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The gravitational N-body problem has many applications over a wide range of research fields, including informatics, computational science and astronomy. The proposed setup is particularly interesting for a computational science application due to its setup inhomogeneity. This poses interesting challenges related to parallelization and to the ways in which different numerical techniques are combined. The software development and ultimate setup is driven by astronomical questions. These are related to the dynamical evolution of dense stellar systems. These simulations require a wide range of numerical solvers, including the N-body problem, stellar evolution, gas and hydro dynamics. The intended application for which this machine is built therefore has an astronomical origin. The design will be used for modeling the evolution of dense star clusters and galactic nuclei, including stellar evolution and the external influence of the Galaxy.