Cell CPU as the next thing?

[blakespot]

What do you think about using a Cell CPU that has 30x FPU performance to that of a Intel PC as the CPU for a computing platform?

The Cell is a poor general purpose microprocessor. This is why Apple passed it by. It has notable power when its SPU's are coded into motion for the media-intensive purposes for which it was designed.



bp

[blakespot]

I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in the Cell or the PowerPC in the Xbox 360 --- and what goes into design decisions that make those processors right for game machines (but not for general purpose computers).

http://wraltechwire.com/business/tech_wire/venture/story/4497770/



bp

[blakespot]

Blah Blah Blah. Playstation 3 with suitable Linux is great and cheap LinuxBox - great OS. All but firts PPEs can be used in similar fashion as multicore x64 by OS as well as I believe they can be programmed independently, all but first that is locked to Sony OS. Its great hardware, and it can be used exactly as DSP in Falcon used to - PPE can simulate or process anything so it is a great and usable design with some software that would use it.

But PPE support might come in OS 5.0 :-)

For nearly all scenarios of use, a cheap Intel or AMD box would destroy a PS3 under Linux. The Cell's single PPC core can't even do out-of-order execution. In the scenarios where they would not, the SPU's would be put to use with specific Cell code -- something you do not find as part of the Linux OS. Sure there are a few apps that do it, but they are rare.


bp