Playstation 3 and the Cell Architecture

Good stuff. thx!

Interesting stuff you have here, it was the first time I read about this Cell Architechture

Ineed, and the potential applications of the cell seem to overwhelm the x86 architecture. However, I will reserve making any conclusions until I see it perform in real life, and I think that will only happen when the PS3 comes out.

If this is accurate, and not just marketing gumpf, then there is little likelihood that the x86 architectecure will be able to emulate the PS3 for at least 15 years after it's release.
Add to this the guy is basicaly suggesting what I mentioned in an earlier thread (x86 emulation).....

The Cell Processor said:

This is a 9 core processor, one of these cores is something similar to a PowerPC G5 and acts as a controller. The remaining 8 cores are called APUs and these are very high performance vector processors. Each APU contains it's own block of high speed RAM and is capable of 32 GigaFlops (32bit). The APUs are independent processors and can act alone or can be set up to process a stream of data with different APUs working on different stages. This ability to act as a "stream processor" gives access to the full processing power of a Cell which is more than 10 times higher than even the fastest desktop processors.

In addition to the raw processing power the Cell includes a high performance multi-channel memory subsystem and a number of high speed interconnects for connecting to other Cells or I/O devices.

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This is some great stuff, I really enjoyed reading this article. The one thing that really blew me away was how they explained the power of a PS3:

So you think your PC is fast... said:

It is where multiple memory banks are being used and the APUs are working on compute heavy streaming applications that the Cell will be working hardest. It's in these applications that the Cell may get close to it's theoretical maximum performance and perform over an order of magnitude more calculations per second than any desktop processor currently available.

If over clocked sufficiently (over 3.0GHz) and using some very optimised code (SSE assembly), 5 dual core Opterons directly connected via HyperTransport should be able to achieve a similar level of performance in stream processing - as a single Cell.

The PlayStation 3 is expected to have have 4 Cells.

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Thats unbeleaveable, 5 Dual core opterons = 1 Cell, and 4 Cells = PS3. Thats crazy.

I really think that the cell idea will quickly be ported to desktop computers. If apple plays their cards right and will licence out their OS, microsoft is in deep ****; their OS X is already verctor based. Even if they dont, linux will be there, and emulating windows at full speed will be a peace of cake.

I'm worried about how these will actually WORK tho. I remember hearing something about if your ps3 is connected to the internet via broadband it'll share the load with other ps3s/cell appliances...which worries me since it leaves me wondering wut would happen to ppl who only have a ps3 on their own...

D.D said:

I'm worried about how these will actually WORK tho. I remember hearing something about if your ps3 is connected to the internet via broadband it'll share the load with other ps3s/cell appliances...which worries me since it leaves me wondering wut would happen to ppl who only have a ps3 on their own...

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I doubt that will happen, it’s almost physically impossible due to bandwidth limitations. And the article said nothing about this, and it won’t be necessary with all the power that the PS3 will have.

I don't know how that dumb rumor got started. I've heard it so many times, but anyone with some basic knoledge of the inner workings of computers should realize that it is completely impracticle to introduce a bottleneck like the internet into the process of running software on a local machine. The idea behind the cell archetecture is to create a universal hardware optimised interface for distributed computing. It's really pretty ingenious due to the limitless combinations you can use to design the archecture of a cell based system.

Anyway, I'll have to read the article fully, but from the sounds of things we won't be emulating the ps3, we'll be using it to emulate everything else . I think that technology like this is a sign that x86's days are numbered. I for one can't wait to see it go. I mean come on, 4 general purpose registers? Who's bright idea was that?

I don't know how that dumb rumor got started. I've heard it so many times

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THANK YOU for confirming that its not just me

hi

just thought i mention this piece of info(and it ry to hunt down the article again for you) but the cell processor...they are already in talks about puttign the cell or soemthing liek it on the desktop pc already, if i can find the article i will post the link, very interesting. but there has to be soemthing done though cause the current technology dealign with processors on the desktop pc is getting very limited by how fast they can possibly go and in only a few more years they will have to be forced to take action which is why i think they are goign to try to introduce a cell like processor onto the desk top pcs.

Personally, i don't care about the specs of a console. I only do that for PCs as their software is dependant on the specs. With a console, you insert game and play, don't worry about your graphics card not having pixel shaders or anything (damn FX5950 Ultra, why did you have to die).

Especially when it comes to the Playstation. Do remember all the "hootenany" surrounding the PS2 originally and it's "UBERL33T TEH EMOTION ENGINE!!!" yeah right. I don't want specs when buying a console, i want good games.

Yes, but the point is that this thing is bigger than just the PS3 itself. THis chip has the potential to permantly replace the x86 archetecture as the heart of a PC. It has the potential to emulate any other processor that has been constucted to date at full speed. This thing has the potential to rock the computer industry in a way that hasn't happened since the PC was invented. If this doesn't impress you then I don't know what will .

__Xzyx987X said:

Yes, but the point is that this thing is bigger than just the PS3 itself. THis chip has the potential to permantly replace the x86 archetecture as the heart of a PC. It has the potential to emulate any other processor that has been constucted to date at full speed. This thing has the potential to rock the computer industry in a way that hasn't happened since the PC was invented. If this doesn't impress you then I don't know what will .

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Ana Sofia Henao, naked, on my bed. That would impress me.

But back ontopic, i only skim-read the article last night due to sleep deprivation, and for reasons stated I didn't care about console specs. I will read it fully now.

That is very impressive. I haven't read the whole article yet(probly never will ) but one concern I have is how much will this cost?

I read the specs and even the person who wrote said take a long time to replace x86. Well emotion engine didn't do what it we all thought it would do, but the Cell is way different since they got IBM on their side. Oh yeah did you all hear that IBM is selling or already did its consumer pc department. No more laptops and desktops anymore from IBM.

wow... you really learn a lot when you go into forum and read thread like this... thats very impressive... and a bit complicated