CONFIRMED: PS3 to use "Nvidia-based Graphics processor&

[McFly]

I can already see a big advert poster with the Top 500 Supercomputer list on it where 9/10 is covered with "Playstation 3".

Yeah and conveniently leaving out efficiency numbers while adding the fact the GPU can be used for rendering nuclear simulations.

And here we see a nice example of what happens if someone takes something out of context that was a joke in it's original form.

Fredi

PS: To get on that list, you can't just say it's xTeraFlops, you really have to prove it.

 

[London Geezer]

Re: Cell Graphics

Also, if the Cell is really supposed to be so super fast (1 Tflop) then why does it need a GPU (and not just another cell chip to act like a GPU)?

If the NV50 is 2x NV40 then it is ~400 Gflops (or so using nVidia flops)

Does this imply that the PS3 CPU is < 400 Gflops?

If it really could dole out more flops than an NV50 then wouldn't the NV50 become a decelerator to such a massive CPU?

I get the impression that a lot of people got this whole Cell CPU thing a bit wrong, in terms of what it might do what not, compared to what a GPU has to do.

 

[PC-Engine]

I can already see a big advert poster with the Top 500 Supercomputer list on it where 9/10 is covered with "Playstation 3".

Yeah and conveniently leaving out efficiency numbers while adding the fact the GPU can be used for rendering nuclear simulations.

And here we see a nice example of what happens if someone takes something out of context that was a joke in it's original form.

Fredi

PS: To get on that list, you can't just say it's xTeraFlops, you really have to prove it.

Well I was joking too, but knowing SONY and their marketing team you just never know.

 

[London Geezer]

You guys got it all wrong. Sony will market PS3 with posters on the walls depicting a clock. And a cat. And a black swizzley thing over them. And a guy in the background with a big nose and no mouth and with eyes of a dodo. They've done worse than that.

 

[Vennt]

Jen-Hsun seems to have spoken about this at nVidias "Editors Day" - But details are again, light:

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,1737183,00.asp
"It will be a custom GPU, not based on an existing architecture," said Jen-Hsun Huang, speaking at an "Editor's Day" for reporters and analysts at the company's Santa Clara, Calif.-based headquarters. "It will be based on an architecture under development." Neither Nvidia nor Sony disclosed further details about the new architecture.

 

[London Geezer]

Well i think that pretty much gives it away that the GPU will be a hybrid architecture. Now all we can do is sit and wait to see what this soup will turn out to be...

 

[Pugger]

You got to hand it to Sony, they really know how to gain loads of free PR by saying so little. On the technical side of things can someone explain in lamen terms what the will be the difference of bolting on the next gen Nvidia card into the PS3 compared with bolting the next gen Nvidia GPU which is based on cell. Would cell alone make the GPU better? or I'm I totally missing the point? If its just the new Nvidia GPU wouldn't that mean that the differences between say the XB2 and Revolution will be minimal?

 

[London Geezer]

You got to hand it to Sony, they really know how to gain loads of free PR by saying so little. On the technical side of things can someone explain in lamen terms what the will be the difference of bolting on the next gen Nvidia card into the PS3 compared with bolting the next gen Nvidia GPU which is based on cell. Would cell alone make the GPU better? or I'm I totally missing the point? If its just the new Nvidia GPU wouldn't that mean that the differences between say the XB2 and Revolution will be minimal?

No one knows for sure, but i would expect a "normal" Nvidia GPU not to be 100% compatible or familiar with the CPU it is going to be attached to.
A Cell Nvidia GPU might interact better with a Cell based CPU. But we don't know yet...

 

[Titanio]

Re. PS3 GPU and whether it'll be cell based or not, I'll repost something that was posted at GAF (I posted it before, way back in this thread, but it seemed to get ignored):

OK, I chanced my arm again with NVidia's PR, and was told this:

"Although we cannot comment on technical details, I can tell you that the
GPU is a custom version of NVIDIA's next generation GPU, which is not
Cell based."

edit:

I asked him to clarify if he meant both Nvidia's next-gen GPU and the PS3 GPU would not be cell-based and he replied:

"I can just comment on NVIDIA's next generation GPU which is not cell
based."

That, along with Jen Huang's comments, leaves the door wide open to it being Cell based, imo. I guess we will see.

 

[London Geezer]

Well we will really have to wait and see cause one source says it's a hybrid between Sony's and nVidia's architectures, the other says it's not cell based.... :?

 

[Titanio]

Well we will really have to wait and see cause one source says it's a hybrid between Sony's and nVidia's architectures, the other says it's not cell based.... :?

Someone said specifically that it wasn't cell based

 

[PC-Engine]

I just realized something...

SONY licenses S3TC
SONY embraces MP3
SONY PS3 to use Nvidia GPU

OMG It can't be!!!!

 

[aaronspink]

Out of interest how do MS and Sony stack up in terms of financial muscle?

Sony has a market cap of ~35 Billion. Microsoft has cash on hand of ~65 Billion. Though they are getting rid of ~25 Billion in cash by giving it to shareholders in either jan or feb. If MS wanted to, they could by Toshiba, Sony, and Nvidia (though they might have regulatory issues) in cash.

Aaron Spink
speaking for myself inc.

 

[London Geezer]

Someone said specifically that it wasn't cell based

"It will be a custom GPU, not based on an existing architecture," said Jen-Hsun Huang, speaking at an "Editor's Day" for reporters and analysts at the company's Santa Clara, Calif.-based headquarters. "It will be based on an architecture under development." Neither Nvidia nor Sony disclosed further details about the new architecture.

"Although we cannot comment on technical details, I can tell you that the
GPU is a custom version of NVIDIA's next generation GPU, which is not
Cell based."

So, that either means that it's based on Cell, or that there is another architecture, apart from Cell and the existing Nvidia one, a third new architecture this GPU is going to be based upon?

 

[McFly]

Well we will really have to wait and see cause one source says it's a hybrid between Sony's and nVidia's architectures, the other says it's not cell based.... :?

Maybe the PS3 GPU part Sony cooked by themself (or together with Toshiba) before they started to work with Nvidia two years ago was not Cell based, just made to work together with a Cell chip.

Fredi

 

[Titanio]

Someone said specifically that it wasn't cell based

"Although we cannot comment on technical details, I can tell you that the
GPU is a custom version of NVIDIA's next generation GPU, which is not
Cell based."

So, that either means that it's based on Cell, or that there is another architecture, apart from Cell and the existing Nvidia one, a third new architecture this GPU is going to be based upon?

Read the follow up clarification. That comment "Although we cannot comment on technical details.." could be interpreted as referring to the PS3 GPU or the next-gen Nvidia GPU. He clarifies in his follow up comment that he cannot comment on the PS3 GPU and that the next-gen NVidia GPU won't be cell based (i.e. the PC card).

Taking it in total, it seems to me he's saying it'll be a custom version of their next-gen GPU which itself won't be cell based. Doesn't say that the PS3 version won't be.

 

[PC-Engine]

Out of interest how do MS and Sony stack up in terms of financial muscle?

Sony has a market cap of ~35 Billion. Microsoft has cash on hand of ~65 Billion. Though they are getting rid of ~25 Billion in cash by giving it to shareholders in either jan or feb. If MS wanted to, they could by Toshiba, Sony, and Nvidia (though they might have regulatory issues) in cash.

Aaron Spink
speaking for myself inc.

Wow...that puts things into perspective doesn't it?

SONY is going to be bleeding a lot of red blood CELLs.

 

[Pugger]

But wouldn't putting the Nvidia tech on a cell be a complete waste and costly? Why would Nvidia want to destroy there bread and butter market IE PC's if the Sony version of their tech blows it spec wise? Yep they're going to make $5 a machine form Sony but when you consider the amount the make from a PC card it would seem slightly ascew.

 

[London Geezer]

Read the follow up clarification. That comment "Although we cannot comment on technical details.." could be interpreted as referring to the PS3 GPU or the next-gen Nvidia GPU. He clarifies in his follow up comment that he cannot comment on the PS3 GPU and that the next-gen NVidia GPU won't be cell based (i.e. the PC card).

Taking it in total, it seems to me he's saying it'll be a custom version of their next-gen GPU which itself won't be cell based. Doesn't say that the PS3 version won't be.

*head hurts*

*sits*

*waits*

Sony has a market cap of ~35 Billion. Microsoft has cash on hand of ~65 Billion. Though they are getting rid of ~25 Billion in cash by giving it to shareholders in either jan or feb. If MS wanted to, they could by Toshiba, Sony, and Nvidia (though they might have regulatory issues) in cash.

Even if MS wanted to, they still wouldn't be able to buy any of those. It's a liiiittle bit more complicated than "having the cash and wanting to buy".

 

[-tkf-]

Well we will really have to wait and see cause one source says it's a hybrid between Sony's and nVidia's architectures, the other says it's not cell based.... :?

Someone said specifically that it wasn't cell based

Problem is we don't know what he was talking about

Nforce 6? Soundstorm 17? PC GPU? XBOX Portable GPU?