Topic: Playstation 3 a super computer? The operating system is...  (Read 2196 times)

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Offline Nemesis

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Playstation 3 a super computer? The operating system is...
« on: June 10, 2005, 09:18:44 pm »
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"We're positioning the PS3 as a supercomputer", he says, "But people won't recognize it as a computer unless we call it a computer, so we're going to run an OS on it. In fact, the Cell can run multiple OSes. In order to run the OSes, we need a hard disk. So in order to declare that the PS3 is a computer, I think we'll have [the hard disk] preinstalled with Linux as a bonus.


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"We've added a 2.5-inch HDD bay so that users can add hard disks, such as 80GB and 120GB," he said.
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Offline Iceman

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Re: Playstation 3 a super computer? The operating system is...
« Reply #1 on: June 11, 2005, 12:01:35 am »
I'm in love.
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Offline SkyFlyer

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Re: Playstation 3 a super computer? The operating system is...
« Reply #2 on: June 11, 2005, 04:21:39 am »
I keep telling people... that thing is gonna fry in 4 months. I swear. Its worse than overclocking a Pentium 4 laptop.
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Offline Grim

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Re: Playstation 3 a super computer? The operating system is...
« Reply #3 on: June 11, 2005, 04:58:04 am »

Wow i will have to get me one of those

Offline Iceman

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Re: Playstation 3 a super computer? The operating system is...
« Reply #4 on: June 11, 2005, 12:37:21 pm »
I keep telling people... that thing is gonna fry in 4 months. I swear. Its worse than overclocking a Pentium 4 laptop.

I'd like to know how you know how hot it'll run yet. For all we know it runs cooler than a PC does now.
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Offline Javora

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Re: Playstation 3 a super computer? The operating system is...
« Reply #5 on: June 11, 2005, 08:58:39 pm »
IIRC Sony had to strip down the number of Cell's, so as great is it sounds it is not as great as Sony had planned.

Offline Iceman

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Re: Playstation 3 a super computer? The operating system is...
« Reply #6 on: June 12, 2005, 08:54:36 pm »
I'd like to see that written somewhere if you can find the source. I just seriously doubt Sony would suddenly start stripping the PS3.
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Offline Javora

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Re: Playstation 3 a super computer? The operating system is...
« Reply #7 on: June 13, 2005, 07:35:20 pm »
I'd like to see that written somewhere if you can find the source. I just seriously doubt Sony would suddenly start stripping the PS3.


I pulled this up after a quick Google search:  http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/english/NEWS_EN/20050519/104832/


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Why Did SCE Reduce Cell's SPEs to 7 in the PS3 Specifications?

Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCE) has finally revealed the next-generation PlayStation 3 (PS3) game console. While reading the company's press release, some interesting numbers caught my attention. One of them is 3.2 GHz, the operating frequency of the Cell microprocessor used in the PS3. When the Cell processor was announced at the ISSCC 2005 event in February, 2005, SCE said, "The prototype chip operates at 4 GHz and higher frequencies, but we have not yet determined the operating frequency of the mass-produced chip." The company seems to have concluded that 3.2 GHz is most appropriate considering such factors as yields and power consumption.

What came as a surprise was the number of signal processor elements (SPE) contained in the Cell processor were reduced from eight to seven in the game console specifications. The number of SPEs had previously been boosted to eight from the original six determined by Cell developers during the design process, because Ken Kutaragi, President of SCE and Group CEO, insisted on using exponential numbers based on his belief that, "This is an aesthetic." There must have been a good reason for reducing the number of SPEs.

When I directly asked what the reason was, SCE answered, "We made the decision in view of production yields." Eight SPEs account for more than half of the total surface area of a chip. In addition, it is easier to estimate a critical path because each core features high-speed operational 256 KB SRAM. It must have been very difficult at this moment to enable all eight SPEs to operate at the targeted frequency and power supply voltage. Even if the number of SPEs had been unchanged at six, SCE might have had to reduce it to five in the PS3 specifications after all. In this respect, Kutaragi's persistence to use eight SPEs may have been correct.


While this article appears to be full of marketing spin, it does support the claim I made in my previous post.