Cell CPU as the next thing?

[Iggy]

How did this old thread get dug up again?
 
To heck with the Cell (or its PS4 replacement).
 
How do we get WiiU processors?

[Iggy]

If I didn't mind the idea of being stuck with 256 M RAM, I'd go ahead and agree with you.
 
bUt I dO!!!!!!

 
And you can expand an Amiga to how much (mem)?

[Iggy]

Dont expect ARM CPU`s or even AMD CPUs to come near Intel performance, but that is easy once you have gross market share to invest in R&D.

A Phenom II X4 or X6 does come pretty close.
And on the low end, ARM and some of AMDs new embedded processor do a competant job when compared to the Intel Atom.
 

To me, CPU that can run HTML5 broswer, 720 dpi video and other daily productivity apps and good OS is enough for 90% of people.

That's interesting as my MorphOS system will do that.
 

And Cell offers MORE PROGRAMMIBILITY then those high performant CPUs that can just share thread overload with bloated software (Win) that doesnt even use it properly.

Actually, spes resemble GPU logic, so a comarison to OpenCL is valid.

[Iggy]

2GB DDR or DDR2 (less for older AmigaOne and SAM boards, 1GB or so)
 
Console designs are not ment to be much expanded.

 
Not fair Vox, I easn't refering to NG PPC system.
My own MorphOS system has 1.5 GB.
 
But I actually gree with you that 256MB is too little.
At one time, IBM was open to tthe idea of selling the Cell to third parties (which could have brought us a board with more memory).
 
However, these days it would be difficult to get them to qualify that application and approve sales.

[Iggy]

I stand a lot can be achieved with what is percieved today as old (0,2 or 0,5GB RAM)
 
More detailed specs reveal: 256K SRAM per SPE + 256MB sys RAM and 256MB VRAM. I do agree this is the serious flaw in SPS3 design, but again just see what is achieved with such low specs (e.g. Civ V just as example of more demanding app on PC)
 
CPU: Cell Processor
 
PowerPC-base Core @3.2GHz
1 VMX vector unit per core
512KB L2 cache
7 x SPE @3.2GHz
7 x 128b 128 SIMD GPRs
7 x 256KB SRAM for SPE
* 1 of 8 SPEs reserved for redundancy total floating point performance: 218 GFLOPS
GPU: RSX @550MHz
 
1.8 TFLOPS floating point performance
Full HD (up to 1080p) x 2 channels
Multi-way programmable parallel floating point shader pipelines
Sound: Dolby 5.1ch, DTS, LPCM, etc. (Cell-base processing)
 
Memory:
 
256MB XDR Main RAM @3.2GHz
256MB GDDR3 VRAM @700MHz

I'd forgotten about the XDR memory.
I doubt Sony will use that in the future.

[Iggy]

From the statements made by Trevor and Varisys, I think its fair to say that the next processor supported by AOS4.1 will be a Freescale Qorlq model (possibly something with the e6500 core).
 
While slower, this out of order processor would have more MIPS then a Cell (and Freescale has re-introduced AltiVec instructions).
 
Now, as to the age of the PPC design, its not a long in the tooth as ARM or X86 (and look how well they are doing).
 
And it is compatible with the latest generation of AmigaOS.
 
So, yeah, its an Amiga hardware topic.

[Iggy]

Rumored PS4 uses "AMD Liverpool APU" i.e. AMD Steamroller based CPUs + AMD Radeon HD 7850 (16 Compute Units) level GCN.
 
AMD Kaveri APU has quad-core AMD Steamroller based CPUs + AMD Radeon HD 7750 (8 Compute Units) level GCN.
 
Note that the APU is AMD's "CELL" solution.

Rumored...but not necessarily true.

[Iggy]

IBM would beat AMD when the CPU nearly thrown in for free e.g. buy AMD GPU and get the CPU for free i.e. that's AMD APU economics.

Yes, and I rather expect IBMs fab to produce whatever goes in the PS4.
AMD is supplying the GPU for the XBOX720 as well.
But we're not going to have a complete picture of what else will be used for awhile.

[Iggy]

I have revised my post i.e. "IBM wouldn't beat AMD when the CPU is nearly thrown in for free "
 
Xbox 720 Yukon has both AMD APUs and IBM PPE X3 http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2405922,00.asp

Interesting.
IBM scheduled to make a 3 core Power7 derived PPC for the Nintendo WiiU.
And according to the document you reference, IBM will be fabbibg the chipset for the Xbox 720 which will contain PPC and X86 cores.
 
So, why not a Cell based PS4 (or something similar to the Xbox720)?
 
After all, IBM will no doubt be fabbing Sony's chips as well.

[Iggy]

Hammer,
These details seem pretty covincing.
Looks like the next series of game consoles are going to be monsters.