Did you ever compile any large programs?
Posted on 02/07/2005 1:24:08 PM PST by Next_Time_NJ
Dubbed a "supercomputer on a chip," the Cell microprocessor has until now been long on ambition but short on specifics. At a technical conference in San Francisco, the three electronics giants described a chip that could provide ten times the performance of the latest PC chips and churn through many tasks at once.
Aimed squarely at the "digital home" market highly sought-after by Intel Corp. (Nasdaq:INTC - news), the Cell initiative, which has been in development since 2001, is viewed by some as a formidable, if fledgling, competitor to the world's largest chip maker.
While IBM showed off prototypes of the Cell processor here, Intel demonstrated that the Cell chip's grand goals will not go unchallenged, announcing that it had completed initial product runs of its own "dual-core" chips, which have the brains of two chips in one.
I like the duel core feature though. Going to be a while until programs, OS's are really going to take advantage of a Duel Core on a computer. Atleast on the PS3 its going to take advantage of all of what it has.
Wrong, they've already demonstrated a prototype of a workstation using this processor and the workstation program will begin next year.
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,1732975,00.asp
Seems, with the right programming, many different softwares could benefit. Course, what other good is a super computer than for games? I mean, really, come on.
I don't see why. I have a dual-CPU machine right here, using two IBM processors. The OS takes full advantage of it, as well as a lot of programs. I don't think dual-core would be all that different.
Your right, but gamers have pushed the PC market for 15 years or more now. The cash that gamers are willing to spend to increase the performance just a little is where the R&D funds come in to adapt it to the serious markets.
Did you ever compile any large programs?
I program cadcam all day, believe me it makes a big difference on solid modeling and toolpath creation.
No joke. Video games are the reason that Mac and Linux don't get more of the market.
Gordon Freeman uses Windows, whether he likes it or not.
Marketing hype. The "Emotion Engine" years ago was supposed to be a "supercomputer" as well. The hype apparently even suckered Saddam Hussein into buying 10,000 PS2s.
Did you ever compile any large programs?
Duel Core and 2 CPU's on a motherboard are a bit different. L2 Cache has changed, instructions, etc.
The OS will have to be written or patched for the new instructions.
Also, windows XP 64 had to be rewritten so it took advantage of a single CPU, and it hasnt even filtered down to everyone yet. Thats why Microsoft Longhorn is taking so long to come out, they want Duel core to be widely used before they let it go.
the revolutionary thing about the CELL is *how it* runs programs -- think of 8 jumbo altivec processors on steroids put on one chip, all controlled by a G5 on steroids -- also on the same chip!
it is most definitely *NOT* tailored just for games, anymore than it is tailored to high definition TV, or tailored for high-performance cluster computing. if you want, think of it being tailored to all three and as a result being able to do just about anything.
saying the CELL is tailored to games would be like saying the 4004 was tailored to a digital calculator. not actually wrong, but way off the mark on what the chip is actually capable of...
what made Sony approach IBM was the possibility of *reducing chipcount* and design complexity of the Playstation3 while providing mind numbing performance. Instead of having video controllers, DSPs, MIPS CPUs, etc, the PS3 will have 4 (four) CELLS, and as i understand it, none particularly dedicated to a single task (?!!!), performing everything once done by the DSP, MIPS, etc.
now start to imagine if you can the number of CELLS that will be cranked out for the PS3 and you start to get a faint inkling of the economies of scale that are possible with this chip.
also consider that the high end Opteron chip (each) costs about, what, $700 these days? the playstation3 *must* sell for under $300-$400 dollars, and will have 4 chips each of which is perhaps 10 times faster than the fastest Opteron...
bottom line is that the CELL will slaughter the Opteron, and everything presently in AMD or Intel's *known* inventory. a dual core Itanium2/Opteron is just not very interesting anymore...
I would think only a little bit, though. (I am not an expert).
L2 Cache has changed
The cache should be controlled by the ancillary hardware, though, not by CPU instructions.
, instructions, etc.
Well, yes, if the instruction set has changed, I can see it. But I don't see why the instruction set would change significantly.
Because its not just cut and pasteing 2 cpus and making one chip. Since it is one chip - the instructions will have to made for one core take over when the other is taxed or working. Also AMD and Intel both have different duel core prototypes.. they are completely different. They are both x86 but Intel is going to keep the 32-bit line and have the duel core work almost like 1 big monster chip. AMD is sticking to the 64 bit line (already needs its own OS to take advantage of it), and its basicly going to use it like duel CPU's. So that in itself will require software makers to include code for both CPU's.
Think of it like having a 10 Terrabyte Hard Drive (1 single drive, wish they had them hehe). If you had one right now, your computer couldnt take advantage of the full 10 Terrabytes. Even though it would be using the same magnetic platters and moving parts of a 250gb hard drive. There is just a limit. You would have to upgrade your controller and software.
This will be the same thing for duel core.
Hmmm. That's a way different architecture than I was thinking. If one core takes over when the other is taxed, then how does the pipeline work? Two CPUs would consume two instruction streams, the pipeline is invalidated if one CPU has to do an instruction for the other.
Did you ever ace an entire counter strike CAL-i team?
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