Playstation 3 Cell chip speed unveiled?
by Ben Zackheim 
{ Jan 25th 2005 at 9:15PM }
It's been known for a few months that the Cell architecture being used in the upcoming Playstation 3 would be
revealed in detail in early February. But now it looks like some details have trickled out. Big surprise there. The
specs are astounding. On paper, that is. We'll see how the actual product fares. As people love to point out in the
comments, Sony has been known to hype the power of their hardware, at times.
We're looking at a 4.6 Ghz multi-core workhorse, with support for multiple OSes, and "substantial" memory bandwidth.
Oh, and on-chip support for intellectual property protection. That should sell a couple of units.
All in all, though, it's impressive stuff.
On paper.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
jeff @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
I need to read the technical presentation to properly comment on it but what the heck. If AMD can compete with Intel, then so can IBM and Sony. If the specs on this cell chip are true, this would be profound. Intel doesn't even have 4GHZ chips! Then again, there are so many technical details to consider, for its been proven that clock frequency is not the end all benchmark for superiority. Still, it would be impressive if true and will certainly take the top spot as the highest non-overclocked clock frequency on any processor ever. That is just scary.
megatron @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
"PS2 will become a basic platform for the Net," intones Ken Kutaragi, the hyberbolic Sony executive who dreamed up the idea. "It will become a machine that transcends the differences of nation, race and sex."
Here's the world Kutaragi envisions: from your mobile phone, you send an e-mail telling the machine to turn up the air-conditioning at home. "Welcome home," it purrs when you open the front door; it then puts your video e-mail on the TV monitor. You command the PS2 to download the movie you want and play it 30 minutes later. Mid-film, you stop to cue up a video game featuring the movie's main characters. Then you e-mail a virtual friend you met online who also likes this game; you face off against each other.
When will we get the PS2 we were promised?
G. Freeman @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
Personally, I don't care about the specs of these consoles. I learned my lesson.
Sony came around a few years ago and lied out their ass about how awesome the PS2 was going to be. Where are my Toy Story quality graphics? The PS2 was supposed to push 66 million polygons, how come it can only push a maximum of 7?
Nintendo only claimed to be able to push 9 million polygons so everyone crapped all over their console prior to launch. Yet somehow, a first-generation launch title pushed more than 14 million. Since then, some games have been able to push more than 18.
As you can see, there isn't much you can tell about the performance of a console by press releases. I don't ever remember a Sony press release claiming to have more jaggy edges to their 3D graphics than the competition, yet that is quite true.
As for the number of giga-flops or 1024 bit dual processor mumbo-jumbo… who cares! Does anyone really care how fast the front-side-bus is on your Xbox? Of course not. As long as it plays Burnout 3, what does it matter?
mark @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
Somebody remind me: Besides running my A/C and getting me laid, this thing is supposed to play video games, too, right?
Eric Pobirs @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
Way to repeat completely unsubstantiated and technically dubious rumors, dude!
Has anyone mentioned that the person who started this claim is a renown lunatic?
Edge @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
I was really hyped by megatron's comment, until I realized it was about the PS2, not the PS3! I think I remember reading this years ago.
3 Playstation 2's later, because they broke, I wonder where things went wrong. Maybe it was all a lie to get me to buy their console.
I wonder what Revolution has in store. The Gyroscope controller sounds neat.
Ben @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
Quit your crying. I still have my PS2 from launch
day that gets constant use, and have never had a problem with it. Mabey you need to try and take care of your toys little boy. And as pretty as Nintendo's 14 million polys look, I still don't own one because I can get pretty much any of the good games from that system on PS2 (except Metorid) I have stuck with my playstation because of the games, as must be true for you also if you have bought 3 of them.
Polys are pretty, but it is all about the games. MMMMMMMMMmmmmm........Saga Master System........Super Nintendo.........
Chris Norman @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
The specs sound quite impressive. However, after it's launched, and Ken Kutagari claims that the fact that it only uses 1 Gig of processing power and tends to trip the circut breaker in your house after 2 hours of play are "features" that users and developers will have to learn to deal with, I wonder what the response will be.
That had better be one shiny damned system in that case. Otherwise, the "who cares, it looks pretty" arguments might not hold up.
;)
LINES @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
PS3 is gonna ownz you cause it is havin the best power of all systems and the most mature games so babyes can cry about their revoultion ans xbox too cause the psp will have the games with hte most guns and blood then all others combine.
JC @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
It's not that Intel can't produce 4.0GHz+ processors, they don't want to because they are focussing on other things at the moment rather than just raw power. For example the centrino processors. Also Intel hasn’t been developing one single chip for the past 1-2 years to get them up to such high speeds.
I've learned my lesson about Sony manufacturing too, they are trying to cut costs so much that customers end up with shoddy products, why do you think Sony are selling fewer and fewer electrical products?
This is one reason why I admire Nintendo because they care more about the gamers, obviously they want to make shed loads of money at the same time but they are purely a games company and they care about the gamers, their customers.
"I dunno what it is, but i just feel that Ninty still care about the games and still care about the gamers. I dont get that vibe from Sony."
Clint @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
If Nintendo really cared about gamers they would make something else besides Mario over and over! They might actually release their games for the other consoles and stop making their own. That way more gamers could play the millionth version of Mario.
Naughtybean @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
Clint, your statement was so dumb, I don't even believe I am looking at it on screen.
In a single post you said Nintendo should stop making mario games, but make games for other platforms so more people can play Mario.
Game over. Go home.
Clint @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
It's called sarcasm. Look it up !
Naughtybean @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
sar·casm
1) A cutting, often ironic remark intended to wound.
2) A form of wit that is marked by the use of sarcastic language and is intended to make its victim the butt of contempt or ridicule.
The only thing sarcastic about this discourse, is that your attempt at scarcasm made you the butt of contempt or ridicule.
Clint @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
What's funny about this is you had to look up the word sarcasm to know what it means!
Paolo @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
Yes he´s a total retard, or probably just a kid who still plays mario games, so he gets offended when you insult them. Oh and another thing Tell one game on gamecube or xbox which compares to Gran Turismo 3 or 4 NONE!!!
Kyle @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
I'm gonna stick with Sony for the next generation. I just hope they won't try to cut costs buy putting cheaper quality hardware in it. I don't have any problems with my PS2 but there's a lot of people that do. Also that it lives up to the hype and power they say it's gonna put out. I mean if the PS2 was originally supposed to push 66 millions polygones... wtf happened.
Nintendo caring about gamers, ha if they really did the wouldn't re-use the same old franchises over and over again( Mario, Zelda etc) and would make sure they don't lose so much 3rd party support. Also they would make games for older people like teens and adults.
bademailname @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
JC said:
"It's not that Intel can't produce 4.0GHz+ processors, they don't want to because they are focussing on other things at the moment rather than just raw power. For example the centrino processors."
Actually, Intel can't produce 4Ghz processors, which is why they delayed the release of a 4Ghz Pentium IV for six months before finally cancelling it entirely from their roadmap. The highest they got was a 3.8Ghz, which runs hotter and leaks more energy than Chernobyl.
Secondly, Centrino isn't a processor, it's a platform. It's actually a processor, a mobo chipset, and a wireless chipset, all sold under a brand name.
JC also said: "...why do you think Sony are selling fewer and fewer electrical products?"
Where the hell do you live, because it's certainly not Earth. Sony sells more consumer electronics than any other company. Period.
You may consider doing a little fact finding next time, otherwise you'll end up like the person claiming 4.6Ghz speeds out of the Cell Processor.
*sidenote* It's possible that the person leaking this "information" is adding up the totals of the multicore processor. Perhaps two 2.3Ghz cores on the chip? */sidenote*
IVR @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
OMFG! ROTFLOL! You're all so damn funny! Flame wars... they never get old. Thank you for all the morons on the earth, I promise I'll never complain about you ever again. Thank you.
JC @ Dec 18th 2005 8:45PM
"Actually, Intel can't produce 4Ghz processors, which is why they delayed the release of a 4Ghz Pentium IV for six months before finally cancelling it entirely from their roadmap. The highest they got was a 3.8Ghz, which runs hotter and leaks more energy than Chernobyl."
That doesn't mean they can't produce them, it just means that they’re not in a state that’s useable in home computers. ;)
"Where the hell do you live, because it's certainly not Earth. Sony sells more consumer electronics than any other company. Period.
You may consider doing a little fact finding next time"
Here you talk about "fact finding" and yet you have nothing to back up your comment! Sony may or may not sell more electronic products than every other company in the world combined, that’s not the point. The point is that Sony is slowly loosing customers because their products are getting shoddy, Sony was an excellent brand name but in a few short years the company has decided that profits are more important than all it's customers.
Just look at the PSP, it looks excellent but is very easily damaged, the square button overlaps the screen, the disk drive door pops open and fire your disk into the person standing opposite you, the earphones are cheap and plasticy, battery life is only just good enough for a decent game, it can only use Sony's overpriced memory sticks, the list goes on yet it looks great and has Sony written all over it. That is why people will put up with these problems.
And don’t say that I’m a “Ninty Fanboy” or whatever because it’s not just random people that are saying things like this, even the gaming magazine EDGE has said about the earphones being cheap and crap, etc.