MAINGEAR Launches SHIFT “Supercomputer” with GPGPU Focus

Given that we at Techgage are so acutely focused on system components and personal PC building, we rarely ever post about pre-built machines. But, every so often such a machine will grab me by the shirt and force me to read what it’s all about. One such computer was released yesterday, by MAINGEAR. Called “SHIFT”, the company states it as being a “personal supercomputer” (this term is severely overused as far as I’m concerned), but how it comes to such a conclusion is what’s interesting.

Years ago, when you heard the word “supercomputer”, you’d picture a huge room dedicated to some massive machine, with hundreds, or even thousands, of individual motherboards and processors. With the advent of general-purpose GPU, companies like NVIDIA have been using the “personal supercomputer” term to describe what kind of power their products are capable of delivering. As we’ve seen in the past in our news section and site content, if an application or scenario is able to take proper advantage of the GPU pipeline, then performance can experience a major boost.

When MAINGEAR calls the SHIFT a “supercomputer”, it’s referring to just that… the GPGPU possibilities. Though it’s been NVIDIA up to this point to push both GPGPU and “personal supercomputer” as a whole, MAINGEAR doesn’t shun ATI, and it’s actually the first choice in the configurations for SHIFT that I’ve looked at (appropriately, the HD 5000-series is the default choice). With companies such as MAINGEAR pushing its products as supercomputers, it’s a wonder how much longer the GPGPU scheme of things will take to become more of an integral part of our lives. So far, GPGPU focuses primarily on video, so I think we need to see a far wider range of possibilities before the layman computer user will begin to care.

Regarding the actual product at hand, though, the SHIFT is easily one of the best-looking computers I’ve ever seen. I favor clean, professional designs for any chassis I use, and the one used for SHIFT is built from the ground up with that, and also ease-of-use and superb airflow in mind. Proof of the last part is the 90° position of the motherboard. Rather than have the GPUs and back chassis fan sit at the back, which is common, they’re all faced to blow air up through the top. Given that hot air rises, this makes perfect sense.

You can read a lot more about what makes the SHIFT unique at the link below.

SHIFT uses the natural behavior of heat as an advantage – by rotating the internal components of the PC so that all heat is radiated through the top vents and cool air is drawn in from the bottom, SHIFT can harness the most powerful hardware on the planet with ease. Heat is the enemy of electronic components, and hot-running components are more prone to failure. Large, slow moving fans assist with the airflow and are virtually silent, and also feature removable, washable air filters. Generous, inconspicuous ventilation grates and inlets allow for ample airflow without taking away from the design aesthetics of the SHIFT chassis.