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Cell Processor: “Dead In The Water”

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According to the rumor mill, the next version of the cell processor is dead in the water. The article claims that it was IBM’s Vice President of Deep Computing that said the next generation cell processor would not be made.

Apparently German website Heise Online has quoted IBM’s Vice President of Deep Computing, David Turek, saying the planned successor to the current processor, slated to have two PowerPC processors and 32 SPEs, will not be released. Extrapolating, then, you can summise that the Cell processor line is terminated, with the current PoweXCell 8i the last one off the production line.
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Not too surprised, Cell always seemed like a weirdly complicated solution.
 
If it's like Blue-Ray it'll be doa one day and required in all PCs and consoles the next.
 
Good. Cell is why Playstation3 doesn't have many titles. Nobody wanted to code for it.
 
Sony will invent some all new form of insanity for devlopers to toil over. Release tools 1-2 years after launch and keep claiming there is more untapped power in there.
 
Cell is to the PS3 what twin SH-2s are to the Sega Saturn.

The one difference is that the PS3 doesn't have a corrupt man in charge driving it into the ground on purpose.
 
vengence said:
So what's the PS4 going to use to do everything?
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Interesting question though.

Sony was willing to takes risks with cell and the payoff was definitely questionable, next time they might go conventional and use something "off the shelf" or only slightly modified, like a custom Nehalem or Phenom type thing, or they might go for something a bit weird and cool like an all in one solution, like drop discrete cpu/gpu completely and use a single programable processor that does everything, like some variant of Larrabee, or a CUDA type thing from nvidia.
 
MartinX said:
Interesting question though.

Sony was willing to takes risks with cell and the payoff was definitely questionable, next time they might go conventional and use something "off the shelf" or only slightly modified, like a custom Nehalem or Phenom type thing, or they might go for something a bit weird and cool like an all in one solution, like drop discrete cpu/gpu completely and use a single programable processor that does everything, like some variant of Larrabee, or a CUDA type thing from nvidia.
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If I were to guess I'd bet on a single core or dual core based on the core 2 architecture coupled with something along the lines of a 6850. But I'm not that up to speed on consoles.
 
Hmmmm........maybe Nvidia does have something to say about a new X86 cpu- I can see them incoprating a cpu/gpu for Sony to use in their PS4.
 
By the time the ps4 comes out I think the lowest cores that will be available in stores will be a quad core. So they will probably go with a custom cpu from intel or amd of that time. A Larrabee would be something they should look into. Wouldnt that create less heat if they made it right and use less power?
 
MartinX said:
Interesting question though.

Sony was willing to takes risks with cell and the payoff was definitely questionable, next time they might go conventional and use something "off the shelf" or only slightly modified, like a custom Nehalem or Phenom type thing, or they might go for something a bit weird and cool like an all in one solution, like drop discrete cpu/gpu completely and use a single programable processor that does everything, like some variant of Larrabee, or a CUDA type thing from nvidia.
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But we all know that this isn't going to happen because Sony loves being proprietary :-P
 
Nvidia is definitely going to be happy to hear this. More stuff for the GPU's to crunch. People forget GPU's are nothing but math coprocessors. Just like the intel 80x87 series of processors.
 
Diseaseboy said:
Hmmmm........maybe Nvidia does have something to say about a new X86 cpu- I can see them incoprating a cpu/gpu for Sony to use in their PS4.
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You're probably right...given that PS3 was nVidia's only entry in this cycle of consoles, and that ATI already has a continued contract with MS and Nintendo, I wouldn't be too shocked to hear the next PlayStation being completely powered by an nVidia solution.
 
wopsang said:
Hmmm... interesting. Can you elaborate?
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Basically Sega had decided that only the in house developers woul get access to the complete developer toolset available to the Saturn. All other third party developers were told to "figure it out." This is why all of the first party titles were so much better than anything release by a third party. It wasn't until the very end that Sega decided to share the wealth. By then it was too late, and the PSX had dominated the market.
 
I've read that IBM clarified that the guy said a particular VARIANT of the Cell processor wouldn't be coming out, not that there won't be any future cell processors.

It's akin to if somebody at AMD said "We won't be coming out with any more single core CPUs." and somebody ran with it and went everywhere saying "AMD to not make CPUs anymore!"
 
I doubt will we see an integrated CPU/GPU solution for the next-gen consoles. You can probably get more power from having a dedicated GPU, which I think is ideal for a gaming console. Although consoles are more and more becoming all-in-one devices. It'll be interesting to see where next-gen consoles are at, since they the gap between PC gaming and console gaming is shrinking I believe.
 
Sony learned what everyone else already knew. Yes you can make a new very complicated cpu design from scratch and revamp the processing pipeline and get extremely good performance.... but you cannot expect underpaid programmers to re-learn a new way of developing games or re-writing them for a single system.... thats just stupid and crazy. It doesn't matter if your company is SONY its not going to happen.
 
Lazybones said:
Sony will invent some all new form of insanity for devlopers to toil over. Release tools 1-2 years after launch and keep claiming there is more untapped power in there.
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It will most likely be an AMD then, if you can't beat them, join them.
 
tomiboy59 said:
I doubt will we see an integrated CPU/GPU solution for the next-gen consoles. You can probably get more power from having a dedicated GPU, which I think is ideal for a gaming console. Although consoles are more and more becoming all-in-one devices. It'll be interesting to see where next-gen consoles are at, since they the gap between PC gaming and console gaming is shrinking I believe.
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If you mean it by stating they're bringing PCs level to the miserable level of a console once this console has been out for 2 years then yes, by all means is shrinking.
 
Azhar said:
Good. Cell is why Playstation3 doesn't have many titles. Nobody wanted to code for it.
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That's a huge reason, but overall the complaint is the architecture of the PS3 as a whole is just messed up (Almost Atari Jaguar-like). The way they set up the memory is another problem programmers complain about. Not to mention the last minute slap in of the nVidia GPU didn't help much (at least early in the PS3's life).
 
Seems like a good bet that we'll be seeing something very AMD-like for the ps4. And because that's where AMD is taking ATI in general, the Xbox 4 could be something similar. Remember that the reason Sony won the war between the ps2 and the Xbox was being able to control manufacturing costs by consolidating chips and chipsets.
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Azhar said:
Good. Cell is why Playstation3 doesn't have many titles. Nobody wanted to code for it.
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Since it practically has the same multiplatform titles the 360 has, your point is moot.

360 exclusive to Ps3 exclusive, there's not much difference in numbers there either.

I'd also wager that Ps3 exclusives (by companies who know how to code for the platform) beat 360 exclusives in the graphic department. I love Gears 1+2 more than most people, but there's no doubt that Uncharted 1+2 are arguably the best looking console games this generation thus far. Naughty Dog knows how to do impressive work considering that Cell is "such a PITA". :eek: :D
 
Bring back the math co-processors. 386 and back had them for a reason lol.
 
We managed to get hold of an IBM spokesperson an hour ago and they said that only one CPU development cycle is being 'halted' which is the successor to the current PowerXCell-8i cpu. IBM have said they are planning to work on other CPU's in the Cell Processor 'family' and we would assume that by the time the Playstation 4 hits market that they could very well be involved on some level.

Read more: IBM have not stopped Cell processor development - DriverHeaven.net http://www.driverheaven.net/news.php?newsid=344#ixzz0XiCVZROT
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http://www.driverheaven.net/news.php?newsid=344


Maybe the grammar Nazi's need to go visit Driverheaven and straighten them out!
 
tomiboy59 said:
since they the gap between PC gaming and console gaming is shrinking I believe.
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Shrinking due to dumbed-down games that are made simpler so as to be easier to port to console/PC together, you mean... PC's with games that support the PC well or are made-for-PC just roflstomp the consoles hands-down. From controls, to interface, to complexity, to graphics (texture/model) quality, as well as 2560x1600 resolutions (vs. X360's 1024x560 for many games) with high levels of antialiasing and anisotropic filtering, there's just no comparison. That's not even to mention things like dedicated servers, modability, user-made addons/maps, MMORPG's, etc. Don't get me wrong, consoles have their place, but other than the silliness of money-grab devs like IW for MW2, the PC is without a doubt the premier gaming platform.

(Pre-emptive /sigh @ people who go "BUT I CAN PLAY IT ON MY TEE-VEE" you can do the same thing with a PC, hook in an HDMI cable)
 
GoldenTiger said:
Shrinking due to dumbed-down games that are made simpler so as to be easier to port to console/PC together, you mean... PC's with games that support the PC well or are made-for-PC just roflstomp the consoles hands-down. From controls, to interface, to complexity, to graphics (texture/model) quality, as well as 2560x1600 resolutions (vs. X360's 1024x560 for many games) with high levels of antialiasing and anisotropic filtering, there's just no comparison. That's not even to mention things like dedicated servers, modability, user-made addons/maps, MMORPG's, etc. Don't get me wrong, consoles have their place, but other than the silliness of money-grab devs like IW for MW2, the PC is without a doubt the premier gaming platform.

(Pre-emptive /sigh @ people who go "BUT I CAN PLAY IT ON MY TEE-VEE" you can do the same thing with a PC, hook in an HDMI cable)
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Quoting just to add that the Wii is the only console that offers anything better/comparable to my PC this generation due to its control-scheme and games like Mario Bros. Wii/Mario Galaxy/Smash Brothers Brawl/etc.
 
GoldenTiger said:
Shrinking due to dumbed-down games that are made simpler so as to be easier to port to console/PC together, you mean... PC's with games that support the PC well or are made-for-PC just roflstomp the consoles hands-down. From controls, to interface, to complexity, to graphics (texture/model) quality, as well as 2560x1600 resolutions (vs. X360's 1024x560 for many games) with high levels of antialiasing and anisotropic filtering, there's just no comparison. That's not even to mention things like dedicated servers, modability, user-made addons/maps, MMORPG's, etc. Don't get me wrong, consoles have their place, but other than the silliness of money-grab devs like IW for MW2, the PC is without a doubt the premier gaming platform.

(Pre-emptive /sigh @ people who go "BUT I CAN PLAY IT ON MY TEE-VEE" you can do the same thing with a PC, hook in an HDMI cable)
Click to expand...

I rarely touch my Xbox360 these days. The games look like ass compared to anything on my computer and frankly the graphics pwoer could be duplicated for under 200$, closer to 150$ even. The last thing I played any length of on it was Fable 2. There was a time when consoles meant better graphics, no bugs, and no frame rate issues. Fable failed everyone one of those. I know why they lack better graphics, but that doesn't explain why FPS dips and bugs have become an accepted norm for console games.
 
vengence said:
I rarely touch my Xbox360 these days. The games look like ass compared to anything on my computer and frankly the graphics pwoer could be duplicated for under 200$, closer to 150$ even. The last thing I played any length of on it was Fable 2. There was a time when consoles meant better graphics, no bugs, and no frame rate issues. Fable failed everyone one of those. I know why they lack better graphics, but that doesn't explain why FPS dips and bugs have become an accepted norm for console games.
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Because of the harddrive. Once developers saw that gamers was willing to tolerate bugs they just kept doing it. Just like the xbox itself is screwed up with that red ring stuff, but gamers keep buying it so MS will not fix it.:eek:
 
vengence said:
I rarely touch my Xbox360 these days. The games look like ass compared to anything on my computer and frankly the graphics pwoer could be duplicated for under 200$, closer to 150$ even. The last thing I played any length of on it was Fable 2. There was a time when consoles meant better graphics, no bugs, and no frame rate issues. Fable failed everyone one of those. I know why they lack better graphics, but that doesn't explain why FPS dips and bugs have become an accepted norm for console games.
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You obviously weren't around for the NES games that started to chug when a bunch of shit started happening onscreen.

FPS dips are not a new concept, for PC or console. Some people just don't remember what it was like.
 
SamuraiInBlack said:
You obviously weren't around for the NES games that started to chug when a bunch of shit started happening onscreen.

FPS dips are not a new concept, for PC or console. Some people just don't remember what it was like.
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Oh man I counted on the slowdown to pass some of the shmups back in the NES days.
 
This just increased the asking price for Larrabee.

MS and Sony are going to pay out the nose to secure the rights.

MS should have closed that deal long ago but they're wating for another ATI GPU to compare.
 
SamuraiInBlack said:
You obviously weren't around for the NES games that started to chug when a bunch of shit started happening onscreen.

FPS dips are not a new concept, for PC or console. Some people just don't remember what it was like.
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Maybe it is my age, but had an Atari and a NES and I just don't remember having the problems we have now. The only time I can remember a frame dip is when you were killed as megaman but by that point you are already dead.
 
Im pretty sure Sony already said PS4 would continue to use the Cell, accept an OCed variant of it.

The PS4 is at least 4 years away, 3 at the earliest. By then, CPU/GPU hybrids will be common place.
 
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