This is type of system is aimed at applications that require a high degree of parallelization, such as visualizations, seismic studies, biomedical research and product design, among others. Nvidia released a software development kit about a year ago so independent software developers could build applications to run on the new system.

In September, a Windows HPC server machine, the CX1, . The CX1 cost about $25,000.

"Graphics is the ultimate parallel computing application," said Andy Keane, the general manager of Telsa Computing Products. Keane demonstrated the system on the trade show floor.

The computing ability the Telsa offers is typically available to most users through the use of a cluster or some shared-computing resource.

Just what constitutes a supercomputer remains a rapidly moving target, with the fastest defined by the Top500 list maintained by academics in the U.S. and Europe. The Nvidia personal supercomputer would have been ranked among the top 20 fastest systems just five years ago, but it isn't fast enough to make the most recent list. The 500th ranked system is rated at about 12.6 teraflops.