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PS3 can be used to read x-rays

Posted Jul 1, 2009 at 5:38PM EST by Glenn M.

Listed in: PS3 Tags: Netherlands, playstation 3 updates, PlayStation Network, Sony

If the Wii can contribute to the treatment of Parkinson's disease, the PS3 too can contribute to healthcare. Nope, no motion-control health benefits here, just the power that the PS3 packs, which according to this bit of news, can be used to read x-rays.

In the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG) in the Netherlands, research is currently being geared towards the possibility of using Sony's PlayStation 3 in reading and reviewing x-rays. The gaming console would be used in extracting data, and the wait that comes with doing so in the usual method would be drastically reduced since the PS3 packs more power than the computers the hospital currently has.

Students are now working on creating special programs for the PS3, and are expected to be ready at the end of the year.

More on the PS3:

Sony cracking the Graphics Synthesizer problem

Via NU (translated)

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If you read it, they said they were buying PS3s. So apparently they are.

It goes to prove that the PS3>Xbox360 in raw power. Every Xboxer still thinks in terms of ram or something simple that they can grasp. However when you compare the trillions of calculations that the PS3 can do to the millions that the Xbox can do you really start to realize the difference.

# I just rofled... — JaXeRiR 2009-07-02 04:21

...At the amazing dumbness of your comments.

Okay, I acknowledge that the PS3 kicks 360's ass in raw power.

But as long as my 360 runs the games I want to play, I really, really don't give a flying f*ck about how powerful the processor is compared to the PS3.

Seriously, wtf.

# yeah... — Freya 2009-07-02 04:29

and no one really asked. what they said are all facts. what you said is just you frustrated that the PS3>360.

# ? — Musev 2009-07-02 04:31

"and wasn't PS2 prohibited to be sold in some countries because it can be used to "create" giant bombs? "

Are you sure it wasn't the original xbox?

# @Volomon — PS34ME 2009-07-02 05:18

it's not just about power.

they don't use the 360 for this kind of thing because you can't install another operating system on the console. it's because we can install linux on the ps3 that it's possible to put sony's console to alternative uses.

you're right that the ps3 has more raw power for calculations, but 360 has more raw power for general code. so if you could install linux on the 360, it would be faster for running general applications (about twice as fast maybe), but for anything that requires lots of calculations, like digital/mathematical processing or physics or ray-tracing or folding@home or analyzing x-rays etc, the ps3 would be faster (about twice as fast as the 360, so it's not trillions vs millions :-)).

# Not sure if were talking about — RavenSPe 2009-07-02 05:35

the same thing here... but one concern over importing the PS2 was from the similarity in a computer chip used for guided missiles.

# ? What's this then — phiyuku 2009-07-02 05:52

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID+21118

# I dont know... — Csyrah 2009-07-02 09:17

I think its tough to say that an Xbox 360 can run general applications at twice the speed of a PS3. I mean, its usually based on what a program is optimized for. Even as users, I dont think we can completely say what a PS3 can/cant code better on because developers are still figureing it out itself. So just in my opinion, the PS3 does have the XDR RAM, and even though the 360 has 3 PPUs while the PS3 has 1 PPU + 8 SPEs instead, I think the PS3 has more potential for running applications faster in general then the 360 given that you take a single program and optimize it for both.

# Xbox has better — phiyuku 2009-07-02 12:34

functions like that I can use not some hospital. In the Winter instead to turning up the heat I frag people online because my Xbox 360 is my personal space heater.

# ohhh its not all about gaming — fearlubu 2009-07-02 13:02

this may not seem much like a breatkthough, but this does come to show what the PS3 can do, perhaps apps shall start pouring for the PS3!!

@phiyuku: ahh a typical xbox FPS fan, still not tired of the mindless run-gunning?

# and that is — FearEvil19 2009-07-02 14:14

a broken link

# This doesn't help any fanboyish claims... — Specht 2009-07-02 18:53

What hospitals do with a PS3 doesn't make the PS3 any better than Xbox 360.

The hospitals are really just saving money buying PS3 clusters over IBM Blades which isn't really newsworthy other than just cool and giving Sony's gaming division more publicity.

I'd go into the actual differences of the Cell B.E. and a triple-core x86 processor more in-depth than what any random person can read on Wikipedia, but I think I should save that rant for another, perhaps more sober, night.

# PS2 BOMB — mr.x256 2009-07-02 21:04

You have to change the "plus" sign in to an 'equals" sign.

Note. This info is years out of date.

# Not quite Csyrah — PS34ME 2009-07-02 21:52

"even though the 360 has 3 PPUs while the PS3 has 1 PPU + 8 SPEs"

that's the point Csyrah. the cores of both CPUs are based around the same PowerPC technology, but the 360 has 3 PPUs for running main code (i.e. non-arithmetic operations) compared to PS3's single PPU (both at 3.2Ghz). this will give the 360 the advantage for such code.

the SPEs are for maths only, just like the FPU in each 360 core, so that's 6 SPEs in the PS3 compared to 3 VMX units in the 360, giving the PS3 the advantage for maths.

the difficulty on the PS3 if not programming the PPU, there's no more to figure out that the 360's PPU (same code base), the difficulty is in getting the SPEs to do as much work as possible, lessening the load on the Cell's PPU, but this only applies to mathematical calculations. If there's no maths, then there's nothing for the SPEs to do (or the VMX units in the 360).

so unless your application has lots of maths, then the 360 will run the application faster than the PS3, and this will be seen more when running multiple applications.

# haha — 02thinkfast02 2009-07-03 01:17

jus imagine 360s in the hospitals, think of all the RRODS...

but cmon on who cares if ps3 can do x rays ,i just want to play games ,thats what they where designed for.not seeing if u broken u arm

# Whatever — Dave 2009-07-03 09:23

Anyone here wanna read x-rays with their PS3? No.

Does it matter that a game console can read x-rays? No

It's way more important for the PS3 to be a game console not a PC.

# ok — Csyrah 2009-07-03 09:48

Thats cool. You seem pretty knowledgable on this stuff. But we can still probably disagree on one thing... I still stand by saying that the PS3 has 8 SPEs, and not 6. Why? because while one is disabled, and one is dedicated to the OS, I believe Sony could quickly enable that last one if it came to commercial use. Aside from that, thanks for the good information and insight. Your a smart guy

# idk... — Csyrah 2009-07-03 09:53

I would have to say yes to both of those actually. Not for the purpose of specifically narrowing down to the PS3 being capable of reading Xrays, but the fact that once it gets opened up to new capabilities, then its potential is further maximized. One useless thing COULD lead to another great thing. Besides, it would be nice to play a PS3 while waiting in that boreing room for my doctor

# thanks for your kind words Csyrah — PS34ME 2009-07-03 11:42

"I still stand by saying that the PS3 has 8 SPEs, and not 6. Why? because while one is disabled, and one is dedicated to the OS"

i mentioned 6 SPEs because that's what's available for games to use. the SPE used by the OS is not available for games to use, and the disabled SPE will never be used either, because many PS3s do not have a working 8th SPE.

when chips are manufactured, there are always faulty chips. for Cell, a small percent of the chips manufactured are perfect (1 PPE + 8 working SPEs), and these chips are used in places such as IBM's blade servers. this also makes them the most expensive Cell chips.

however a large percentage of Cell chips made have a fault in one of the SPEs (doesn't matter which one). so instead of throwing away these Cell chips, they put them to use in the PS3, making them perfect for the console and cheaper than Cell chips with 8 working SPEs.

--------

friends just arrived, got to go....cya

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PS3 can be used to read x-rays

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