IBM Processor in new Nintendo console

[Megadrive1988]

Not only that, but: IBM Builds Supercomputer Based on Gaming Chip

it's all right here:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...=/nm/20031114/tc_nm/tech_ibm_supercomputer_dc


http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle....RBAEOCFFA?type=technologyNews&storyID=3819632

Fri Nov 14,12:01 AM ET



SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - IBM Corp. (NYSE:IBM - news) said on Friday that it has built a supercomputer the size of a television based on microchip technology to be used in gaming consoles due out next year.



IBM said the supercomputer, which can perform two trillion calculations per second, is a small-scale prototype of the Blue Gene/L supercomputer that it is building for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California.


The computer made it onto the Top 500 supercomputer list, which is compiled by a member of the University of Tennessee's computer science department.


IBM vice president of technology and strategy Irving Wladawsky-Berger said that the supercomputer used 1,000 microprocessors that are based on PowerPC microchip technology. The PowerPC chip is currently used in Apple Computer Inc. (Nasdaq:AAPL - news) computers.


It is also the technology that will be the foundation of the next generation of gaming consoles from Nintendo (news - web sites) Co. (7974.OS) and Sony Corp (news - web sites). (6758.T), which IBM is working on, he said.


He said the chips were less expensive and consumed less power than traditional microprocessors, making it possible to pack the same amount of computing power into a smaller space. Producing the chips in volume for gaming will help offset the costs of building supercomputers, he said.

 

[StefanS]

Not only that, but: IBM Builds Supercomputer Based on Gaming Chip

it's all right here:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...=/nm/20031114/tc_nm/tech_ibm_supercomputer_dc


http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle....RBAEOCFFA?type=technologyNews&storyID=3819632

Fri Nov 14,12:01 AM ET



SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - IBM Corp. (NYSE:IBM - news) said on Friday that it has built a supercomputer the size of a television based on microchip technology to be used in gaming consoles due out next year.



IBM said the supercomputer, which can perform two trillion calculations per second, is a small-scale prototype of the Blue Gene/L supercomputer that it is building for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California.


The computer made it onto the Top 500 supercomputer list, which is compiled by a member of the University of Tennessee's computer science department.


IBM vice president of technology and strategy Irving Wladawsky-Berger said that the supercomputer used 1,000 microprocessors that are based on PowerPC microchip technology. The PowerPC chip is currently used in Apple Computer Inc. (Nasdaq:AAPL - news) computers.


It is also the technology that will be the foundation of the next generation of gaming consoles from Nintendo (news - web sites) Co. (7974.OS) and Sony Corp (news - web sites). (6758.T), which IBM is working on, he said.


He said the chips were less expensive and consumed less power than traditional microprocessors, making it possible to pack the same amount of computing power into a smaller space. Producing the chips in volume for gaming will help offset the costs of building supercomputers, he said.

Whoa! Now things get interesting:

MS processor from IBM, Sony Cell with IBM, Nintendo processor from IBM (similar to Sony?); MS gfx from ATI east, Nintendo gfx from ATI west...
Are we gonna see no visual differences from the consoles in the gfx department?

 

[Megadrive1988]

Nintendo processor from IBM (similar to Sony?)

That's the 64 million dollar question, isn't it? 8) I would think the Nintendo processor is *not* going to be an IBM-Cell processor, but most likely, an IBM-PowerPC processor.

While Cell processor will probably use PowerPC / Power cores for the PU, the Nintendo console will probably use a varient of some standard PowerPC core, not a Cell.


but then again, can't say anything is for certain, one way or the other.

 

[Megadrive1988]

oh my!

it seems GuyverADL beat me to the punch.

sorry about that.

 

[Evil_Cloud]

Producing the chips in volume for gaming will help offset the costs of building supercomputers

Building supercomputers with gaming chips or do they mean something totally different.

 

[Fox5]

That line could have been something the reporter added, it doesn't have to be fact.

Anyhow, if that's basically what cell is, then I doubt cell on 1 or 2 chips will reach a teraflop.