3DFX SAGE compared to CELL?

[Druga Runda]

Rule of thumb. Don't get caught up in the hype. PS2 was not a supercomputer, despite the immense pr effort that fooled so many people. PS3 won't be a supercomputer either, nor will Xbox2 or <insert next-next generation speculative hardware>

What is a supercomputer? How do you define it?

Cell is faster than NEC Earth Simulator

 

[jvd]

a p4 is faster than the earth simulator just gotta clock it very high

 

[Fox5]

So is CELL something Gary T. from 3DFX would have liked pre-TnL? TnL on the GPU was something 3DFX was slow to get into, and the rumored SAGE was a seperate chip.

I don't really see the connection...to me comparing Itanium and Cell would be closer(in regards to the final outcome), but could you explain how anything 3dfx made 5 or 6 years ago relates to cell?

BTW, rampage only seemed impressive as a dual chip solution, as a single chip weren't all it specs lower than geforce 3? And it didn't support ps1.1, which was the dx8 standard.

 

[rashly]

BTW, rampage only seemed impressive as a dual chip solution, as a single chip weren't all it specs lower than geforce 3? And it didn't support ps1.1, which was the dx8 standard.

It did support ps1.1. It was compliant with dx 8.0.

Specter 3000 (2x Rampage, 1x Sage) would have been a very good performer at it's time, but it would've been way too expensive for most people. 1x Rampage (even with a Sage) would've been a little under powered compared to the nv20.

This is all assuming it would've came out in late 2000 / early 2001 as planned.

 

[coredump]

BTW, rampage only seemed impressive as a dual chip solution, as a single chip weren't all it specs lower than geforce 3? And it didn't support ps1.1, which was the dx8 standard.

It did support ps1.1. It was compliant with dx 8.0.

Specter 3000 (2x Rampage, 1x Sage) would have been a very good performer at it's time, but it would've been way too expensive for most people. 1x Rampage (even with a Sage) would've been a little under powered compared to the nv20.

This is all assuming it would've came out in late 2000 / early 2001 as planned.

I see. Then you obviously were benchmarking "Specter 3000" in the lab. Who knew Gary Tarolli or Scott Sellers posted on beyond3d.

 

[nAo]

This thread shouldn't exist (tm)

 

[Brimstone]

So is CELL something Gary T. from 3DFX would have liked pre-TnL? TnL on the GPU was something 3DFX was slow to get into, and the rumored SAGE was a seperate chip.

I don't really see the connection...to me comparing Itanium and Cell would be closer(in regards to the final outcome), but could you explain how anything 3dfx made 5 or 6 years ago relates to cell?

BTW, rampage only seemed impressive as a dual chip solution, as a single chip weren't all it specs lower than geforce 3? And it didn't support ps1.1, which was the dx8 standard.

My intent was about questioning the evolution of geometry processing, and what CELL is today compared to what SAGE might have evolved into.

What was the long term roadmap for SAGE? Maybe it only existed in Gary Tarolli's head?

 

[BOOMEXPLODE]

That's a bit like comparing a BMW Z4 to what a AMC Gremlin might have evolved into.

 

[Fox5]

So is CELL something Gary T. from 3DFX would have liked pre-TnL? TnL on the GPU was something 3DFX was slow to get into, and the rumored SAGE was a seperate chip.

I don't really see the connection...to me comparing Itanium and Cell would be closer(in regards to the final outcome), but could you explain how anything 3dfx made 5 or 6 years ago relates to cell?

BTW, rampage only seemed impressive as a dual chip solution, as a single chip weren't all it specs lower than geforce 3? And it didn't support ps1.1, which was the dx8 standard.

My intent was about questioning the evolution of geometry processing, and what CELL is today compared to what SAGE might have evolved into.

What was the long term roadmap for SAGE? Maybe it only existed in Gary Tarolli's head?

Why compare Cell to Sage and not what ATI and nVidia were offering around the time? Is cell even comparable to any of these designs? I think I see more in common in cell with the super nintendo than with sage, but I don't know much about sage, cell, or the super nintendo.