Sony/IBM/Toshiba: CELL Almost Ready

thryllkill writes "According to Gamespot the CELL processor, assumed to be the main processor for the Playstation3, is near completion. The short (and light) article also says that the chip will be used in IBM computers and Toshiba electronic devices. The CELL processor is significant because it is touted to utilize grid technology over broadband connections to make the graphics capabilities of the new Playstation many times greater than the competition."

Comments

Re:How?

[rmarll]

This technology allows intimidated japanesee business men to wave their hands in the air and distract you from X-Box 2 announcements.

They're so tiny, and they have massive quantities of unobtanium! The PS3 must be better than X-Box 2.

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On a more serious note, I think Cell is more a way to add many processors efficiently to a system. I.E. wait till X-Box 2 specs are known and put in as many processors as it takes to beat them on the tech front. The internet thing is bullshit.

Re:How?

[QuantumRiff]

The Cell chip is a bunch of little processors on the same die, (think dual core, but its more like 16). the broadband they are talking about is the super high speed bus (on the chip) between the cores. By broadband they are talking about the bandwitdth between the cores, bandwidth is not only a measure of network speed.

Information on El Reg

[Doodlepants]

El Reg has an informative piece up http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/11/05/sony_cell_ cpu_to_deliver/

Re:Latency?

[richy freeway]

Does it anywhere say Broadband Internet connection?

No.

Thanks for listening.

How NOT to summarise an article

[Andy_R]

What the slashdot summary of the story said:
"The CELL processor is significant because it is touted to utilize grid technology over broadband connections to make the graphics capabilities of the new Playstation many times greater than the competition."

What the original article actually said:
"the CELL is a next-generation multimedia processor with the ability to handle intensive graphics and high-bandwidth communications."

So much for clarity and brevity.

Cell is an architecture, not the processor for PS3

[News for nerds]

Cell is a scalable processor architecture, and its prefered embodiment called Broadband Engine in this patent by SCE is expected in PS3.

While broadband in Broadband Engine obviously means high-speed interconnection between its APUs and PEs and PUs and eDRAM in the first place, its double meaning propagates through its optical interface. This Broadband-ness will initially start from optical-fiber intranet in home, then Cell spreads to servers, routers in ISP, and so on to form larger network. Rather than sharing power, its main point is sharing the same language/ISA across the network. X86 is not enough apparently, without network-awareness such as GUID and latency calculation of remote object. The patent states "1. A computer network comprising: a plurality of processors connected to said network, each of said processors comprising a plurality of first processing units having the same instruction set architecture and a second processing unit for controlling said first processing units, said first processing units being operable to process software cells transmitted over said network, each of said software cells comprising a program compatible with said instruction set architecture, data associated with said program and an identification number uniquely identifying said software cell among all of said software cells transmitted over said network. "

I don't know what OS will be used to control them, but Linux must be one of candidates in Cell server-side.

Clever...

[automandc]

If you look at the ever-promised convergence of computing and consumer electronics, this makes a lot of sense. Starting with just a PS3, Sony can gradually induce you to buy all Sony equipment.

First, they sell you a 4-core PS3 that runs all of the 1st Gen PS3 games. Then, as the developers learn to use the platform, and the development tools get better, the games start requiring more processing power. Sony then starts selling 8-core or more PS3 consoles (and/or upgrade cards).

Second, Sony starts offering other electronics with CELL chips. E.g. televisions with built in MPEG-2 Decoders utilizing CELL processors. So, instead of buying a new PS3, you buy a Sony television with 4-core CELL, and plug in the P3 via Fiber optic for a total of 8-cores. And when you aren't playing games, the TV can use the PS3 for additional decoding power (e.g. for multiple channel DVR functionality etc.).

Then, buy a Sony PC with "media center" functionality, and it has additionall CELLs on board (along with the regular x86), and thereby boosts the whole home "network" if connected via fiber (some propriatary interface Sony will no doubt make big bucks on).

Fiber isn't necessarily new in the home for this type of application. My stereo already has fiber-interconnects for digital audio (DVD, HDTV Cable Box, PS2).

Final stage: all of your entertainment devices are CELL based. Sony starts selling "modules" which do nothing but add additional CELLs to the network. Plug in an additional 4-Core CELL module and you can play PS3 games that won't run on just the console. Sony doesn't need to come out with new consoles anymore, just better development tools, and more consumer stuff that interconnects. ("Sure, you can buy the other toaster, but if you buy the SONY CELL toaster you can play the newest games!")

It's the ultimate in market lock-in, and unlike Betamax, it just may work if the PS3 is widely adopted as just the newest console. If they port Linux and OO to it, they may even give MS a run for their money in the general home-OS market! Wow, it's diabolical.

*sigh*

[Khaotix]

I swear if one more person posts something illustrating that they think bandwidth means internet connections I'll explo... *poof*