Posted Sep 13, 2006 at 10:52PM by Victor B. Listed in: Gadgets, PlayStation 3 Tags: Germany, IBM, Supercomputer, BladeCenter
Ó

High-Detail shot of the IBM Cell's coreNot everyone actually listens to the makers about the tech involved in making a console so much as the end result. When Hideo Kojima references IBM's Cell Processor in a version of his Guns of the Patriots trailer, however, then you kinda want to shift focus a bit and keep your eyes peeled for news, if only because Kojima makes non-ninja stealth assassination cool.

So here's the next update on the Cell Processor, and this time, it has very little to do with the PS3 (though it may just be good PR for the darned thing).

In addition to using the Cell as one of the processing chips for the Roadrunner supercomputer, IBM has decided to find another use for their Cell by making it a component in a new model of their blade servers. Dubbed the BladeCenter QS20, it's being marketed as a high-end graphics server.

Currently, BladeCenter QS20 is being used in academic fields, some of which require such heavy-duty servers to take the weight of their projects. The Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics in Germany, for example, will be using it to improve their in-house visual applications, while Britain's University of Manchester intend to use it for their computing needs as it eats up less space and power while upgrading their overall computing performance.

What do you think? Will this be good PR for Sony and the PS3 as well as the IBM, or is it bad news for Sony?


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6 Comments


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   by lompocus (Unregistered) - 2006-09-13
 » sony this, sony that...

Alright, i've been silent up to now. Why does everything with the word CELL in it HAVE to be involved with sony?

Roadrunner: a supercomputer expected to reach a PETAFLOP.

This thing: Heavy math research

PS3: a video game console.....

yea, so now EVERYTHING is PR.

CELL is not just for the goddamn ps3 people!

   by Draken (Unregistered) - 2006-09-14
 » Agreed

I agree lompocus, I got PS3 fan boys everywhere telling me that ps3 can power a supercomputer sigh.

   by Advertising -
   by comedy - 2006-09-14
 » well,

this news is pretty much 'general interest' for ps3 fans, as the cell processor is going to be quite big and the ps3 has one...

but basically this kind of thing is so that sony's and ibm's stock prices can be bolstered by the fact that their cell processor (which has cost them both millions) is going to start making them money...

and what's good for sony is good for me!

   by FloW3184 (Unregistered) - 2006-09-14
 » just smells like more Cell-shortage

nocomment

   by busta (Unregistered) - 2006-09-15
 » dont hate appreciate

dont hate sony cause they dont want to use a different processor than other people ... the fact is that sony, IBM, toshiba all created the cell and if they want to brag bout it then thats their business ... and i have to admit its alot better than going with intel, think bout it, from now on sony toshiba and IBM all make laptops/desktops/servers and now since they had a "commitment" towards cell they can incorporate that into their systems and at a better "deal" than intel or amd ... but ps3 is a powerful machine and you cant deny that

   by Jez (Unregistered) - 2006-09-15
 » #6

"they had a "commitment" towards cell they can incorporate that into their systems and at a better "deal" than intel or amd"

They're not really competing in the same market. Cell is designed to offer great floating-point power, and hence is extremely useful in such areas (hence this topic).

However, for desktop PCs, Intel and AMD CPUs are much better for this task and continue to get better, with 4 cores very soon, and possibly 32 cores by 2010 (http://tomshardware.co.uk/2006/07/10/intel_32_core_processor).



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