Smaller and Faster: The Cray-2

For many supercomputers, swifter meant bigger. But the Cray-2 supercomputer, though smaller than the Cray-1, ran 12 times faster. It computed in one second what would have taken ENIAC several months.

The Cray-2 took nine years to develop. Released in 1985, each of the 27 made sold for between $12M and $17M.