The US Air Force used 1,716 PlayStation 3 consoles to build a supercomputer
Published on Feb 03, 2026 at 2:14 PM (UTC+4)
by Grace Donohoe
Last updated on Feb 03, 2026 at 2:14 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Emma Matthews
When it comes to getting things done with tech systems, the US Air Force has lots going on behind the scenes, including using PlayStation 3 consoles to build a supercomputer.
The project was launched in 2010 and lasted for around five years, helping the force to complete tasks.
From filling in blanks to thinking for itself, the supercomputer was impressive.
The most shocking element, though? Consoles, once used to play games on, were completing top tasks with ease.
VISIT SBX CARS – View live supercar auctions powered by Supercar Blondie
PlayStation 3 consoles made the US Air Force a supercomputer
When it comes to advancing tech, game consoles are often some of the first products to benefit from it.
Using just PlayStation 3 consoles, the US Air Force made a supercomputer, which is more widely known as the Condor Cluster.
It all came to life at the Air Force Research Laboratory and was created by Mark Barnell.
But, there weren’t just a few consoles involved; the US Air Force website states that 1,716 Sony PlayStation 3 game consoles were used, in partnership with other ‘off-the-shelf commercial components’.
The supercomputer made from PlayStation 3 consoles was able to compute operations in teraflops, which means ‘by trillions per second’.
Click the star icon next to supercarblondie.com in Google Search to stay ahead of the curve on the latest and greatest supercars, hypercars, and ground-breaking technology
The machine had tasks to complete for the US
Despite what you may imagine, the supercomputer wasn’t actually made to dominate the top spot in the PC world.
Instead, it was made for more specific tasks, and cost $2 million to build, with others on the same level costing all the way from $50 million up to $80 million.
The supercomputer was instead programmed to read symbols and letters, and even think on its own.
With the ability to read 20 pages of information per second and to even recover words, the computer was set to help the US in ways like never before.
Reportedly, it could analyze high-res images at an impressive speed and even identify objects moving through space, too.
“We have quite a few research and development efforts, working on those kinds of applications to do confabulation and prediction.
“That will open up a variety of areas which could help a lot of other efforts and a lot of the areas in which the Air Force would like to go,” said Mark Barnell.
At the time, the computer was dubbed as the 35th of the 36 the fastest computers in the world, with the hope to boost it up to 20th position.
Unforutnatley the project ended in 2015, but you have to admit, it was a clever way to use the PlayStation 3 consoles.
DISCOVER SBX CARS: The global premium car auction platform powered by Supercar Blondie
Beginning her career as a lifestyle reporter and social-media manager, Grace joined Supercar Blondie in February 2025. Since coming on board, she has thrown herself into the busy daily writing schedule. Her editorial sweet spots include writing about luxury properties and the quirky features inside them that the one percent are investing in, as well as groundbreaking advancements in space exploration.
