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IBM's Radical Cell Processor

Posted by Zonk on from the those-wacky-chips dept.

Rouslan Solomakhin writes "Forbes has recently posted an article on IBM's new revolutionary Cell processor. Cell is going to enable PS3 developers to create movie-quality games with blazing-speed graphics. Applications in other areas are also considered." From the article: "Some techies say PlayStation 3, which may debut by midyear and could end up in 100 million homes in five years, will usher in the next microchip revolution. The Sony system owes its prowess to a microprocessor called Cell, which was cooked up by chip wizards at IBM (with help from Sony and Toshiba) at a cost of $400 million over five years."

4 of 298 comments (clear)

  1. What IS movie quality? by adyus · · Score: 3, Interesting


    Motion pictures made in the 1930s are also, technically, "movie quality", seeing as they're, well, movies....

    What exactly does the reporter (and Sony) mean by that statement?


    (Oh, yeah, I forgot: "well if they'll be the same quality as some of the movies Hollywood pumps out recently, I'm not buying it...")

  2. IEEE predicts Cell as a winner by MosesJones · · Score: 3, Interesting


    The IEEE Spectrum magazine (surely a better source for Slashdot readers) predicts that Cell will be a winner in the multimedia space, noting that already its going into TVs made by Toshiba.

    They also mention Linux on page 2.

    --
    An Eye for an Eye will make the whole world blind - Gandhi
  3. Re:but its the games... by plasmacutter · · Score: 3, Interesting

    mistake?
    a mistake is forgetting to tighten a bolt, or carry the two, resulting in problems down the line.

    sony's rootkit was an intenional and corporate level decision. DRM itself has no justification for existence at all. When confronted with the fact that it does not stop piracy, executives often come clean by putting forth a "positively spun" statement which pans out to, and i paraphrase: "we want to deny the technologically unsavvy of flexibility theyre used to in order to screw them out of money we dont really deserve"

    Sony's products arent that great either. most sony stuff i've owned has broken (not broken down.. literally broken like plates break), so i have no trouble with the idea of not buying their flimsy and anticonsumer products.

    --
    VLC FOR MAC IS DYING! IF YOU DEVELOP, PLEASE SAVE IT!!
  4. Re:PS3 & the Cell may be Sony's downfall by DaveCBio · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Well, the support and tools for the Xbox have always been top notch. The PS2 was abysmal, but since it was selling well everyone went through the pain. I remember the first PS2 dev kit we got, half the documentation was in Japanese still. The support from Sony was horrible. This time around the support for the 360 is about the same as the Xbox and Sony seems a bit better, but the PS3 is a beast an info is only trickling out on how to get things done on it.