IBM unveils 'supercomputer on a chip'

fyi

IBM officials declined to discuss what its partnership with Sony might mean to its relationship with Microsoft Corp., which recently said it would use IBM chips in its next-generation Xbox gaming system.

The new Cell chips can support virtually every type of operating system, IBM claims. They also can be virtually linked to other Cell chips, increasing their performance potential even more.

The new chips are also unique in that they can have up to nine "cores," or processing units, allowing them to handle up to 10 different software operations at the same time.

But here's the question: is Cell using PowerPC technology?

If you can run program code designed for PowerPC on Cell, does that mean future versions of Apple's Macintosh line of computers will use CPU's derived from Cell technology?

The "Cell" processor's claim to fame is that it will serve as the processor powering Sony Computer Entertainment's next-generation entertainment console, the PlayStation 3. However, the PowerPC-derived, 64-bit multicore chip is also designed to be scalable, allowing it to be used in products from consumer-electronic devices to workstations and some servers.

IBM, for example, plans to use it to power a Cell-based workstation, first disclosed in May and now up and running in trial form. A one-rack Cell processor-based workstation will reach a performance of 16 teraflops or trillions of floating point calculations per second, IBM said. IBM did not say whether or not the Cell workstation that was "powered on" used an early Cell chip, or a simulation running on some other hardware.

In addition to the PS3, Sony plans to launch home servers for broadband content as well as high-definition televisions powered by Cell in 2006. Toshiba also said it expects HDTVs powered by the Cell chip to launch in 2006.

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So Power PC derived .....leaves your question unanswered.

Forum mtem

From:

Rajesh Jain's Weblog on Emerging Technologies, Enterprises and Markets

IBM's Cell

WSJ writes about IBM's new chip for the home-entertainment market:

Sony and IBM are expected to announce that next year they will start selling the first Cell-based product -- a high-performance workstation designed for use by videogame designers and Hollywood animation houses. Pricing and marketing plans haven't been determined. IBM said a version of the workstation mounted in a rack with multiple Cell processors will be able to perform 16 trillion mathematical operations a second. That speed would theoretically make it faster than all but a dozen of the world's supercomputers, although much of its power is dedicated to graphics processing rather than to general-purpose computing.
Tom Starnes, an analyst with Gartner Inc., who has been briefed on the chip, said that "they're hinting at stuff that is indeed very impressive." While the processing power in videogames "all gets used by 12-year-old boys," Cell also is designed to handle video streams from cable and satellite systems, decompressing encoded information and expanding it for display on big, high-definition, plasma screens.
Analysts said the processor might be able to reorient digitized video as it is received to provide views from above or an end-zone view. In other applications, the processing power of Cell might permit a viewer to take a TV character and place him in a videogame, or interact with a commercial to see how a dress would look on an image of herself stored in the system.

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IBM, Sony to detail 'Cell' PS3 CPU February 2005>
By Tony Smith
Published Monday 29th November 2004 11:17 GMT

IBM, Sony and Toshiba - the three companies behind the 'Cell' microprocessor - will formally detail the chip's workings at the International Solid State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) on 6 February 2005, the trio said today.
IBM and Sony also said they were now ready to announce the promised Cell-based workstation, which should enable software developers to begin coding for the PlayStation 3, itself set to be based on the new chip.
The partners describe Cell as a 64-bit POWER-based "multi-core system" for computers and next-generation digital home appliances. Crucially, each core can run a single operating system, or run their own OS independently of the others. OS options include real-time support.
With the confirmation that Cell is indeed derived from IBM's POWER architecture, and given they way the chip's designers discuss it more in terms of a general-purpose CPU than the more console-oriented Emotion Engine of the PS2, it's clearly going to raise the possibility that the part may be of interest to Apple.
And since IBM is also working on the CPU for Xbox 2/Xbox Next, there's the chance of a certain degree of software compatibility there too, though clearly the use of different high-level APIs will limit games and application portability.
The chip's makers note that Cell is not only a multi-core architecture - like the anticipated 'Antares' PowerPC 970MP - but multi-threaded too, though it's not yet clear whether support for multiple threads takes places within each core level, HyperThreading-style, or Sony and co. are simply talking about spreading threads across cores. IBM's POWER 5 architecture supports simultaneous multi-threading, so it seems likely Cell will too.
IBM and Sony also talk about big memory and I/O bandwidth - no great surprise there, given it's a 64-bit processor and what IBM has demonstrated with existing POWER and PowerPC processors. More interesting is the integration of a security sub-system. The companies don't go into any detail, but it sounds not unlike VIA's PadLock technology with its hardware random number generator. Mention is made of "high-level media processing", which could be a reference to AltiVec, the PowerPC SIMD engine.
There's also the suggestion that Cell will use a SpeedStep-style power conservation technology, allowing the chip to reduced its clock frequency. IBM's 90nm PowerPC 970 already has something along these lines.
Contrary to past speculation that Cell would ship at 65nm, its makers today said it will debut as a 90nm part using IBM's SOI technology.
As for the Cell-based workstation, it's clearly only at the prototype stage, IBM and Sony having come up with an "experimental model".
Still, it packs 2 teraflops into a standard (presumably) rackmount box, apparently, with what sounds like multiple, multi-core chips operating as a kind of cluster-in-a-box configuration. ®
Related stories

Cell chip development 'almost done' - Toshiba
Sony to unveil PlayStation 3 early '05
Sony samples Cell
Sony, IBM to offer Cell workstations for Xmas
Sony to spend $1.13bn on Cell chip fabs
Sony Cell CPU to deliver two teraflops in 64-core config

Another item:

Cell Architecture Explained: Introduction

Introduction

Note: Please see the Updates & Clarifications section for recently released details on the Cell.

Designed for the PlayStation 3, Sony, Toshiba and IBM's new "Cell processor" promises seemingly obscene computing capabilities for what will rapidly become a very low price. In these articles I look at what the Cell architecture is, then I go on to look at the profound implications this new chip has, not for the games market, but for the entire computer industry. Has the PC finally met it's match?

To date the details disclosed by the STI group (Sony, Toshiba, IBM) have been very vague to say the least. Except that is for the patent application* which describes the system in minute detail. Unfortunately this is very difficult to read so the details haven't made it out into general circulation even in the technical community.

I have managed to decipher the patent and in parts 1 and 2 I describe the details of the Cell architecture, from the cell processor to the "software cells" it operates on.

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Se Link for article.

From Paper linked above post #7:

The Cell Processor This is a 9 core processor, one of these cores is something similar to a PowerPC G5 and acts as a controller. The remaining 8 cores are called APUs and these are very high performance vector processors.

Microprocessor Challenge to Intel Launched

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 08, 2005 8:54 AM
- AP Online


IBM
94.39	+0.04

Enter Symbol:

Enter Keyword:

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 08, 2005 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- Setting up a battle for the future of computing, engineers from IBM, Sony and Toshiba unveiled details Monday of a microprocessor they claim has the muscle of a supercomputer and can power everything from video game consoles to business computers.

Devices built with the processor, code-named Cell, will compete directly with the PC chips that have powered most of the world's personal computers for a quarter century.

Cell's designers say their chip, built from the start with the burgeoning world of rich media and broadband networks in mind, can deliver 10 times the performance of today's PC processors.

It also will not carry the same technical baggage that has made most of today's computers compatible with older PCs. That architectural divergence will challenge the current dominant paradigm of computing that Microsoft Corp. and Intel Corp. have fostered.

The new chip is expected to be used in Sony Corp.'s next-generation PlayStation game console in 2006. Toshiba Corp. plans to incorporate it into high-end televisions that year as well. And IBM Corp. has said it will sell a workstation with the chip starting later this year.

Beyond that, companies are remaining coy about where it might be used and whether it will be compatible with older technology.

Supercomputer claims are nothing new in the high-tech industry, and over the years chip and computer companies have steadily improved microprocessor performance even without altering chips' underlying architecture.

And while its competitors may well match the Cell chip in performance by the time it debuts, it differs considerably from today's processors in constitution.

Cell is comprised of several computing engines, or cores. A core based on IBM's Power architecture controls eight "synergistic" processing centers. In all, they can simultaneously carry out 10 instruction sequences, compared with two for today's Intel chips.

The new microprocessor also is expected to be able to run multiple operating systems and programs at the same time while ensuring each has enough resources. In the home, that could allow for a device that's capable of handling a video game, television and general-purpose computer at once.

"It's very flexible," said Jim Kahle, an IBM fellow. "We support many operating systems with our virtualization technology so we can run multiple operating systems at the same time, doing different jobs on the system."

Later this year, Intel and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. plan to release their own "multicore" chips, which also increase the number of instructions that can be executed at once. IBM and Sun Microsystems Inc. already sell chips with multiple cores, mainly for business servers.

On Monday, Intel announced that it has completed the first product runs of its dual-core processors and said it plans to deliver two separate dual-core Pentium chips and chipset lines in the second quarter.

Cell appears to have an advantage in the number of transistors - 234 million compared with 125 million for today's latest Pentium 4 chips. Traditional chip makers, however, have regularly doubled their number of transistors every 12 to 18 months.

Cell is said to run at clock speeds greater than 4 gigahertz, which would top the 3.8 GHz of Intel's current top-speed chip.

Cell's designers said they are running a variety of operating systems on the processor at their lab in Austin, Texas. But they would not say whether Microsoft's Windows is one of them. In fact, they only confirmed running Linux, the open source environment.

The PC industry has seen a long line of chips attempt to usurp the x86 architecture pioneered by Intel that dominates today's computers. But all have failed, and Intel remains the world's largest chip maker.

In the 1990s, IBM, Motorola Inc. and Apple Computer Inc. pushed the PowerPC architecture. Though it's still used by the Apple Macintosh as well as IBM workstations and servers, it failed to dethrone Intel.

Most recently, Transmeta Corp.'s Crusoe was supposed to challenge Intel's dominance in notebooks. Launched at the twilight of the tech boom in 2000, it gained only marginal acceptance and the company is now considering plans to focus on licensing its patents.

Intel has since developed its own mobile chip technology, Centrino.

"Transmeta was also a disruptive influence in the market. And because of Transmeta, we've got Centrino and the advances that have happened in mobile computing," said Steve Kleynhans, a Meta Group analyst. "Unfortunately, we don't really have Transmeta anymore."

For a challenger to succeed in displacing x86, it will have to perform considerably better since it also will break computing's long-standing tradition of backward and forward compatibility, said Justin Rattner, who oversees Intel's Corporate Technology Group.

"They're going to have to show they're able to do things that conventional architectures at least at the moment are incapable of doing," he said. "That's the fundamental question."

The Cell's specifications also suggest the PlayStation 3 will offer realistic graphics and strong performance. But analysts cautioned that not all the features in a product announcement will find their way into all systems built on the device.

"Any new technology like this has two components," Kleynhans said. "It has the vision of what it could be because you need the big vision to sell it. Then there's the reality of how it's really going to be used, which generally several levels down the chain from there."

More Cell performance claims emerge

************************

Holden Frith answers some of the questions raised by the launch of the Chip

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Introducing the Cell — Part I: the SIMD processing units

And:

Superchip: the next generation

February 08, 2005

Superchip: the next generation
By Chris Ayres
A chip which its makers claim is 70 times quicker than rivals may revolutionise home entertainment

IN WHAT is promised to be a gigantic leap forward for the iPod-era of digital entertainment, a consortium led by Sony Corporation yesterday unveiled a low-cost “supercomputer” that will be able to operate at up to ten times the speed of conventional microchips.

The breakthrough calls for a new definition of Moore’s Law, the theory devised by Intel’s Gordon Moore in 1965, that the power of computer chips doubles every 18 months. It could also finally challenge the dominance of Intel and Microsoft in the personal computer industry.

Blueprints for the chip, known as “the Cell”, were shown at the International Solid State Circuits Conference in San Francisco yesterday.

The chip, developed with IBM and Toshiba, is designed to be used in Sony’s PlayStation 3 video games console, but could also revolutionise the way people watch television and listen to music.

“This chip takes what used to be available only in high-end supercomputers and brings it into your home,” said Lisa Su, a vice-president at IBM’s systems and technology division.

Ms Su said the Cell’s most impressive feature was its nine “cores”, which mean it can perform nine separate tasks simultanously. Most conventional microchips can perform only one task at a time. Each one of the Cell’s 234 million transistors, meanwhile, has been highly tuned to handle video and music data.

The transistors in today’s computers, Ms Su said, were still designed for the era of word processors, spreadsheets and business presentations.

The Cell’s so-called “clock speed” is said to be over 4 Gigahertz, meaning it can handle four billion calculations per second. That makes it faster than Intel’s Pentium 4 line of products, which run at up to 3.8 Gigahertz. IBM has also experimented by putting the Cell chips together, which allowed them to handle an astonishing 16 trillion calcuations per second.

Digital entertainment technology — in particular, the‘streaming’ of movies and music to television sets from home computers — has been hampered by relatively limited computing power. One of the problems with conventional microchips is that the faster they get, the more power they consume and the hotter they become, creating a fire hazard.

As a result, Intel has largely given up on the race for so-called “clock speed”, instead concentrating on putting two “brains” on a single chip, while reducing power consumption.

Its new “dual-core” Montecito is expected to run at 2 Gigahertz while using 23 per cent less power than its predecessors. The chip is also expected to contain 1.7 billion transistors, giving it huge amounts of “flash memory”, or the ability to store data on the chip itself, without having to send it to another part of the computer. Flash memory, as well as the quality of the connection between the chip and other parts of the computer, is now considered as important as clock speed.

The companies behind the Cell, however, claim it is the first chip built “from the ground up” to handle digital home entertainment. “It will make possible a transformation in entertainment like that from novels to movies,” said Ken Kutaragi, Sony’s chief operating officer, before the product was unveiled.

Sony’s PlayStation 3 — expected to hit the shops in 2006, with a prototype to be unveiled at the E3 trade show this May — will be so powerful that video games producers hope they will be able to import special effects and graphics directly from Hollywood blockbusters. “In the future, all forms of digital content will be converged and fused on to the broadband network,” Mr Kutaragi said.

Industry analysts caution, however, that the Cell will require software companies to write new programs from scratch which, traditionally, they have been unwilling to do.

This lack of software was one of the reasons the original Apple computer failed to catch on the 1980.

QUICK THINKING

1944: IBM’s Mark I computer is 51ft long, weighs five tonnes and makes three calculations per second

1946: ENIAC computer, 30 tonnes, can make 5,000 calculations per second

1960s: “second generation” computers rise to 10,000 calculations per second

1980s: “fifth generation” computers can operate at 10 to 15 million calculations per second

1996: SGI Challenge capable of 4.32 billion calculations per second

2002: Hewlett Packard computer, costing $24.5 million, makes 8.3 trillion calculations per second

2005: new “cell” chip could make 256 billion calculations per second

BOSTON, MA, Feb. 08, 2005 (MARKET WIRE via COMTEX) -- IBM today announced it will sponsor the 2005 IBM North America Grid Scholars Challenge -- a contest offering American and Canadian university students and faculty advisors the opportunity to increase the understanding of Grid computing and the importance of open standards and open source implementation. IBM is seeking the greatest in student innovators, providing the winners a laptop from the IBM ThinkPad T-series line.

"IBM is highly committed to advancing the technology in Grid computing solutions and open source implementations," said Ken King, vice president IBM Grid computing. "Open source implementations help accelerate the adoption of Grid standards. We are constantly working toward increasing the awareness and the acceptance of Grid computing and recognize that many of the new advances in Grid computing will come at the university level through innovative thinking and research."

As part of the Challenge, students will submit a project to be reviewed by a panel of Grid computing experts, with judging based on originality, technical value, completeness and feasibility of implementation. IBM ThinkPad laptop PCs will be awarded as prizes to the top three highest-scoring projects. One IBM eServer will be awarded to the corresponding university with the single student entry achieving the highest score.

The contest challenges students to submit projects on the following topics:


--   An innovative Grid open standards/architecture proposal
--   A detailed evaluation of an existing Grid standard or implementation
--   A proposal for proof of concept / prototype implementation /
     contribution to an open source Grid implementation (services, middleware
     components or application development tools)

IBM is now accepting registrations online at www.ibm.com/university/gridchallenge. Contestants must be enrolled in an accredited two-, three- or four-year institution in the United States or Canada and must complete the online registration by March 15, 2005. All entries must be submitted online by April 08, 2005. The winners of the Challenge will be announced on or around May 10, 2005. The contest is subject to the 2005 IBM North America Grid Scholars Challenge official rules and regulations.

About IBM

IBM is the world's number one server company and information technology provider, with 80 years of leadership in helping businesses innovate. IBM helps customers, business partners and developers in a wide range of industries that leverage the power of the Internet for e-business. For more information, please visit http://www.ibm.com.


For additional information contact:
Alejandra Johnson
Media Relations -- Grid and Virtualization
IBM Systems and Technology Group
Phone: 305-754-5323
Mobile: 305-206-1954
e-mail: alejohns@us.ibm.com

SOURCE: IBM

IBM, Sony, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. and Toshiba Disclose Key Details of the Cell Chip

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 7, 2005 (BUSINESS WIRE) --
Innovative Design Features Eight Synergistic Cores Together with Power
     Based Core, Delivers More Than 10 Times the Performance of the
                          Latest PC Processors

At the International Solid State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) today, IBM, Sony Corporation, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (Sony and Sony Computer Entertainment collectively referred to as Sony Group) and Toshiba Corporation (Toshiba) for the first time disclosed in detail the breakthrough multi-core architectural design - featuring supercomputer-like floating point performance with observed clock speeds greater than 4 GHz - of their jointly developed microprocessor code-named Cell.

A team of IBM, Sony Group and Toshiba engineers has collaborated on development of the Cell microprocessor at a joint design center established in Austin, Texas, since March 2001. The prototype chip is 221 mm(2), integrates 234 million transistors, and is fabricated with 90 nanometer SOI technology.

Cell's breakthrough multi-core architecture and ultra high-speed communications capabilities deliver vastly improved, real-time response for entertainment and rich media applications, in many cases 10 times the performance of the latest PC processors.

Effectively a "supercomputer on a chip" incorporating advanced multi-processing technologies used in IBM's sophisticated servers, Sony Group's computer entertainment systems and Toshiba's advanced semiconductor technology, Cell will become the broadband processor used for industrial applications to the new digital home.

Another advantage of Cell is to support multiple operating systems, such as conventional operating systems (including Linux), real-time operating systems for computer entertainment and consumer electronics applications as well as guest operating systems for specific applications, simultaneously.

Initial production of Cell microprocessors is expected to begin at IBM's 300mm wafer fabrication facility in East Fishkill, N.Y., followed by Sony Group's Nagasaki Fab, this year. IBM, Sony Group and Toshiba expect to promote Cell-based products including a broad range of industry-wide applications, from digital televisions to home servers to supercomputers.

     Among the highlights of Cell released today:

     --   Cell is a breakthrough architectural design -- featuring eight
         synergistic processors and top clock speeds of greater than 4
         GHz (as measured during initial hardware testing)

     --   Cell is a multicore chip capable of massive floating point
         processing

     --   Cell is OS neutral and supports multiple operating systems
         simultaneously

"Today's disclosure of the Cell chip's breakthrough architectural design is a significant milestone in an ambitious project that began four years ago with the creation of the IBM, Sony and Toshiba design lab in Austin, Texas," said William Zeitler, senior vice president and group executive, IBM Systems and Technology Group. "Today we see the tangible results of our collaboration: an open, multi-core, microprocessor that portends a new era in graphics and multi-media performance."

"Today, we are very proud to share with you the first development of the Cell project, initiated with aspirations by the joint team of IBM, Sony Group and Toshiba in March 2001," said Ken Kutaragi, executive deputy president and COO, Sony Corporation, and president and Group CEO, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. "With Cell opening a doorway, a new chapter in computer science is about to begin."

"We are proud that Cell, a revolutionary microprocessor with a brand new architecture that leapfrogs the performance of existing processors, has been created through a perfect synergy of IBM, Sony Group and Toshiba's capabilities and talented resources, "said Masashi Muromachi, corporate vice president of Toshiba Corporation and president & CEO of Toshiba's Semiconductor Company. "We are confident that Cell will provide major momentum for the progress of digital convergence, as a core device sustaining a whole spectrum of advanced information-rich broadband applications, from consumer electronics, home entertainment through various industrial systems."

About IBM

IBM develops, manufactures and markets state-of-the-art semiconductor and interconnect technologies, products and services including industry-leading Power Architecture microprocessors. IBM semiconductors are a major contributor to the company's position as the world's largest information technology company. Its chip products and solutions power IBM eServer and TotalStorage systems as well as many of the world's best-known electronics brands.

IBM semiconductor innovations include dual-core microprocessors, copper wiring, silicon-on-insulator and silicon germanium transistors, strained silicon, and eFUSE, a technology that enables computer chips to automatically respond to changing conditions. More information is available at: http://www.ibm.com/chips

About Sony Corporation

Sony Corporation is a leading manufacturer of audio, video, game, communications, key device and information technology products for the consumer and professional markets. With its music, pictures, computer entertainment and on-line businesses, Sony is uniquely positioned to be the leading personal broadband entertainment company in the world. Sony recorded consolidated annual sales of approximately $72 billion for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2004. Sony Global Web Site: http://www.sony.net/

About Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.

Recognized as the global leader and company responsible for the progression of consumer-based computer entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCEI) manufacturers, distributes and markets the PlayStation(R) game console, the PlayStation(R)2 computer entertainment system and the PSP(TM) (PlayStation(R)Portable) handheld entertainment system. PlayStation has revolutionized home entertainment by introducing advanced 3D graphic processing, and PlayStation 2 further enhances the PlayStation legacy as the core of home networked entertainment. PSP is a new portable entertainment system that allows users to enjoy 3D games, with high-quality full-motion video, and high-fidelity stereo audio. SCEI, along with its subsidiary divisions Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc., Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Ltd., and Sony Computer Entertainment Korea Inc. develops, publishes, markets and distributes software, and manages the third party licensing programs for these platforms in the respective markets worldwide. Headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. is an independent business unit of the Sony Group.

About Toshiba

Toshiba Corporation is a leader in the development and manufacture of electronic devices and components, information and communication systems, digital consumer products and power systems. The company's ability to integrate wide-ranging capabilities, from hardware to software and services, assure its position as an innovator in diverse fields and many businesses. In semiconductors, Toshiba continues to promote its leadership in the fast growing system-on-chip market and to build on its world-class position in NAND flash memories, analog devices and discrete devices. Visit Toshiba's website at www.toshiba.co.jp/index.htm

B-Roll of the Cell chip will be available Monday February 7:

1:30pm to 1:45pm EST on AMC 5 transponder 13 lower - downlink freq.
12081 vertical - audio 6.2 & 6.8 MHz

6:30pm to 6:45pm EST on AMC 5 transponder 14 lower - downlink freq.
12094 horizontal - audio 6.2 & 6.8 MHz

MULTIMEDIA AVAILABLE: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=4815852

SOURCE: IBM

IBM
Glen Brandow, 203-278-4247
or 914-475-6433
or
Sony Corporation
Corporate Communications (in Tokyo)
Phone: 03-5448-2200
or
Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.
Corporate Communications (in Tokyo)
Phone: 03-6438-8686
or
Toshiba Corporation
Corporate Communications Office (in Tokyo)
Phone: 03-3457-2105

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HighRes Image

There's a lot of hype here. I'm not an expert, so I can't tell if there is substance to match.

Do we know if Cell is what IBM claims it is, and if not, when will we know? Because if this is true, it's awesome.

does that mean future versions of Apple's Macintosh line of computers will use CPU's derived from Cell technology?

Good question, nobody knows yet. I'd be surprised if Macs used Cell as the primary processor, because from what I've read the Cell's "master" CPU is a stripped down Power derivative that probably wouldn't compete well with current G5s. There is a possibility that Macs could use one or more Cell chips as coprocessors to accelerate certain functions (e.g. image/video processing). The upcoming version of Mac OS X has several APIs that dynamically assign work to either the CPU or graphics card based on which can do it more efficiently, and it should be possible to extend that to Cell coprocessors as well.

Well, I had the same question , which is why I dug around a found all of these overlapping reports.

The link at #7 gets into all of the architecture details.

Actual chip photos just above. If you have the bandwidth take a look at the High Res photo.

From #7, we have this:

The Cell Processor This is a 9 core processor, one of these cores is something similar to a PowerPC G5 and acts as a controller. The remaining 8 cores are called APUs and these are very high performance vector processors.

So I would infer that it is a rather highly specialized processor for something like Home Theater, handling streaming video.

Will go head to head with Intel and MS MultiMedia Edition....

Some real convergence with Entertainment Devices and Personal Computing.

8 Cray's on a chip with a manager processor ala GP5 , See link at post #7 for extensive info.

I have been waiting for this chip. :-)

Thanks for the ping.

And how many times have we heard this before? Anyone out there still runing Alpha, or IBM's last great invention, Cyrix?

Cell chip: Hit or hype?