| Blig Merk 2005-08-21, 8:32 pm |
| While this isn't directly about the PS3 and is more of a whiz-bang tech
demo, it does demonstrate the raw computing power of the Cell and the
possibility of some of the development applied to the PS3. Game
developers are now saying they are being told the final PS3 specs are
going to be better than what is being reported now.
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9584_22-5833453.html
Super Companion Chip for Cell
PALO ALTO, Calif.--The Cell processor's developers want to make sure
you never miss another TV show again.
Toshiba showed off a "super companion chip," or SCC, for the Cell that
can record 48 separate MPEG 2 streams at once.
The chip, detailed at the Hot Chips conference taking place at Stanford
University this week, is part of an effort by developers of the SCC and
the Cell--IBM, Toshiba and Sony--to get the Cell into as many types of
devices as possible.
The SCC is essentially a versatile, high-speed input-output port,
according to Takayuki Mihara, an engineer with Toshiba. It receives
regular and high-definition TV signals, audio and other data from
set-top boxes, hard drives and similar items, and then forwards it to
the processor.
"The Cell processor needs access windows to communicate with outside
modules," Mihara said. "I think the Cell processor will be used in
multiprocessor-centric systems such as digital TV. In reality, not many
will try to record all that video at once, but it makes for a cool
demo."
Cell engineers also emphasized that they designed the Cell
processor--and its corresponding helper chips--to ensure smooth audio
and video programming.
The Cell, for instance, partitions a single video image into five
elements, which then get processed on three separate streams, said
Ryuji Sakai of Toshiba. The chip also comes with a bandwidth
reservation feature that can allocate bandwidth dynamically to
different subcomponents of the chip. Better bandwidth scheduling leads
to higher performance.
The SCC sports a wide array of input/output systems. A single chip
comes with four USB ports, two serial ATA ports, four PCI slots and a
PCI (peripheral component interconnect) express link, and its own
memory. The SCC will communicate directly with the Cell chip over a
Flex I/O link, designed by Rambus, which can pass 5GB of data per
second each way.
Mihara said that the SCC would likely be included in computer systems
and audio-visual equipment running Cell, but he did not specifically
state which products the SCC would be used in.
Sony has committed to including Cell in the next version of the
PlayStation game console. Toshiba, meanwhile, has said it will include
the Cell in future TVs.
So far, one company outside the Cell triumvirate--Mercury Computer
Systems--has announced that it will put the chip into its computers
geared toward oil and gas engineers and other power users. Researchers
and executives have said they will promote the chip for a variety of
projects, and different versions of the chip will come out for
different markets.
"This is not a single-application processor," said Michael Gschwind
from IBM. "It will be used in consumer electronics, supercomputers,
home servers ...We can span a whole range of devices with multiple
flexibility."
Still, spreading the Cell message won't be easy. The chip is just out
and a lot of programming work lies ahead, noted Kevin Krewell, editor
in chief of the Microprocessor Report. Sakai got a laugh out of the
audience when he concluded his presentation with, "Have fun programming
on the Cell!"
Nathan Brookwood of Insight 64 also was puzzled by some features of the
SCC. It uses DDR (double data rate) 2 memory. The Cell itself connects
to XDR (external data representation) memory, a different architecture
of memory developed by Rambus. In the end, that means two chips working
closely together will use two different types of memory.
|