Hypothetical: CELL + Xenos in a console?

[dukmahsik]

Mods, I hope this is allowed, if not pls lock.

I know a few have mentioned this but imagine if Cell and Xenos (maybe with 15mb edram) were combined into a console, with ram architecture of the 360, blu ray drive, hdd, etc.

wouldn't that be just pure console hardware bliss?

 

[talyn99]

RAM set-up of the 360, please, that the only flaw in your little fantasy.

 

[dukmahsik]

RAM set-up of the 360, please, that the only flaw in your little fantasy.

i think i said ram architecture of the 360

 

[Shifty Geezer]

I don't agree with the RAM setup. 22 GB/s shared isn't as good IMO as the split RAM. If we're gonna have eDRAM on the GPU there's no need to worry as much about maximising GPU<>RAM BW, so have 22 GB/s for GPU stuff and an uninhibited 25 GB/s for CPU stuff, plus the CPU<>GPU connection.

 

[Titanio]

Depends how much we can budget for

Being "reasonable", though, I'd take Cell + 32 pipe dedicated pixel shader.

This thread might have been better circa 6 months ago, though..now that the systems are announced, speculative discussion on what might be in the box seems less compelling because you know there isn't a chance now I'm pretty happy with what we're getting though (but always wish for MORE!)

 

[Squeak]

I'm not shure if the EDRAM isn't a cost saving feature, rather than a asset.
The bandwith isn't that much higher (32Gb/s vs 22Gb/s without considering the compression used on either and the 25Gb/s XDR RAM, that can also be used as VRAM if necessary). You do get the "free" AA and low cost alpha blending though, but with PC titles those operations doesn't seem to be the greatest bandwith sucker anyway.
I guess we will have to wait and see if ATI implements EDRAM in their next VPU.

 

[dukmahsik]

I don't agree with the RAM setup. 22 GB/s shared isn't as good IMO as the split RAM. If we're gonna have eDRAM on the GPU there's no need to worry as much about maximising GPU<>RAM BW, so have 22 GB/s for GPU stuff and an uninhibited 25 GB/s for CPU stuff, plus the CPU<>GPU connection.

yeah i agree with you i think that's why there is "only" 22gb/s bw on the 360. how about 2 seperate pools of 512mb each?