Playstation 3 Cell Processor Clock Speed Revealed
Assertive online report offers glimpse into SCE plans.
The old faux logo
According to a report on Team Xbox, Sony is scheduled to reveal finalised plans on the mysterious Cell processor - the one pencilled in to power the PlayStation 3 - at next month’s International Solid State Circuits Conference to be held in San Francisco.
It is claimed that IBM, Sony and Toshiba will present four technical papers at the event showing a 4.6 GHz clock speed for the processor.
The report states that the Cell papers will show:
Multi-thread, multi-core architecture.
Supports multiple operating systems at the same time.
Substantial bus bandwidth to/from main memory, as well as companion chips.
Flexible on-chip I/O (input/output) interface.
Real-time resource management system for real-time applications.
On-chip hardware in support of security system for intellectual property protection.
Implemented in 90 nanometre (nm) silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology.
SPOnG has learned that there is a briefing on Tuesday, February 8, under the banner, 'The Design and Implementation of a First-Generation CELL Processor.' This is described as “A CELL Processor is a multi-core chip consisting of a 64b Power architecture processor, multiple streaming processors, a flexible IO interface, and a memory interface controller. This SoC is implemented in 90nm SOI technology. The chip is designed with a high degree of modularity and re-use to maximize the custom circuit content and achieve a high-frequency clock-rate.”
Speakers will be S.Asano, Y. Masubuchi and K.Yazawa from Sony Japan, joined by staffers from IBM and Toshiba. We’ll bring you updates from the show.
It is claimed that IBM, Sony and Toshiba will present four technical papers at the event showing a 4.6 GHz clock speed for the processor.
The report states that the Cell papers will show:
Multi-thread, multi-core architecture.
Supports multiple operating systems at the same time.
Substantial bus bandwidth to/from main memory, as well as companion chips.
Flexible on-chip I/O (input/output) interface.
Real-time resource management system for real-time applications.
On-chip hardware in support of security system for intellectual property protection.
Implemented in 90 nanometre (nm) silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology.
SPOnG has learned that there is a briefing on Tuesday, February 8, under the banner, 'The Design and Implementation of a First-Generation CELL Processor.' This is described as “A CELL Processor is a multi-core chip consisting of a 64b Power architecture processor, multiple streaming processors, a flexible IO interface, and a memory interface controller. This SoC is implemented in 90nm SOI technology. The chip is designed with a high degree of modularity and re-use to maximize the custom circuit content and achieve a high-frequency clock-rate.”
Speakers will be S.Asano, Y. Masubuchi and K.Yazawa from Sony Japan, joined by staffers from IBM and Toshiba. We’ll bring you updates from the show.
Companies:
Sony
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Comments
acidviper 25 Jan 2005 15:48
1/11
These numbers are so meaningless. The Xbox runs at .7 GHz so is this chip 7x more powerful?
It is nice to know that this Cell chip will be running Sony HDTV's and other appliances. I've always wanted an FM radio with 4.6 GHz processor.
Is there any word on how the Cell chips interact with each other. If I have a PS3 and a Cell HDTV will I have a 9.2 GHz dual processor? Can I get like 10 Sony cellphones in my house for a 46 GHz decaprocessor boost? Maybe then Grand Theft Auto will not have popups.
It is nice to know that this Cell chip will be running Sony HDTV's and other appliances. I've always wanted an FM radio with 4.6 GHz processor.
Is there any word on how the Cell chips interact with each other. If I have a PS3 and a Cell HDTV will I have a 9.2 GHz dual processor? Can I get like 10 Sony cellphones in my house for a 46 GHz decaprocessor boost? Maybe then Grand Theft Auto will not have popups.
Coxy 25 Jan 2005 15:48
2/11
anyone else a little worried that the info was from a report on team xbox?
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BlueThunder 25 Jan 2005 16:22
3/11
An individual Processing Element (i.e. Hardware Cell) is made up of a number of elements:
1 Processing Unit (PU)
8 X Attached Processing Units (APUs)
Direct memory Access Controller DMAC
Input/Output (I/O) Interface
specifications of one cell
4.6 GHz
1.3v
85 Celcius operation with heat sink
6.4 Gigabit / second off-chip communication
if you want to know more about it, you should read this
http://www.blachford.info/computer/Cells/Cell0.html
1 Processing Unit (PU)
8 X Attached Processing Units (APUs)
Direct memory Access Controller DMAC
Input/Output (I/O) Interface
specifications of one cell
4.6 GHz
1.3v
85 Celcius operation with heat sink
6.4 Gigabit / second off-chip communication
if you want to know more about it, you should read this
http://www.blachford.info/computer/Cells/Cell0.html
Ditto 25 Jan 2005 17:50
4/11
IBM announced most of this a month or so ago (I linked to The Register, remember? ;) although without the clock speed.
4.6GHz is a heck of a speed. Although if M$ are having dual-G5s performance comparisons should be interesting, as well as how developers view the different systems.
It's becoming obvious to me that Nintendo are going to have real problems next gen in terms of creating a console that's going to be able to support cross-platform games. They seem to have a choice of going in with the crowd or out on their own.
4.6GHz is a heck of a speed. Although if M$ are having dual-G5s performance comparisons should be interesting, as well as how developers view the different systems.
It's becoming obvious to me that Nintendo are going to have real problems next gen in terms of creating a console that's going to be able to support cross-platform games. They seem to have a choice of going in with the crowd or out on their own.
DoctorDee 25 Jan 2005 18:07
5/11
Adam M wrote:
Although if M$ are having dual-G5s performance comparisons should be interesting
Well, comparing a dual G5 with a single Cell might appear interesting.But the fastest production G5 at present is 2.5GHz, with 3.2 MAYBE on the way...
But be fair, you should compare a dual G5 with a Dual Cell ;-)
scanman 25 Jan 2005 18:43
6/11
DoctorDee wrote:
Adam M wrote:
Although if M$ are having dual-G5s performance comparisons should be interesting
Well, comparing a dual G5 with a single Cell might appear interesting.But the fastest production G5 at present is 2.5GHz, with 3.2 MAYBE on the way...
But be fair, you should compare a dual G5 with a Dual Cell ;-)
Isnt that like comparing 2 oranges and 2 apples???
phoo 25 Jan 2005 19:48
7/11
from the official conference program http://www.isscc.org/isscc/2005/ap/ISSCC2005AdvanceProgram.pdf
26.7 A 4.8GHz Fully Pipelined Embedded SRAM in the
Streaming Processor of a CELL Processor
4:15 PM
T. Asano1, T. Nakazato2, S. Dhong3, A. Kawasumi2, J. Silberman4,
O. Takahashi3, M. White3, H.Yoshihara5
1IBM, Yasu, Japan
2Toshiba, Austin, TX
3IBM, Austin, TX
4IBM, Yorktown Heights, NY
5Sony, Austin, TX
A 6-stage fully pipelined embedded SRAM is implemented in a 90nm SOI
technology. The array uses a conventional 6-transistor memory cell and
sense amplifier to achieve the cycle time while minimizing the impact of
device variation. A sum-addressed pre-decoder allows partial activation for
power savings.
26.7 A 4.8GHz Fully Pipelined Embedded SRAM in the
Streaming Processor of a CELL Processor
4:15 PM
T. Asano1, T. Nakazato2, S. Dhong3, A. Kawasumi2, J. Silberman4,
O. Takahashi3, M. White3, H.Yoshihara5
1IBM, Yasu, Japan
2Toshiba, Austin, TX
3IBM, Austin, TX
4IBM, Yorktown Heights, NY
5Sony, Austin, TX
A 6-stage fully pipelined embedded SRAM is implemented in a 90nm SOI
technology. The array uses a conventional 6-transistor memory cell and
sense amplifier to achieve the cycle time while minimizing the impact of
device variation. A sum-addressed pre-decoder allows partial activation for
power savings.
Joji 26 Jan 2005 12:14
8/11
Intersting specs.....but to be honest I really can't be asked to read them. Specs are boring and for home consoles now kind of mean nothing. We know at this stage they'll do everything under the sun, moon and stars (graphics etc), bar make you tea and do the laundry.
Show me the thing running or screenshots etc. I do however accept that Spong are just reporting what they are there to report on.
You have to all ask yourselves the question now, when is too much power in a console giving developers too many options? Once upon a time it was too little, but now where do you draw the line at enough or too much. Give a child too much choclate and they will become sick on it eventually, let alone become spoiled a bit.
Show me the thing running or screenshots etc. I do however accept that Spong are just reporting what they are there to report on.
You have to all ask yourselves the question now, when is too much power in a console giving developers too many options? Once upon a time it was too little, but now where do you draw the line at enough or too much. Give a child too much choclate and they will become sick on it eventually, let alone become spoiled a bit.
Machine_X 25 Dec 2008 06:19
9/11
Is it just me or do people generally tend to be a little over skeptical
of sony's products.
of sony's products.
Machine_X 25 Dec 2008 06:26
10/11
Is it just me or do people generally tend to be a little over skeptical
of sony's products.
of sony's products.
JVS'S_CNT_GaMeRs_ChAnNeL 17 Feb 2009 22:34
11/11
Your kinda retarded the because xbox has 3 core processors in one all running at 3.4ghz, you don't add them all up or some s**t, so I'm wondering if this thing is running 2-4 core processors at 4.6ghz