A method for using a system to compute a solution to a partial differential equation (PDE) broadly comprises the steps of determining the true accuracy required (TAR) to solve the PDE, determining an architecture according to the TAR that performs a plurality of calculations to solve the PDE, determining a time allowed (TA) and a time required (TR) based on the architecture to solve the PDE, rejecting the PDE if the TR is less than or equal to the TA, configuring a plurality of programmable devices with the architecture, initiating the calculations, and ceasing the calculations when an accuracy criteria is met or when the TA expires. The system broadly comprises a plurality of programmable devices, a plurality of storage elements, a device bus, a plurality of printed circuit (PC) boards, and a board to board bus.