Cell revealed!

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UNCjigga

UNCjigga

Lifer
Dec 12, 2000
25,594
10,292
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Holy crap!
Read this and check teh pix0rz!!

:Q

Highlights:

- The version expected to power the Playstation 3 has a 221mm² die, uses 234 million transistors and is made using 90nm process technology.
- 8x64-bit floating point processors, referred to as synergistic processor elements (SPEs). - 1x64-bit Power processor capable of running two threads.
- SPEs take 128-bit operands, split into four 32-bit words. Up to 128 operands can be stored in the register file.
- Each 2.5x5.81mm SPE can issue two instructions per cycle to seven execution units using two pipelines. There is no out of order execution. [<- built for streaming media?]
- Element Interconnect Bus (EIB), comprising four 128-bit rings and a 64-bit tag running at half the processor clock ties everything together.
- Busses connect to SPEs through local memory, 256kbyte for each SPE. The developers have tested the memories to 5.4GHz at 1.3V and 52°C.
- There are 15 separate power domains on the chip. Ten digital thermometers monitor the chip at various points to alert the system of thermal problems.

I have no idea what all this means...when will Anand have his preview article up?

**UPDATE**

Other articles have said that the prototype and the version powering PS3 are NOT the same chip! The PS3 Cell will NOT run at 4GHz and will likely have 6 SPEs vs. 8. While 4GHz is theoretically possible, analysts expect PS3's Cell to run between 2-3GHz.
 
SagaLore

SagaLore

Elite Member
Dec 18, 2001
24,036
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I am so glad I waited for the PS3 to come out before buying an entertainment system.

The architecture reminds me of the chip in T2...
 
UNCjigga

UNCjigga

Lifer
Dec 12, 2000
25,594
10,292
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One key thing to note is that aside from memory width, the FPUs are essentially 128bit processors!
 
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Rogue

Banned
Jan 28, 2000
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I still think it will fall far short of it's "paper" expectations, just like the PS2 did. Everyone said the same stuff about the PS2, how it was going to revolutionize computing and everything else and it didn't change squat as far as desktop computing goes like everyone said. They're saying the same thing about this and I'm not buying it.
 
SagaLore

SagaLore

Elite Member
Dec 18, 2001
24,036
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81
Originally posted by: Rogue
I still think it will fall far short of it's "paper" expectations, just like the PS2 did. Everyone said the same stuff about the PS2, how it was going to revolutionize computing and everything else and it didn't change squat as far as desktop computing goes like everyone said. They're saying the same thing about this and I'm not buying it.
Click to expand...

I don't want my entertainment system to revolutionize desktop computing, I just want it to play games well. :confused:
 
Turkish

Turkish

Lifer
May 26, 2003
15,547
1
81
Originally posted by: SagaLore
I am so glad I waited for the PS3 to come out before buying an entertainment system.

The architecture reminds me of the chip in T2...
Click to expand...

You know that the earliest PS3 release is gonna be Q1 2006... so you may as well buy one now....
 
G

Goosemaster

Lifer
Apr 10, 2001
48,775
3
81
Originally posted by: Rogue
I still think it will fall far short of it's "paper" expectations, just like the PS2 did. Everyone said the same stuff about the PS2, how it was going to revolutionize computing and everything else and it didn't change squat as far as desktop computing goes like everyone said. They're saying the same thing about this and I'm not buying it.
Click to expand...

IE...Jaguar;)

That said, it still looks deliciously promising
 

Originally posted by: Rogue
I still think it will fall far short of it's "paper" expectations, just like the PS2 did. Everyone said the same stuff about the PS2, how it was going to revolutionize computing and everything else and it didn't change squat as far as desktop computing goes like everyone said. They're saying the same thing about this and I'm not buying it.
Click to expand...
The Emotion Engine was all hype. Keep in mind that the Cell is not just the PS3's CPU, they are going to use this thing from cell phones to servers. It's IBM, Sony, and Toshiba behind it, not just Sony. Being it looks like a killer CPU, combined that with the Nvidia GPU in the PS3 and I don't see it as just hype.

PS: 8,000th post!
 
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Rogue

Banned
Jan 28, 2000
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0
Unless the developer package is top of the line and easy to use, this will fall short in the PS3. Let's hope that they get their act together with this.
 
O

otispunkmeyer

Lifer
Jun 14, 2003
10,442
0
0
Originally posted by: Rogue
I still think it will fall far short of it's "paper" expectations, just like the PS2 did. Everyone said the same stuff about the PS2, how it was going to revolutionize computing and everything else and it didn't change squat as far as desktop computing goes like everyone said. They're saying the same thing about this and I'm not buying it.
Click to expand...


meh thats probably because bill gates has his tight little fists firmly grasped around the market. computing technology will change as and when he and his windows henchmen want/need it to
 
MrDudeMan

MrDudeMan

Lifer
Jan 15, 2001
15,069
94
91
Originally posted by: dwell
Originally posted by: Rogue
I still think it will fall far short of it's "paper" expectations, just like the PS2 did. Everyone said the same stuff about the PS2, how it was going to revolutionize computing and everything else and it didn't change squat as far as desktop computing goes like everyone said. They're saying the same thing about this and I'm not buying it.
Click to expand...
The Emotion Engine was all hype. Keep in mind that the Cell is not just the PS3's CPU, they are going to use this thing from cell phones to servers. It's IBM, Sony, and Toshiba behind it, not just Sony. Being it looks like a killer CPU, combined that with the Nvidia GPU in the PS3 and I don't see it as just hype.

PS: 8,000th post!
Click to expand...

intel is coming out with a processor that has 24mb of cache and 1.7 billion transistors.
 
ElFenix

ElFenix

Elite Member
Super Moderator
Mar 20, 2000
102,402
8,574
126
more of sony's marketing trying to hype up their machine even if only a bare handful of good games exist for it for more than a year after launch *cough*PS2*cough*
 
UNCjigga

UNCjigga

Lifer
Dec 12, 2000
25,594
10,292
136
Everyone seems to be stuck thinking of Cell as just the PlayStation3 cpu. I agree that if the developer tools aren't up to par and difficult to use like PS2's devkits, Microsoft will blow them away with Xbox2.

HOWEVER, with IBM designing workstations around Cell, and Sony/Toshiba putting them in TVs and other devices, I bet we can see some cool things coming out of this. Imagine a TV that can decode ANY video input, upconvert it to 1080p and play it back with Faroudja-like quality? Imagine not needing a special DVD player to play back the latest version of Divx, Xvid, 3ivx, WMV etc. etc. etc. because the TV can do all that? All you need is a dumb disc reader that can feed content to the TV and the TV takes care of the rest.
 
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RaynorWolfcastle

Diamond Member
Feb 8, 2001
8,968
16
81
Originally posted by: Jigga
HOWEVER, with IBM designing workstations around Cell, and Sony/Toshiba putting them in TVs and other devices, I bet we can see some cool things coming out of this. Imagine a TV that can decode ANY video input, upconvert it to 1080p and play it back with Faroudja-like quality? Imagine not needing a special DVD player to play back the latest version of Divx, Xvid, 3ivx, WMV etc. etc. etc. because the TV can do all that? All you need is a dumb disc reader that can feed content to the TV and the TV takes care of the rest.
Click to expand...
You're not an EE are you?:p All the things you stated are a lot easier said than done (and some are not handled by the CPU, for that matter).
 
UNCjigga

UNCjigga

Lifer
Dec 12, 2000
25,594
10,292
136
Originally posted by: RaynorWolfcastle
Originally posted by: Jigga
HOWEVER, with IBM designing workstations around Cell, and Sony/Toshiba putting them in TVs and other devices, I bet we can see some cool things coming out of this. Imagine a TV that can decode ANY video input, upconvert it to 1080p and play it back with Faroudja-like quality? Imagine not needing a special DVD player to play back the latest version of Divx, Xvid, 3ivx, WMV etc. etc. etc. because the TV can do all that? All you need is a dumb disc reader that can feed content to the TV and the TV takes care of the rest.
Click to expand...
You're not an EE are you?:p All the things you stated are a lot easier said than done (and some are not handled by the CPU, for that matter).
Click to expand...
No, I'm not an EE, I'm a future MBA :p. I understand you can do all these things with fixed-function chips and DSPs, and I was only giving some examples. The key thing is that you would be able to upgrade the capabilities of your TV without replacing it. Why wouldn't Sony prefer to sell you one TV for $3000 and then collect $50-$100 every year for software upgrades, rather than risking you buying a TV from a competitor six years later? The advantage of having a CPU on a TV is you could theoretically connect a computer to it wirelessly over Ethernet--without any connection between video card and TV. You could also program it according to your cable TV or satellite operator, eliminating the need for a set-top box. The Cell sounds like it can takeover the duties of a bunch of fixed-function chips/DSPs and accomplish all their tasks faster and in parallel.

 
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RaynorWolfcastle

Diamond Member
Feb 8, 2001
8,968
16
81
You're forgetting that a Cell is probably much more expensive than a DSP, I'd be surprised if they started putting these into TVs initially. Also, software upgrades can only go so far, especially on something like a TV. As for connecting it wirelessly to a computer that's a whole different ball game, the kind of bandwidth required would be enormous (though that may be manageable using UWB or something). Either way, most of the things you propose are not trivial and would require pretty expensive hardware to get working.
 
E

everman

Lifer
Nov 5, 2002
11,288
1
0
That's nice, but I hope it doesn't just end up with a lot of great looking sequals and nothing really new. Although I'd love to see a PS3 version of GTA...I still have fun playing stuff from the SNES.
 
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