<p>The Los Alamos National Laboratory has pulled the plug on the IBM-built supercomputer Roadrunner after just five years of service as it has become too much of a power hog.</p><p>The Roadrunner was the first supercomputer in the world to be able to handle one million billion calculations per second (petaflop). Back in June 2008, it was the fastest supercomputer. Five years later, it still held the number 22 spot on March 31, 2013, the day it was taken offline.</p><p>To achieve petaflop computing speeds, IBM combined two kinds of processors into one machine a strategy that was unheard of at the time. The Roadrunner was powered by 6,563 dual-core processors from AMD, each of which were linked to a special graphics processor (PowerXCell 8i) that was originally designed for the Sony PlayStation 3, but tweaked for scientific computing.</p><p>The Roadrunner's hybrid architecture was revolutionary. "[It] got everyone thinking in new ways about how to build and use a supercomputer," said Gary Grider from the laboratory's High Performance Computing Division. "Specialized processors are being included in new ways on new systems, and being used in novel ways. Our demonstration with Roadrunner caused everyone to pay attention."</p><p><a href="http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/ibms-roadrunner-supercomputer-hits-early-retirement/">Keep reading...</a></p><p>Read also:</p><p><a href="http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/viewart/20130331/BUSINESS/303300045/ICYMI-Poughkeepsie-built-IBM-Roadrunner-retired">ICYMI: Poughkeepsie-built IBM Roadrunner to be retired</a> (Poughkeepsie Journal)</p><p><a href="http://www.eweek.com/servers/ibms-roadrunner-supercomputer-is-retired/">IBM's Roadrunner Supercomputer Is Retired</a> (eWeek)</p><p><a href="http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/31/ibm-roadrunner-retires-from-the-supercomputer-race/">IBM Roadrunner retires from the supercomputer race</a> (Engadget)</p><p>Explore: <a href="http://news.google.com/news/more?ncl=de_WPC5HICdBsZMqRmq6iJra3BKaM&ned=us">47 additional articles.</a></p>
