A historically significant supercomputer has gone up for auction. The first Cray T3D ever produced, serial number 6001, was recently listed by The Saleroom with opening bids from £60,000 (~$81,000) invited. This T3D has quite some provenance, having been Cray’s internal development machine and then installed at Edinburgh University, earning the moniker the Typhoon. Moreover, the TOP500 list ranked the Typhoon as the fastest supercomputer in Europe in June 1996.
The Cray TD3 marked a significant shift in the supercomputer pioneer’s performance strategy. “As the inaugural machine of the T3D series, it represents a defining step in Cray’s move from traditional vector systems into the era of massively parallel supercomputing,” explain the auction notes. For enthusiasts and collectors it also “stands as a museum-grade survival of exceptional importance.”
Inside the stylish H193cm x W117cm x D193cm (over 6ft tall) ‘Tomato Red’ chassis pictured is a single-cabinet Cray T3D-MC512, equipped with 512 DEC Alpha 21064 150 MHz compute processors, according to the listing. Cooling this beastly throng is Fluorinert liquid-based. This auction lot includes the main cabinet and HEU first-stage cooling system (also over 6ft tall and weighing 0.85 tons).
The reserve / starting price of ~$81,000 is a big ask for this type of machine, as its size and weight will limit the appeal among enthusiasts. We note that, at the time of writing, there are no bids yet and just 10 watchers (auction ends May 31). The Saleroom appears to be framing the Typhoon as a bargain, though, mentioning examples like this would have originally cost $15M when new.
Two other Cray supercomputers are being auctioned at the same time as this TD3. On the listing source page you will also see that auctions for a Cray Triton T-932 Supercomputer and a Cray Y-MP4E Supercomputer are ongoing and scheduled to end on May 31.
