World's most powerful supercomp operational

Novo-G got the first part of its name from the Latin term for “make anew, change, alter,” and the second from “G” for “genesis.”

The supercomputer is “reconfigurable,” which means it can rearrange its internal circuitry like Lego blocks, creating the most appropriate architecture for each assignment.

As a result, a reconfigurable computer is 10 to 100 times faster than other traditional and special-purpose computers while using five to 10 times less energy, ScienceDaily reported.

Traditional computers use so-called “fixed logic devices” to perform a large variety of tasks.

But this jack-of-all-trades approach requires a substantial amount of overhead in space and energy, no matter what work needs to be done.

On the other hand, special-purpose computers can be built to perform certain tasks very well but are not flexible.

Reconfigurable computers make the best of both worlds, Alan George, professor of electrical and computer engineering and director of UF’s National Science Foundation (NSF) Center for High-Performance Reconfigurable Computing, said.