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Sony drops Cell project, to focus on 32nm microchip technology |
Listed in: PS3 Tags: gaming accessories, IBM, Peter Hofstee, Sony, Toshiba
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The power of Sony's PlayStation 3 can be attributed to the Cell Broadband Engine. While its chief architect is Peter Hofstee, this particular microprocessor is the result of the joint venture among Sony, IBM, and Toshiba Corporation. The partnership began in 2001 and is expected to end by 2010.In an interesting turn of events, Sony has announced today that it is withdrawing from the project to focus on developing the technology for producing microchips with 32nm circuitry or less. As a result of this move, Sony also said that it will be selling its Cell production facilities to Toshiba.
When Sony first announced that the PlayStation 3 will be using the Cell technology, most speculated that it costs too expensive and both Sony and its user base will suffer. Throughout the recent months, however, Sony has been able to come up with different models of the console and implement price cuts.
Such things imply that a company has already perfected the technology and that production cost is starting to lower. We will keep a close eye on this development because we are eager to know how Sony plans on using the planned 32nm chip.
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Comments
This was a move by Sony in terms of Research and Development.. that is all.
They cannot improve it further, so they're pulling the funding from the project to start fresh on the NEXT generation of microprocessors ...
Cell production will not end until the 2010 contract date is reached and the deal is over.
In the meantime.. all you Xbox people have fun rolling in dirt that doesnt exist.
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sony is NOT PAYING YOU, so stop being such a d1(k r1d3r.
fu(k1n6 fanboys make me sick on both sides!! if the only way u can justify your purchase is to bash the competition, then you need to throw yourself out of a window b/c you sound like a rabid idiot... yeah that goes for ps3 and 360 fanboys alike
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Anyway about the Cell chip, I think it's good that they move on to other things and develop new technology for us rather than staying with the same for years.
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They are selling the technology to Toshiba but will be the only customer buying the Cell chips back off them. But Toshiba only needs to sell 16 million chips with a $50 margin to get their money back. Seems like a desperate move by Sony to get some short term cash. They'll end up paying more money then they receive from selling it off. I guess they are more interested getting out of the technology and developing a new chip that other companies might actually want to use in their products.
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I do not agree with you is on Unified memory.
With unified memory you are having the main RAM share memory between CPU and and other components.
The 360 has 512 MB GDDR3 RAM. Lets say a game needs 64 MB for graphics. That leaves 448 MB RAM for everything else. That is 64 MB that can not be used for anything else. Only for graphics.
System RAM usually runs slower than dedicated graphics RAM,and more contention as the memory bus has to be shared with the rest of the system.
PS3 has 256 MB of DRAM. That is the main RAM. It also has 256 MB GDDR3 VRAM.
Yes the PS3 has less main RAM then the 360, but the PS3 does not have to share RAM with the GPU, becuse the GPU has it own RAM. That means better looking games on the PS3.
Do not get me wrong. 360 has great looking games, but there are times where there are framerate problem with some games Gears of War comes to mind.
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Also, with all their losses, I guess they need as much cash as possible, and selling billion dollar microprocessors facilities will cut their losses abit....
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With the way the PS3 and 99.9% of PC work, you have one pool for the CPU and and other components and you have one just for graphics. With two pools you get better performance becuse the work load is not bottleneck. Which is what happnes with one pool. Note I never said that you could not split up the memory anyway you wanted. In fact you need to do that with unified memory, but thats more work for the computer. With two pool you cut the workload in half and get better performance.
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Does anybody know whether or not these crazy CPU speeds even matter for gaming? I am using an 8600 and when I upgraded from a 2.6 ghz P4 to a 2.6 ghz C2D I didnt get more than 10 frames per second boost on BioShock.
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And that comment about needing more memory for voice and text in the background is ridiculous. I have a feeling that the XMB uses so much memory because it has no "background mode." This means some of it's features (voice, text, music) are usable without any hindrance to the game's performance.
Where is your proof that the RSX is inferior to the Xenos?
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Really, "no-one" is completely false.
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The XBox didn't suffer because of it's unified memory, and it is clear from what we're seeing in 360 games today and from developer comments, that NO-ONE is having problems because of unified memory on the 360 today, quite the contrary in fact. If anything, it is the PS3 which is giving developers problems with memory with it's two pools of memory and having less available due to the OS. :|
Unified memory is NOT 'more work for the computer', neither is it more of a bottleneck or a performance inhibitor. Yes it has the 'potential' to have these problems if the design is not good enough, but this is not the case in the 360.
So given that this 'problem' has never arisen in articles about the console, in developer interviews or in the games themselves, then it's clear that unified memory is not a problem in the 360. :|
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You can't generalize the word performance. We have to know whether it is cpu, graphics, RAM, HD, etc. that is performing well (or maybe not so well)
JackBeNimble, What are you talking about a "RAM card" for. There is no such thing except maybe intels new turbo memory.
Yes the PS3 has a very nice RAM system. It uses 256MB(not 512) of XDR main memory and it also has 256MB of video RAM.
Yes there is a difference between type and amount.
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