In a world where quad-core computers are currently the norm, and eight-core processors available for purchase are somewhat rare, computers with more cores might a little unimaginable. A team at Stanford has dwarfed that rare eight-core processor by using a supercomputer that employs over one million cores to solve a complex problem.

The supercomputer, IBM’s Blue Gene/Q Sequoia, is located at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), and sports 1,572,864 cores, not to forget its 1.6 petabytes of memory — a far cry from the MacBook Pro’s Intel Core i7 quad-core processors. Sequoia isn’t used for multi-playing a lot of MMO alts (unfortunately), as a team at Stanford Engineering’s Center for Turbulence Research (CTR) used the supercomputer’s massive amount of processors to prove that million-core fluid dynamics simulations are possible. These kinds of simulations can help researchers discover how to build quieter aircraft engines.

The computational data gathered using the supercomputer is vital in helping researchers cut down on aircraft noise, as researchers can’t exactly stick their heads inside a jet engine to see what’s going on in there while it’s in use. Director of the Center for Turbulence Research, Parviz Moin, noted that thanks to supercomputers with an enormous amount of cores, “only recently… have engineers been able to model jet engines and the noise they produce with accuracy and speed.”

In terms of how the supercomputer performs the computations, it’s similar to any standard computer with multiple cores: Each piece of the complex math is broken down, delivered to various cores, and computed. The more cores the computer has available, the more math can be simultaneously processed. Interestingly, when a computer reaches a certain number of cores — previously set at around one million — something of a processing bottleneck would manifest. Too many cores pumping out information would create a blockage, so to speak. Led by Joseph Nichols, researcher at the CTR, a team was able to refine the processes and code — dubbed CharLES — enough to bypass the bottleneck (and whatever other problems may have arisen), and put those 1,572,864 cores to worthwhile computational use. (See: Exascale supercomputer hardware is easy – it’s the software that’s holding us back)

To put the supercomputer’s massive amount of cores into perspective, the $999 MacBook Air comes with a dual-core processor. Newegg only has five eight-core processors, six six-cores, and 38 quad-cores currently available for purchase.

Along with aircraft noise simulations, the CharLES code is being used to spruce up other areas of aircraft, such as to simulate turbulent flow over a wing, and propulsion systems used in hypersonic flight. Basically, without the supercomputer’s ability to run such staggeringly complex simulations, researchers couldn’t really examine and test certain complicated theories. One day, perhaps this research will help people living near an airport not get woken up by the constant roar of engines overnight.

Now read: The history of supercomputers