PlayStation 3 wasn’t just a random choice for this experiment.
Unlike many other gaming consoles, the PS3 allowed users to install custom operating systems—making it an attractive option for researchers.
Additionally, it was powered by the Cell Broadband Engine, a processor that, when networked with others, could deliver impressive performance.
Khanna published his findings in the Journal of Parallel and Distributed Computing Systems in 2009, demonstrating that his unconventional approach wasn’t just a gimmick—it was a game-changing method for conducting advanced research on a budget.
A Supercomputer That Caught the Attention of the U.S. Military
Khanna’s work soon attracted the attention of an unexpected player: the United States Air Force.
Intrigued by the cost-efficiency of his project, the Air Force Research Laboratory in New York decided to replicate his idea—on a much larger scale.
In 2010, they built their own PlayStation-based supercomputer, this time using 1,760 PS3 consoles to process radar image surveillance.
Their setup, pictured below, became one of the most powerful computing systems of its kind at an incredibly low cost compared to traditional supercomputers.
Image Source: U.S. Department of Defense
As a gesture of gratitude, the U.S. Department of Defense donated 176 additional PlayStation 3 consoles to Khanna’s research team, allowing them to expand their system.
The supercomputer, now housed in a refrigerated shipping container originally designed to transport milk, has since grown to rival the power of 3,000 desktop computers—built at a fraction of the cost.
Challenging the Traditional View on Supercomputing
Many researchers assumed that high-powered research required high-cost supercomputers.
But Khanna’s project shattered that notion, proving that with creative problem-solving, cutting-edge science could be conducted on a tight budget.
That said, there were limitations.
While the PS3 processors were powerful, their memory capacity was significantly smaller than conventional supercomputers.
This meant they couldn’t handle certain types of computations that required high memory bandwidth.
However, for tasks such as simulating black hole collisions, they proved more than sufficient.
The Evolution of DIY Supercomputing
While the PlayStation 3 has since been discontinued, Khanna is already thinking ahead. His next project?
Building a supercomputer using high-powered graphics cards (GPUs)—which can deliver even greater performance than the PS3 while remaining cost-effective.
“The next supercomputer we’re going to build will probably be made entirely of these [graphics] cards,” Khanna explained.
“It won’t work for everything, but it will certainly cover a large set of scientific and engineering applications, especially if we keep improving on it.”
With more research institutions looking for budget-friendly solutions, Khanna’s innovative approach may pave the way for a new era of low-cost, high-performance computing.
And who knows?
The next major breakthrough in astrophysics may come not from a billion-dollar lab, but from a stack of old gaming hardware repurposed by a visionary scientist.
A Revolutionary Idea in Scientific Computing
The PlayStation 3 supercomputer isn’t just an example of technological ingenuity—it’s a testament to the power of resourcefulness in science.
Khanna’s work challenges the notion that major breakthroughs require massive funding, proving that innovation often comes from thinking outside the box—or in this case, outside the gaming console.
As the search for gravitational waves and other cosmic mysteries continues, one thing is certain: the future of astrophysics might just be powered by hardware originally built for gaming.
Source: The New York Times
