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Posted 2002-09-13, 11:01 PM
in reply to JohnnyTAE's post "Playstation 3"
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Quote:
Originally Written by Official Playstation Magazine
By now, you've most likely heard of "cell," the mysterious new multimedia processor being jointly constructed by Sony Computer Entertainment, IBM, and Toshiba. You're also no doubt aware that Cell technology will be at the heart of the next playstation console, and it was recently announced that design for the inner workings of cell is all but wrapped up, meaning that Cell is on schedule to go into commercial production by the end of 2004. So what's that mean to you and me? Well, that the ps3 is completely on target to release in the year 2005, and it's going to be a console which absolutely breaks all conventional rules for processor power-it's going to be a monster.
Why? Well, here's a little idea of how the technology works; Cell is different from standard micro-processors in that it will essentially have multiple personalities inside a given chip, there will be multiple "cells," all capable of processing data on their own. What basically means is that some of the cells, or processor cores, could be dedicated for heavy computational tasks, while others could focus on graphics or sounds for games. According to the recent CNET article,Cell will be able to deliver 1 trillion calculations per second (teraflop) or more of floating-point calculation, which when you do the math, means that if it can do more then 1 teraflop, it sets the chip at roughly 100 times more powerful than a single pentium 4 chip running at 2.5GHz.
But where things start to get really interesting is how these cell microprocessors, which will be used in everything from PS3's to other household appliances such as TV sets-can communicate with each other, effectively joining together to pool their processing powers. A TV and video-recording device could, for example, couple their power to render the graphics of an animated movie on the fly. "it's like a beehive-Cell componets can also be ganged together." Richard Doherty, an analyst with Envisioneering Group, told CNET. Since Sony plans on having PS3s linked up over a broadband network to spread the computaional tasks, this can have a huge effect on the console. According to Sony this will allow for a potential thousandfold increase in power over the PS2, a feat that tradtional hardware advancements would take decades to achieve. Every time you turn on your PS3 you'll be adding to the "collective" power of the system, "We are working for the third generation [playstation] with this very aggresive and crazy goal," Shin'ichi Okamoto, chief technical officer for Sony, Said earlier this year "Moore's Law is too slow for us."
While it sounds like there's still lots of testing to be done on the Cell technology, not to mention the massive undertaking to make this sort of broadband computation happen. Sony president Ken Kutaragi firmly believes his company will be able to put it off. "When the processor is ready around 2005, the installation will begin and I hope that 100 million to 200 million processors will form what we can really call a broadband network by 2010."
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you better read it I had to hand type it in, from what I read in OPM...
so phenomonal


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