Sony's Cell chip for a New Amiga

[Middleman]

...do you think it's possible? Discuss!

[bloodline]

The chip is basically junk. It was designed with the idea of having the gfx processing done on the CPU... But it didn't really work and needed a proper GPU to go with it. At 6 years old, I'll bet the new quad core ARM SoCs would out perform it using much less power.

[Tripitaka]

In theory anything can be done. In practice, more chance of snow falling upwards. I would be more concerned with the market forces on this issues than the technical ones to be honest and the technical issues aren't small. A CELL based Amiga would be awesome but the only chance I could see for it would be Sony buying Hyperion, I can't see that happening. Perhaps if Sony had left the "other OS" option available on the PS3 then maybe, just maybe.

[Tripitaka]

The chip is basically junk.

LMAO, not a fan then?

[psxphill]

The chip is basically junk. It was designed with the idea of having the gfx processing done on the CPU... But it didn't really work and needed a proper GPU to go with it. At 6 years old, I'll bet the new quad core ARM SoCs would out perform it using much less power.

The CELL isn't that bad. It's true that they originally wanted to use it for rendering and for various reasons that didn't work out. It's also a bit of a nightmare to make use of all the power available, so most people don't bother. The 360 with 3 of the PS3 CPUs is easier for programmers to get to grips with.
 
The irony is that the PS1 was successful because it was easier to program than any console that had come before. The PS2 and the PS3 have become harder to program right when Microsoft joined the industry & they know the importance of making it as easy as possible for programmers.
 
ARM processors aren't particularly impressive, they are low power but they are also slow. I prefer Intel Atom. A trapdoor atom card would be awesome.

[Hattig]

...do you think it's possible? Discuss!

It's not the most impressive chip unless you make use of the SPUs - and these days you would be better off getting a port of OpenCL going and using a standard GPU.

The actual CPU is quite slow per clock, only made up in part by it's high clocks. It might run at 3.2GHz but it performs like a contemporary 1.6GHz CPU. It does have the ability to run two threads at the same time however, but that's not much use for AmigaOS currently.

One thing that isn't considered is that the chip has gone through several shrinks, so it may be able to run at significantly more than 3.2GHz now.

[Middleman]

The chip is basically junk. It was designed with the idea of having the gfx processing done on the CPU... But it didn't really work and needed a proper GPU to go with it. At 6 years old, I'll bet the new quad core ARM SoCs would out perform it using much less power.

Hmm I doubt it. I personally think that there's still some life left in the Cell, especially when its been upgraded to the PowerXCell 8i. Consider that the Zego server is able to display at 4K, that's still something quite powerful and something an Amiga user 'could' put to full use...

[Hattig]

ARM processors aren't particularly impressive, they are low power but they are also slow. I prefer Intel Atom. A trapdoor atom card would be awesome.

Atom - now that's a true bit of junk.

Anyway, Hyperion haven't got the resources to port AmigaOS to another platform, so x86 and ARM are currently out of the question.

[bloodline]

LMAO, not a fan then?

Yeah, that did come across as a bit harsh... But yeah, I'm not a fan, the actual CPU core is pretty weak and of little use for desktop work.

The Xbox 360's CPU is better, but no AmigaOS can handle multiple cores (due to an architectural limitation, that was designed into the OS from the start), so wouldn't be much use either...

[bloodline]

 
ARM processors aren't particularly impressive, they are low power but they are also slow. I prefer Intel Atom. A trapdoor atom card would be awesome.

The Atom uses quite a bit of power for its performance... I would choose The ARM in almost all situations... Despite the obvious advantage of having x86... That said, I would take either an ARM or Atom trapdoor CPU card

[Digiman]

Atom - now that's a true bit of junk.

Anyway, Hyperion haven't got the resources to port AmigaOS to another platform, so x86 and ARM are currently out of the question.

Which is why they don't deserve the IP for AmigaOS.

[Digiman]

...do you think it's possible? Discuss!

CELL is not ideal for OS execution because the SPUs are weak. Xenon (3 main CELL cores) is better and cheaper.

Someone may know this......do IBM produce any regular G5 PowerPC servers (or did so in the past)? Also do IBM currently sell any servers using the Xenon (CELL derived) CPU?

[Iggy]

I actually contacted IBM to inquire about the Cell BE.
In the end, I was exchanging messages with some of the engineers and the head of the department that developed the processor.
IBM position is that the processor has not been documented for general uase, but that they are willing to work with qualified customers on projects that they see potential in.

That said, the Cell's in order instruction execution lowers its performance per cycle when compared to out of order processors and with its accessory processors (the SPEs) the Cell can be difficult program for.

Other PPCs from Freescale and Applied Micro make more sense.

[DrDekker]

Off topic alert -
 
Sin after sin, I have endured. Yet the wounds I bear, are the wounds of love.

God bless K.K. Downing!
 
Whey hey - Judas Priest fan eh?
 
One of the most underrated Brit metal bands ever!

[psxphill]

Yeah, that did come across as a bit harsh... But yeah, I'm not a fan, the actual CPU core is pretty weak and of little use for desktop work.
 
The Xbox 360's CPU is better,

You do know that it's the same CPU? The 360 has 3 of them, while the PS3 has one plus the SPE's. The book about how the CPU was designed is a very interesting read.
 
But yeah, it's a high clock speed that doesn't necessarily translate into high speed.
 
The ARM uses less power and achieves more work per clock, but the atom can be clocked higher. Software compatibility on the atom more than makes up for it's drawbacks, especially on a desktop machine where power the power is less of a concern. Even on battery my atom netbook lasts 10 hours, which is more than enough.