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Home > Archive > Xbox forum > December 2004 > NVIDIA helping with PS3 graphics (more)
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NVIDIA helping with PS3 graphics (more)
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| Nvidia has been working with Sony for the past two years on PlayStation3
graphics. I would imagine that PS3's backend rasterizers / renderers, are
based on NV4X if not NV5X technology. of course, it's not as simple as
sticking an Nvidia GPU in PS3, like what Nvidia did with Xbox. the PS3 GPU
is a joint Sony-Nvidia effort.
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=20078
http://www.vnunet.com/news/1159927
http://www.dailygame.net/news/archives/003501.php
http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20041207PR207.html
http://www.datafuse.net/page.php?news=359
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/1...ps3_design_win/
http://ps2.ign.com/articles/571/571460p1.html
from IGN:
Sony Announces PS3 GPU
NVIDIA and SCEI confirm next-gen graphics chip.
December 07, 2004 - In an announcement made around the midnight hour earlier
this morning, Sony Computer Entertainment and NVIDIA Corporation jointly
confirmed that they have teamed up to create the graphics chip for Sony's
next videogame console. Though the system has not yet been given an official
name, the highly anticipated PlayStation 2 follow-up (known in most circles
as the PS3) will certainly have some powerful hardware behind it -- as the
SCEI/NVIDIA collaboration will incorporate the next-generation GeForce
technology as well as Sony's system solutions for Cell Processor-enabled
consoles.
The collaboration itself has been made with a multi-year royalty-driven
agreement in mind, with the custom GPU serving as the foundation for the
PS3's graphics and image processing functions. Interestingly enough, this
agreement will go beyond the confines of just the PS3, however, and will
also apply to future Sony digital electronic products as well. The custom
graphics chip will be manufactured by Sony's Nagasaki Fab2 group in addition
to OTSS -- a joint fabrication facility co-run by Toshiba and Sony.
"In the future, the experience of computer entertainment systems and
broadband-ready PCs will be fused together to generate and transfer
multi-streams of rich content simultaneously. In this sense, we have found
the best way to integrate the state-of-the-art technologies from NVIDIA and
SCEI," said Ken Kutaragi, executive deputy president and COO, Sony
Corporation, and president and Group CEO, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.
"Our collaboration includes not only the chip development but also a variety
of graphics development tools and middleware, essential for efficient
content creation."
"We are thrilled to partner with Sony Computer Entertainment to build what
will certainly be one of the most important computer entertainment and
digital media platforms of the twenty-first century," added Jen-Hsun Huang,
president and CEO, NVIDIA. "Over the past two years NVIDIA has worked
closely with Sony Computer Entertainment on their next-generation computer
entertainment system. In parallel, we have been designing our
next-generation GeForce GPU. The combination of the revolutionary Cell
processor and NVIDIA's graphics technologies will enable the creation of
breathtaking imagery that will surprise and captivate consumers."
Speculation as to when further announcements regarding the PlayStation 3 (or
whatever it ends up being called) continue to run rampant throughout the
industry. Several industry insiders point to E3 for the big unveiling, while
others feel that the GDC may provide a surprise reveal early next year.
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more insight:
"As correctly assumed by the skeptics here, the two-year number (nVidia &
Sony working together) is sleight of hand. As of one year ago, the
collaboration between nVidia and Sony was apparently not finalized, and
rather was being explored as one of two or more PS3 GPU possibilities. Sony
attempted but apparently failed to develop a graphics solution in-house, and
as I understand it was approached by nVidia with the suggestion that a
competitive solution would require shader and other technologies Sony was
ill-equipped to deliver on par with ATI's Xbox2/NR chips.
From what was said by an nVidia insider at the time, Sony's in-house
solution was set to be little more than a dramatic polygon count evolution
of the PS2's graphics chip, scaled in rough approximation to the PS1-PS2
jump, with relatively few new hardware effects (and perhaps lacking support
for emergent display technologies). The theory behind nVidia's discussions
with Sony was that the Japanese hardware and software development
communities had generally missed the boat on the various next-generation
shadowing, texturing, shading, and geometry technologies incorporated into
ATI and nVidia chipsets, and consequently had fallen behind Western
developers on the software development curve for such features."
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