[kmkkid]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4051983.stm


"IBM said it would start producing the chip in early 2005 at manufacturing plants in the US. The first machines off the line using the Cell processor will be computer workstations and servers."

IBM...

Computer Workstations...


Apples next generation chip perhaps?


Who knows. Comments?




Chris

[storer]

Originally posted by kmkkid:
Apples next generation chip perhaps?

Definetly not... we dont even have a G5 power book yet.

[macaddict0001]

so far i see nothing amazing about this chip, its just a risc on steroids.

[Disgruntled Head of C-3PO]

Originally posted by macaddict0001:
so far i see nothing amazing about this chip, its just a risc on steroids.

"The three firms claim that the Cell chip will be up to 10 times more powerful than existing processors."

That is pretty impressive to me.

[Adam Betts]

Damn.. IBM = $$$$$

All major video console makers are working with IBM. It's hard to see how all three next generation consoles' specs will be different from each other though.

[The Godfather]

Worst case scenario: IBM will devote their engineers to the development of Cell, and let PowerPC stagnate, just like Motorola did in the G4 years (favoring cell phone chipsets).

[CD Hanks]

Originally posted by macaddict0001:
so far i see nothing amazing about this chip, its just a risc on steroids.

Estimated clock speed: 4.6GHz

Estimated heat output: 85C

Estimated power requirement: 1.3V

Estimated bandwidth: 6.4GB/s off chip communication

highlights of the Cell processor design include:
+ Multi-thread, multicore architecture.
+ Supports multiple operating systems at the same time.
+ Substantial bus bandwidth to/from main memory, as well as companion chips.
+ Flexible on-chip I/O (input/output) interface.
+ Real-time resource management system for real-time applications.
+ On-chip hardware in support of security system for intellectual property protection.
+ Implemented in 90 nanometer (nm) silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology.

Yeah, IBM would be wise to pool together all gathered data from R&D. I doubt they'll pull a Motorola on Apple.

http://www.gfdata.de/gamefront-temp/sonycell1.pdf
http://www.gfdata.de/gamefront-temp/sonycell2.pdf

[Adam Betts]

Originally posted by CD Hanks:
Estimated clock speed: 4.6GHz
Estimated heat output: 85C

Very impressive indeed

[willed]

Originally posted by Disgruntled Head of C-3PO:
"The three firms claim that the Cell chip will be up to 10 times more powerful than existing processors."

That is pretty impressive to me.

Yeah, that's great, except that it doesn't exist yet. The number of promises that have been made and broken about future processors over the last few years, you'd think you guys wouldn't get this excited until the chip was actually out and shipping in volume. Remember guys, 3GHz this time next year!

[Lancer409]

Originally posted by CD Hanks:
*hilarious image*

cool image, and yeah .. those specs are SWEET

(in theory)

[olePigeon]

It'd be on track for Apple's so-rumored "quad processor" G5.

[Eug Wanker]

Originally posted by Disgruntled Head of C-3PO:
"The three firms claim that the Cell chip will be up to 10 times more powerful than existing processors."

That is pretty impressive to me.

Until we see it in action, it's all just Hype�.

Originally posted by CD Hanks:
Estimated clock speed: 4.6GHz

That's the max potential clock speed of the Cell core, not the clock speed of the version that will ship in the PS3.

[Disgruntled Head of C-3PO]

Originally posted by Eug Wanker:

That's the max potential clock speed of the Cell core, not the clock speed of the version that will ship in the PS3.

Says who?

[Eug Wanker]

Originally posted by Disgruntled Head of C-3PO:
Says who?

Says the type of guys who actually go those ISSCC meetings. (The 4.6 GHz spec came from a slide prepared for ISSCC.) Often, what is shown is the fastest speed achievable with the core. ie. Not the speed you'd expect to see in a console.

eg. A similar slide could show the G5 970FX at 2.8 or even 3.0 GHz or something, but if you were building a console with it you'd probably want to set it at around 1.8 GHz.

Yields of 2.8 GHz G5s would be far too low, and it would be far too hot for a console anyway.
Similarly, it's likely that yields of 4.6 GHz Cells would be far too low, and it would be far too hot for a console anyway.

[Superchicken]

Couldn't we possibly sell Cell in future Apple products? From the sounds of it anything could use a cell processor, so we could sell Cells in PowerMacs, PowerBooks, and even iPods perhaps?

If Cell is built on PPC then it should be backward compatible should it not? We might even see Cell based linux PCs from IBM.

[macaddict0001]

its a lot like a risc, except that instead of multiple pipeling stages it has multiple cores.

[CD Hanks]

Originally posted by Superchicken:
Couldn't we possibly sell Cell in future Apple products? From the sounds of it anything could use a cell processor, so we could sell Cells in PowerMacs, PowerBooks, and even iPods perhaps?

If Cell is built on PPC then it should be backward compatible should it not? We might even see Cell based linux PCs from IBM.

Yeah, I remember people back in the G4/Motorola days hoping beyond hope for Apple to start selling Power4's. While it is in fact probable, it just isn't practical.

Listening to mac users jump at the news of there being any new PPC chip and then hoping Apple will adopt it is like listening to a young kid who gets overly hopeful anytime his parents go to the store because he thinks they're going to buy him something. Everytime.

Originally posted by macaddict0001:
its a lot like a risc, except that instead of multiple pipeling stages it has multiple cores.

Yes, it is a RISC chip. I'm also rather confident it does have multiple pipelines. I can't even fathom Sony trying to achieve 4.6Ghz clock speeds with single pipeline cores.

[Eug Wanker]

Yeah, I remember people back in the G4/Motorola days hoping beyond hope for Apple to start selling Power4's. While it is in fact probable, it just isn't practical.

IBM doesn't sell POWER CPUs to 3rd parties. It sells entire machines with POWER chips in them. And they're insanely pricey.

[macaddict0001]

Originally posted by CD Hanks:
I can't even fathom Sony trying to achieve 4.6Ghz clock speeds with single pipeline cores.

single pipeline isn't possible.

[d0ubled0wn]

From Investor's Business Daily:

Big Blue, in shedding its first significant light on a product it�s been developing since October 2001, says the device will arguably be the most powerful chip for consumer electronics when it hits the market next year. For now, it�s code-named the Cell chip.
�This is our next level of thinking,� said IBM Fellow Jim Kahle. He�s technology director for Cell at IBM�s Austin, Texas, research site.
Kahle says the chip will bring to the home what until recently were considered supercomputer capabilities.
For now, he says IBM has a prototype Cell chip running a workstation the company plans to start selling next year. Among other uses for Cell, the workstation is designed to give the entertainment industry powerful new capabilities. It will let movie makers add effects to their films in a lot less time than it takes today, he says.

...

�I would not be surprised to see IBM�s (chips) migrate even more to Apple,� Allison said. �Apple�s sauce is media stuff. One would expect to see it (the new Cell chip) in future Macintoshes.�
IBM�s Kahle declined to talk specifically about Apple�s interest in Cell. But he did note speculation that Apple is interested in the product is only natural.
�It would be something you would think would be in their realm,� Kahle said.
Among details about Cell revealed Monday, IBM said the chip will combine its flagship PowerPC core with a bunch of other, smaller cores. The end product, said the company, will be a chip designed for a variety of uses � starting with the digital entertainment segment.
Ultimately, IBM plans to market the Cell for a variety of uses, some of them unimagined today, Kahle says. �It�s a little hard to say in the early stages how these things will happen,� he said. �It�s like in the early days of the PC era. We created (Cell) in a general purpose manner so we can have people interact with computers in the future.�

[CD Hanks]

Originally posted by Eug Wanker:
IBM doesn't sell POWER CPUs to 3rd parties. It sells entire machines with POWER chips in them. And they're insanely pricey.

Originally posted by macaddict0001:
single pipeline isn't possible.

I rest my case.

[Superchicken]

Yah the problem is that POWER chips have always been meant for servers. This thing is supposed to go in the PS3. Hardly a server environment unless the console wars are going to take a very very interesting turn. I see this thing as probably being like the first x86 chips only a lot better designed. They'll be used for a whole lot of stuff we don't even think x86 can be use for. I wouldn't be surprised if these go all the way from embedded systems, consoles, TVs, PDAs, PCs, workstations, Macs, servers etc. From the bit I've read about these, they show a lot of promise.

I think once people get around to tweaking Linux for these we could even see Big Blue come out with it's own Linux Distro.

[macaddict0001]

Originally posted by CD Hanks:
I rest my case.

huh? You've been rather cold since my political lounge thread, and that doesn't make any sense.

[CD Hanks]

Originally posted by macaddict0001:
huh? You've been rather cold since my political lounge thread, and that doesn't make any sense.

Nothing. You confirmed my points. We're all in agreement.