http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/ Engadget Comments for IBM PowerXCell-8i processor said to be last of its kind, but Cell will live on http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/Nov 23rd 2009 12:44PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/Nov 23rd 2009 12:47PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/Nov 23rd 2009 3:54PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/Nov 23rd 2009 4:50PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/
GPUs are talking a broader role now.]]>Nov 23rd 2009 12:48PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/Nov 23rd 2009 1:04PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/Like what AMD Fusion is going to be, or Intel Larrabee or their new Arrandale chips.

Only in a very early form, once GPU's are equipped with MIMD stream processors the new Cell sibling will get that too.]]>Nov 23rd 2009 1:10PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/Nov 23rd 2009 1:32PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/Nov 23rd 2009 2:07PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/
The SPE's in the Cell are EXACTLY the same as stream processors in nVidia and ATI hardware.]]>Nov 23rd 2009 2:27PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/
As seen by emerging ASIC trends (Tegra, AMD's Fusion, etc) it's a much more efficient and useful way to use transistors than just tons of general purpose cores.]]>Nov 23rd 2009 12:49PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/Combining (the integer performance of) the CPU with (the floating point performance of) the GPU. The Cell Broadband Engine is an early example, too early to be effective.
It has stream processors (SPE's) which are usually used to process shaders, like in a GPU combined with one or more PowerPC cores.

Tegra is an odd example, it's a SoC which combines the CPU and the GPU on one die/chip.
Fusion is a real heterogeneous processor, which filters the floating point operations using a switch from the CPU to the IGP. This will effectively give you performance in the teraflops rather than single or maybe double digit gigaflops.
The IGP will still have enough power to handle to basic things, and usually will be fitted with hardware audio/video encode/decode units.

The problem was that the Cell processor needed specific targeted code to use the SPE's, it was released too early. Fortunately since the release of abstract languages like OpenCL, there is no need for cumbersome things like that anymore. But the Cell is already nearing it's end-of-life status.]]>Nov 23rd 2009 1:18PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/Nov 23rd 2009 1:50PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/
"Maximizing Power Efficiency with Asymmetric Multicore Systems"
http://queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?id=1658422

The idea is that, since different programs (or the same program at different times) exhibit different levels of parallelism, a machine which has many slow, simple cores and a few fast, complex ones can shift the load around to optimize the performance/power tradeoff. It works only if the various cores have the same instruction set--e.g., an x86 machine with a Larrabee GPU.]]>Nov 23rd 2009 2:13PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/
Yea Larrabee is cool and all, but I still think it's going to be difficult to program for and utilize effectively in serial or light-parallel situations (like in gaming).

I'd say we're going to see segmentation of lots of simple multicore devices for the industries that need it (large workstations, simulations, etc) and then for the average user / consumer application (PCs, Consoles) it will be 2-6 general purpose cores + a bunch of application specific cores for accelerating functions that are very common and silly to do via software/general purpose.]]>Nov 23rd 2009 3:22PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/Nov 23rd 2009 1:00PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/Nov 23rd 2009 2:16PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/Nov 23rd 2009 2:56PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/
Yes it did. You could buy a PCI-e Cell Processor Plug in for your home desktop pc under the name Spursengine.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815122015
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815122016 ]]>Nov 23rd 2009 10:59PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/
WTF. http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=6jle7l&s=6


]]>Nov 23rd 2009 1:12PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/
And I'm going to LICK YOU ALL OVER..

]]>Nov 23rd 2009 4:16PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/Nov 23rd 2009 1:18PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/
So what happens when a next gen Xbox arrives before PS4 is ready? I feel like any discussion of the PS3s lifetime will be rendered moot by the fact that the Xbox IS beginning to hit a wall, or will be soon, and that Microsoft's response will be to update it accordingly. So any advantage the PS3 will have may be rather short lived. I think the next gen consoles may be the last or second to last dedicated gaming consoles anyhow, as eventually the games will be server-side distribution. You may say when pigs fly but hey, swine flew happened.

sorry for another hijack...]]>Nov 23rd 2009 1:19PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/Nov 23rd 2009 1:42PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/
Besides, with Natal coming out soon MS doesn't look like it ready to release an Xbox 720 when the 360s sales are fine, and a 720 would only cost more, and only cannibalize 360 sales.

Next gen probably won't start until Wii HD.]]>Nov 23rd 2009 3:00PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/
The system with the slightly slower, but noticeably less expensive hardware will always be the winner because it seems to takes years to program to a consoles full potential and by the time the lesser is maxed out, it's time for the 'next gen' anyway. Leaving the higher end having to upgrade as well because most people will want the the 'next gen' system even if the old one still has room to grow. So the hype in the beginning becomes wasted potential in the end. The point of a console is to have a relatively inexpensive dedicated device for gaming. Over the top hardware is for PCs. Especially recently, Nintendo has had the slowest/least expensive hardware, and they are doing just fine, and have been around much longer than the other 2.

As for the server distribution, that won't absolve the need for a dedicated game system. It just means, like the new PSP, we won't have physical media anymore. It will be quite a while longer before they run the game on the server and just stream the video feed to you.

By the way, I think it's spelled flu.

Next gen probably will start with Nintendo, but I doubt they will call it a Wii. I'm putting my money on either "Nintendo Kinkin", "Nintendo Ultra128!", or "Nintendo Squeeze" with a 'squeezable controller', or 'squeeze-mote'. ]]>Nov 24th 2009 4:03AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/
It will live on in the PS3, but the PS4 will be something else. AMD? Intel? Who knows, but considering what a AMD / Intel cpu joined with a ATI / Nvidia GPU can do these days... by by celly.]]>Nov 23rd 2009 1:22PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/Unfortunately, at the apex of optimization the Cell is already in it's end-of-life state.
If OpenCL would be released earlier, programming for the PS3 would have been much easier and cheaper. Resulting in more games, cheaper games, etc.

Funny thing however, is that Intel will probably supply Larrabee-type processors for Sony, dropping PowerPC. But now OpenCL finally makes the PS3 development platform complete.
I'm afraid that Intel hardware won't be sufficient enough to make the Playstation 4 a worthy competitor to the Nextbox, whereas the PS3 was to the Xbox360.]]>Nov 23rd 2009 2:26PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/
I own both the 360 and the PS3 and there is little to no difference in graphic quality between the systems, no matter what either side's fanboys say. Although I could be wrong on all counts. We'll have to wait and see. ]]>Nov 23rd 2009 3:37PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/
Early PS4 Details:
http://www.psxextreme.com/ps3-news/6173.html
http://www.ps4playstation4.com/]]>Nov 23rd 2009 11:14PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/Nov 23rd 2009 1:29PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/Nov 23rd 2009 3:00PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/
I was thinking the PS4 would be considerably less expensive to do the R and D and it wouldn't debut at 600 dollars.

Looks like the drawing board again.

]]>Nov 23rd 2009 1:38PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/
Can I get a mon tage?]]>Nov 23rd 2009 2:16PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/Nov 23rd 2009 3:56PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/COME OOOOOON!]]>Nov 24th 2009 2:21AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/Nov 23rd 2009 4:33PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/
And btw dude, spelling it "flew" was intentional. Any more questions you want to ask?]]>Nov 24th 2009 8:20AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/Nov 24th 2009 11:25AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/Nov 26th 2009 9:42AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/23/ibm-powerxcell-8i-processor-said-to-be-last-of-its-kind-but-cel/Dec 15th 2009 9:12AM