More Cell Processor Details And First Pictures

slashflood writes "After reading two articles on slashdot about the Cell architecture and another one that criticizes the extensive roundup of the STI patents, I found the first pictures of the Cell core. It seems that at least some predictions were true. Seeing is believing." mtgarden points to this ZDNet article which says that the "first version of the chip will run at speeds faster than 4GHz. Engineers were vague on how much faster, but reports from design partners say 4.6GHz is likely. By comparison, the fastest current Pentium PC processor tops out at 3.8GHz." (More below.)

Hack Jandy writes "Anand Shimpi has some details about the upcoming Cell processor (PS3) in his personal blog. According to Anand, "Rambus announced that the new Cell processor uses both Rambus XDR memory and their FlexIO processor bus. Because Rambus designed the interface for both the memory controller(s) and the processor interface, the vast majority of signaling pins are using Rambus interfaces - a total of 90% according to Rambus." Hasn't Rambus been showing up a lot again recently? The fact that Cell uses XDR has been widely speculated, but the fact that it will also use the Rambus bus signalling is something completely new."

Pictures?

[vurg]

How about HL2 benchmarks?

Re:Unsure

[Anonymous Coward]

"Nucular". It's pronounced "nucular".

joint venture

[LittleGuernica]

I believe Sony and IBM and Toshiba are going to produce this thing as a joint venture, calling it "Cyberdyne" also naming the PS3 online game network Skynet, sounds promising...

Re:Speed isn't everything

[TexVex]

The Pentium 4 killed off clock speed comparisons.

No, that was the Athlon.

Re:Some specs from Sony press material

[Sunspire]

Warning: Pregnant women, the elderly, and children should avoid prolonged exposure to CELL.
Caution: CELL may suddenly accelerate to dangerous speeds.
CELL contains a liquid core, which if exposed due to rupture should not be touched, inhaled, or looked at.
Do not use CELL on concrete.
Discontinue use of CELL if any of the following occurs:
* Itching
* Vertigo
* Dizziness
* Tingling in extremities
* Loss of balance or coordination
* Slurred speech
* Temporary blindness
* Profuse Sweating
or
* Heart palpitations

If CELL begins to smoke, get away immediately. Seek shelter and cover head.
CELL may stick to certain types of skin.
When not in use, CELL should be returned to its special container and kept under refrigeration.
Failure to do so relieves the makers of CELL, Sony Incorporated of any and all liability.
Ingredients of CELL include an unknown glowing substance which fell to Earth, presumably from outer space.
CELL has been shipped to our troops in Saudi Arabia and is also being dropped by our warplanes on Iraq.

Do not taunt CELL.
CELL comes with a lifetime guarantee.
CELL! Accept no substitutes!

Re:Some specs from Sony press material

[gfody]

CELL is a Real-Time Architecture
CELL is a Confluence of New Technologies

sounds like someone was playing with their execuspeak magnets

Re:Cell

[Anonymous Coward]

There is really no reason for Linux to use a 4.6 GHz processor though.

You bite your fucking tongue!

Re:Cell

[ryanmfw]

Well, it seems like it's being produced on a .3 meter process! "The firms expect to begin production of Cell processors at IBM's 300mm plant in New York and Sony's Nagasaki fab later this year." Why do I sense that the article is wrong? Maybe there is a grain of truth though, and I had heard about a 30 nm plant, but I could just be crazy. :)

Grr

[Paragoon]

"first version of the chip will run at speeds faster than 4GHz. Engineers were vague on how much faster, but reports from design partners say 4.6GHz is likely. By comparison, the fastest current Pentium PC processor tops out at 3.8GHz." Who else is tired of this poor reporting technique, in which a reporter compares future technology to current? It would be like AMD saying they have a new CPU coming out that hits 10 ghz, compared to Intel's current 3.8. Oh, but wait it won't be out for four years. This is sensationalist nonsense, trying to invoke awe at what a miracle IBM has performed, blowing out of the water AMD and Intel. I heard that the PS3 will have 5000 of these and they can actually fly and make you psychic.

Re:I wonder....

[cosmo7]

I wonder what M$ has to beat back a server processor with essentially hyper threading, running at 4.6 ghz, attached to 8 vector processors, each with a lot of registers and cache, which are using extremely fast memory, that can connect to other, similar processors nearby.

Microsoft has consistently overwhelmed the fastest processors on the market and I am confident that with the right bloatware they will continue to do so.

Re:Cell

[Anonymous Coward]

There isn't much info on this processor yet, but from what I've heard about it, I conjecture that its design is in danger of violating Nakamura's law of quantum molecular finitism, especially as the clock speeds are increased. This could result in an asymmetric shift of the lattice substrate, in which case the transistor conductivity would actually start to skew in the direction of anticonductivity (the inverse of superconductivity), forming insulating barriers. As insulating barriers would form and more heat would be generated, unbounded oscillations the molecular level could cause regenerative superhetrodyning - a cascading effect leading to the processor eventually failing catastrophically while emitting a sound remarkably similar to the Love Boat theme. Or not.

Intel not impressed

[vandan]

We are very reluctant to adopt architectures like this because they take compatibility and throw it out the window.

You mean like the Itanic? Shoe's on the other foot now, eh?

Re:Umm... this was posted under Games?

[Fulcrum of Evil]

Nintendo is being so tight-lipped about the next-gen "Revolution" system that nobody knows what its specs will be.

How is this a surprise? nintdo never talks about what it's doing - it's like a cult or something...

All of this...

[eremitic]

and I bet it still wouldn't be able to run Longhorn.

Re:Cell

[Ohreally_factor]

How someone could moderate that rubbish as insightsful is a mystery!

I deduce that we must be on Slashdot, my dear Watson.

-- Sherlock Holmes

Re:Intel not impressed

[Ohreally_factor]

"Asymmetric architectures confuse and frighten me."

-- Intel's Caveman Spokesman

Re:Ah!

[djward]

And the power supply it needs outputs 1.21 Gigawatts.