Just found out Playstation 2 uses Rambus

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hk10Mbps

Member
Sep 14, 2002
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Here's the quote:

"The main memory supporting the high-speed CPU uses the Direct Rambus® DRAM in two channels to achieve a 3.2 GB/second bus bandwidth--or four times the performance of the latest PCs that are built on the PC-100 architecture."
 
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JeremiahTheGreat

Senior member
Oct 19, 2001
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*shoots himself*

there's nothing wrong with rambus the technology, there's just something stuffed about the company which developed it.
 
U

ugh

Platinum Member
Feb 6, 2000
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Woah... Now is this a coincidence or what!? I was just searching for the PS2 specs :) Here's the link if anyone's interested....
 
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HokieESM

Senior member
Jun 10, 2002
798
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Well, you might be shocked, but I wouldn't be dismayed. RDRAM is much superior technology to DDR--its scalability is tops (have you noticed that the new Crays use RDRAM?) and dual-channel was designed into the format from day 1 (and apparently quad-channel has just been waiting). None of this takes away from the fact that the company Rambus is full of greedy entrepreneurs who tried to corner a market.

And no, I'm not a RDRAM fanboy... while I do have one RDRAM system, I have two DDRs.

As far as the Xbox using a mobile Celeron.... that's very true. Tear one open and have a look. Note that its a Tualatin-based core, though... so it has 256Kb of cache... and its FSB isn't exactly 100MHz (keep in mind that its running dual channel RDRAM....). The Xbox is still an impressive piece of hardware to sell for $200 (although, they're probably selling it at a loss).
 
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BG4533

Golden Member
Oct 15, 2001
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The processor in the XBox is unique to it. It is not quite a Pentium III or a Celeron.
 
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scorpioLP

Senior member
Oct 9, 1999
217
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Originally posted by: HokieESM
The Xbox is still an impressive piece of hardware to sell for $200 (although, they're probably selling it at a loss).
Click to expand...

Microsoft slashed Xbox prices, now about $199, early on
to boost sales. Solomon Smith Barney estimates the
company loses about $120 per set.

Brian Livingston article
 
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Sunner

Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
11,641
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Originally posted by: Wingznut
BG4533 nailed it.
Click to expand...

Wingz, correct me if Im wrong, but isn't the XBox P3 pretty much a CuCeleron with higher L2 associativity than the regular Celeron?
 
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HokieESM

Senior member
Jun 10, 2002
798
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Interesting. I haven't done much reading on the actual hardware (I don't play games much... unfortunately)... I just ripped into an Xbox (that was supposedly defunct... it now runs Linux just fine) and saw the processor. It looked mighty similar to the micro-PGA Celeron in my laptop.

Its just interesting to see that an Xbox with a P3-core processor, a decent video accelerator, and good memory bandwidth can play some excellent games. Makes you question the PC games efficiency and the like. Of course, I've seen some pretty good gaming on P3-Tualatins with Ti4200s (a Siluro OTES and a P3-S can make a very quiet, very cool gaming system, btw).

 
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fkloster

Diamond Member
Dec 16, 1999
4,171
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Originally posted by: HokieESM
Well, you might be shocked, but I wouldn't be dismayed. RDRAM is much superior technology to DDR--its scalability is tops (have you noticed that the new Crays use RDRAM?) and dual-channel was designed into the format from day 1 (and apparently quad-channel has just been waiting). None of this takes away from the fact that the company Rambus is full of greedy entrepreneurs who tried to corner a market.

And no, I'm not a RDRAM fanboy... while I do have one RDRAM system, I have two DDRs.

As far as the Xbox using a mobile Celeron.... that's very true. Tear one open and have a look. Note that its a Tualatin-based core, though... so it has 256Kb of cache... and its FSB isn't exactly 100MHz ( keep in mind that its running dual channel RDRAM ....). The Xbox is still an impressive piece of hardware to sell for $200 (although, they're probably selling it at a loss).
Click to expand...


xbox uses rdram too?
 
Adul

Adul

Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
32,999
44
91
danny.tangtam.com
Originally posted by: fkloster
Originally posted by: HokieESM
Well, you might be shocked, but I wouldn't be dismayed. RDRAM is much superior technology to DDR--its scalability is tops (have you noticed that the new Crays use RDRAM?) and dual-channel was designed into the format from day 1 (and apparently quad-channel has just been waiting). None of this takes away from the fact that the company Rambus is full of greedy entrepreneurs who tried to corner a market.

And no, I'm not a RDRAM fanboy... while I do have one RDRAM system, I have two DDRs.

As far as the Xbox using a mobile Celeron.... that's very true. Tear one open and have a look. Note that its a Tualatin-based core, though... so it has 256Kb of cache... and its FSB isn't exactly 100MHz ( keep in mind that its running dual channel RDRAM ....). The Xbox is still an impressive piece of hardware to sell for $200 (although, they're probably selling it at a loss).
Click to expand...


xbox uses rdram too?
Click to expand...

no it uses DDR RAM
 
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Sunner

Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
11,641
0
76
200 MHz DDR on a 128 bit wide bus IIRC.

Also the P3/Celeron/whatever in the XBox has a 128 KB L2 if Im not mistaken, only as stated above, the associativity(sp?) is higher than in the usual CuCelerons.
 
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nightowl

Golden Member
Oct 12, 2000
1,935
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The CPU in the Xbox is not quite a P3 and not a Celeron either. The CPU runs at 733MHz on a 133MHz FSB with 128K of cache memory. Also as others have said, the cache associativity is higher than what it is in a Celeron, more on the level of a P3.
 
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Whitedog

Diamond Member
Dec 22, 1999
3,656
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or four times the performance of the latest PCs that are built on the PC-100 architecture
Click to expand...
Poorly said. Whoever stated this is a blubbering idiot. Just a bunch of marketing hype. 4x the bandwidth DOES NOT = 4x the performance. Due to RDRAM's MUCH slower latency, it takes away from the gained bandwidth resulting in a "NOT 4x" perfomance gain...

The XBox original specs was for 64MB RDRAM.
 
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Whitedog

Diamond Member
Dec 22, 1999
3,656
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Its just interesting to see that an Xbox with a P3-core processor, a decent video accelerator, and good memory bandwidth can play some excellent games. Makes you question the PC games efficiency and the like.
Click to expand...
That's because the game developers have a "set in stone" platform to develope against. PC games have to be developed to support a WIDE range of hardware and configurations. This choaks the ability of the programmer.

Mark my word, if a game developer was given a platform of a 3GHz PC with a specific 9700PRO card with 1GHZ memory....etc... and was told to make a GAME that was specific to THAT hardware configuration and wouldn't work on anything else, they would be able to make a game that would BLOW YOUR MIND! (even better than Doom3)... but... how many of copies of the game would they be able to sell? Not many huh.

Getting the picture?
 
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codehack2

Golden Member
Oct 11, 1999
1,325
0
76
Originally posted by: hk10Mbps
Here's the quote:

"The main memory supporting the high-speed CPU uses the Direct Rambus® DRAM in two channels to achieve a 3.2 GB/second bus bandwidth--or four times the performance of the latest PCs that are built on the PC-100 architecture."
Click to expand...


Let me be the 1st to welcome you to 1999...

:)
 
L

Lonyo

Lifer
Aug 10, 2002
21,938
6
81
Total Memory Bandwidth: 48 gigabytes per second
Clock Frequency: 147.456MHz
Embedded DRAM: 4 MB of multi-port DRAM (Synced at 150MHz)

Am I missing something? 48GB/s seems an awful lot for a clock speed of 150MHz, even with mega compression.
 
C

codehack2

Golden Member
Oct 11, 1999
1,325
0
76
Originally posted by: Lonyo
Total Memory Bandwidth: 48 gigabytes per second
Clock Frequency: 147.456MHz
Embedded DRAM: 4 MB of multi-port DRAM (Synced at 150MHz)

Am I missing something? 48GB/s seems an awful lot for a clock speed of 150MHz, even with mega compression.
Click to expand...

Thats the 4mb of embedded Dram on the chip, not the 32mb of RDRAM. I believe that the embedded DRAM has 32 serialized channels, which would give them the 48GB of effective Bandwidth.

CH2

 
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HokieESM

Senior member
Jun 10, 2002
798
0
0
Yeah... whoops. Sorry to make the mistakes above..... my mind must have been elsewhere when writing the above post. Some friends of mine ripped into an Xbox AND a PS2 in an attempt to install Linux on either/both. We eventually got the Xbox to work... but the PS2 ended up being a dead end (for us, anyway).

Yes, the Xbox uses DDR.... I looked over my pictures again to see.

The PS2 definitely has RDRAM. <grin...>


whitedog - yeah... I know all about the "generalities" of PC Gaming--some of my friends from undergrad school work for nVidia and ATi doing gaming/3D graphics and they've enlightened me on SEVERAL occasions. Actually one of the BIG things they cite as being a deterrent is actually the OS itself--having to run the game within another program (Linux, Windows, what have you). Personally, I don't game much... my computer is little more than a number cruncher (well, sometimes I do some CAD).

But anyway, I'm just saying that the Xbox and PS2 use relatively "sedate" hardware (compared to what is sitting next to the desk for most of us)... yet their gaming performance is stellar. Even the graphics--I recently saw an Xbox on an HDTV... very impressive. I'm just waiting for someone to "modularize" the console.... make slots to add graphics cards (even though they might be proprietary) and RAM (although nintendo did have that little bit of RAM for the N64). I just think it could be interesting in the future. Not that it really matters... what we really need now are some good GAMES... because, like it or not (at least in my opinion) GAME PLAY is all that matters (graphics are the icing on the cake).
 
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