Cell to be used in computers and military...and other things

[Zeus]

The new PS3 chip, that is. I'm just curious: is this a wonder chip or too diversified to do any one thing too well? In my past experiences, there's been one Law of Electronics that has never failed: anything that does everything never does anything well. In this case, I'll give the benefit of the doubt to IBM and Sony. This one seems like it could be the exception to the rule. You computer guys who've looked at this, do you think this is is as useful as it appears to be?

http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/06/29 ... 28332.html

[Agent 57]

Zeus, you're thinking too high-level here.

The Cell is a processor, plain and simple - I would liken it to the "engine" of a computer system. Basically, all a processor does is it sits there and waits for the software to say "take this data, do these calculations on it, and then send it over here," and it does it. The only difference between the Cell and a Pentium/PowerPC chip is that the Cell does it really fucking fast - so basically, whether you're putting the Cell in a PS3 (where its calculations are going to be involved with AI, running physics engines, and helping out the graphics processors) or in one of Mercury's systems (where its calculations will be used for processing and interpreting radar, sonar, medical imaging, or semiconductor inspection data) it's still doing essentially the same thing.

The only "diversity" associated with the Cell will be the systems around it. And specifically to the article you posted, I believe that Mercury will be able to produce great systems using the Cell as the core processor - they're an excellent company and have long been known for the high performance of their products.

Of course, it's not surprising that I would say something like that, seeing as how I work there.

(And let me tell you, this was a total "worlds are colliding around me" post. Blew my freaking mind.)

[Kupek]

In my past experiences, there's been one Law of Electronics that has never failed: anything that does everything never does anything well.

What does your law have to say about the general purpose processor sitting in your computer?

[Zeus]

Where else is my AMD being used?

This is where my lack of knowledge on how this things work come in, which is why I posted this to begin with and increase my knowledge of these things. From my understanding, the Cell is designed to perform calculations in a certain way. Is that necessarily a good thing for different uses? Even if it is, like Agent says, a pure horsepower-like thing, is it necessarily a good thing to stick that much computing power in everything? Are there any other issues other than not using up all of the power of the Cell if they put it in, say, TVs?

[Kupek]

Any processor that can work in a modern desktop is a general purpose processor. GPPs have to work well under a very wide variety of workloads. Your processor can be used for videogames, web servers, file servers, scientific computing, office-type applications or any other service we consider computers useful for. You take this for granted, but it's non-trivial to have a processor that is good for all of those different tasks. Modern computers are, almost by definition, general purpose computing devices.

There are specialized processors, such as the one in your cell phone or in a digital processor. They're designed for very specific functions and generally can't be used in a general environment.

As for the Cell itself, I'm haven't read too much up on it. I don't know what it's strengths are and what it was designed for, but it's probably useful in many devices.

[Zeus]

k, fair enough. Thanks

[Agent 57]

You know, I find it interesting how I mentioned that I actually work for the company that was mentioned in the article Zeus linked, and yet nobody batted an eyelash with regards to that announcement.

[Nev]

Wait, where do you work?

[Agent 57]

Although the PlayStation 3 won't hit the market until 2006, today saw the announcement of the first deal to use its technology for non-game systems. Today IBM announced it is partnering with Mercury Computer Systems "to build new breakthrough computer systems for data-intensive applications."

And, as I mentioned, I work for Mercury Computer Systems. I've been hearing our plans with regards to the Cell mentioned in status meetings for a couple months now, and I also talked to the senior guy who I partner with after hearing the announcement and he said that a couple of the guys in my component design group are going to be working on the Cell products when we get around to it (not me, though).

And again, as I said, I thought it was pretty freaking mind-blowing to see somebody from here link an article that discussed my company. Worlds were colliding all over the place.

[Nev]

This board is full of very bright people. I think it's pretty neat as well. I'd love to have a conversation with you about what you guys do...