Nvidia says lands new Sony design contract
- Thread starter Farid
- Start date
Considering the timeframes, it is clearly obvious this is referring to NREs related to creating a custom design for PSP2. NREs stopping in late 07 would most likely imply a 2008 launch; whether it's early or late would depend on Sony's focus when it comes to whether they want to enter EOL mode for PSP1.
It'll be very interesting to see what kind of architecture this is. Current NVIDIA handheld parts aren't bad at all for things like watching videos, taking photos, etc. but their 3D capabilities, well, suck. So I'd expect them to finally put some budget in improving that. Buying PVR, or more interestingly perhaps Falanx (since it's a much smaller company) might be a good solution, but I doubt they'll do that.
Uttar
It'll be very interesting to see what kind of architecture this is. Current NVIDIA handheld parts aren't bad at all for things like watching videos, taking photos, etc. but their 3D capabilities, well, suck. So I'd expect them to finally put some budget in improving that. Buying PVR, or more interestingly perhaps Falanx (since it's a much smaller company) might be a good solution, but I doubt they'll do that.
Uttar
The design for the PSP2 GPU might be a lot more complex than the one Nvidia did on the RSX (Which is based largely on an existing architecture).booomups said:
The PSP2 GPU might be create more or less from ground up, this time around.
Of course, we can expect Nvidia to coincide the work on this GPU with their next-gen architecture for the handheld products. Leverage the work on the PSP2 GPU, in other words.
It's sure that we should expect more than TnL, for the PSP2, if Nvidia is doing the work on the GPU this time around.
If we assume Sony's plans for scalable Cell architecture in a multitide of devices still stands, commissioning a scalable GPU architecture to go with that would make sense.
The NRE part is really irrelevant when judging the importance/size of the project if you don't know the rest of the information (licensing/royalties). Does this new deal even consist of any royalties/licensing? is it just an NRE over a couple years?
I'm also not sure I believe they'd start on a PSP2 already, considering I highly doubt PSP will be killed off before 2010 -- that wouldn't be very SCE like to abandon a product like that. That doesn't even make sense, especially considering they still have the 222->333mhz increase to enable once battery/redesign hits (probably next year, or whenever they hit up 65nm?). PSP2 makes very little logical sense (especially when considering SCE's past in regards to console hardware), PSP is selling fantastically (worldwide at least) and there is very little reason to abandon something so early when they haven't even gotten it to the milk-me stage (after a shrink and a $149 price tag in a couple years).
I'm not sure what the deals are they made for die shrinks, so maybe this is part of that? paying for help on a 65nm and 45/32nm shrink (and maybe help with joining RSX/Cell into one chip) -- I could see that costing a substantial amount (a single payment NRE type thing too), if it wasn't part of their previous RSX deal already.
I'm also not sure I believe they'd start on a PSP2 already, considering I highly doubt PSP will be killed off before 2010 -- that wouldn't be very SCE like to abandon a product like that. That doesn't even make sense, especially considering they still have the 222->333mhz increase to enable once battery/redesign hits (probably next year, or whenever they hit up 65nm?). PSP2 makes very little logical sense (especially when considering SCE's past in regards to console hardware), PSP is selling fantastically (worldwide at least) and there is very little reason to abandon something so early when they haven't even gotten it to the milk-me stage (after a shrink and a $149 price tag in a couple years).
I'm not sure what the deals are they made for die shrinks, so maybe this is part of that? paying for help on a 65nm and 45/32nm shrink (and maybe help with joining RSX/Cell into one chip) -- I could see that costing a substantial amount (a single payment NRE type thing too), if it wasn't part of their previous RSX deal already.
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Didn't design of Cell start the moment PS2 was out the door? A new GPU tech could be intended for other products too. nVidia announced they had a sharing of a vision with Sony, which IIRC was for the whole company, not just SCE. I don't know where you'd want advanced GPU capabilities outside of consoles+handhelds though. Cell can be used in digicams, camcorders, etc., but 3D rendering? Maybe it'll start as an addition to Sony Ericsson phones, and the next iteration power PSP2? Or maybe the basis of a palmtop PC to compete with Origami? There's certainly reason to try to develop a scalable, portable GPU architecture if you're a company that produces many different products that might use them.Bobbler said:
I doubt it has something remotly to do with "PSP2"....
A more obvious logic is extending the contract based on the PS3 RSX since sony delayed the launch till november, it would be a waist of time having a finished chip since 1 month ago or so. My thoughts are that it's a contract to improve performance/power requirements and shrink costs of RSX during the duration of that contract.
A more obvious logic is extending the contract based on the PS3 RSX since sony delayed the launch till november, it would be a waist of time having a finished chip since 1 month ago or so. My thoughts are that it's a contract to improve performance/power requirements and shrink costs of RSX during the duration of that contract.
Shifty Geezer said:
I don't doubt any of what you said, I just don't believe we'll be seeing a PSP2 any time soon (it'd likely be a 32nm target or at most 45nm, so how much development can they feasibly do currently?), so an NRE ending in 07-08 seems strange... but deals can be set up strangely (as we don't have full information). It's rather difficult to figure out what this all means. I guess I worded that wrong -- It's possible they could be starting PSP2 now, but don't expect it in 08 (which is what the ending period for the NRE would imply, but not definitely, of course)
I personally don't think it's for a PSP2, but I wouldn't be surprised if it had to do with RSX shrinks (depending on how their previous deal was set up) or, as you mentioned, mobile phone chips... or, who knows what else.
Lot's of reasonble possibilities out there, but it's sort of hard to make a solid guess when all you have to go on is "we have a new deal that is worth a lot more than 30million in NREs." =p
I personally am onboard the PSP2 bandwagon. Beyond Nintendo's active presence in the handheld market, there's talk of MS getting involved next year - either could cath up or surpass the PSP graphically without too much trouble just by virtue of the trends in technology we all love so much. I don't see 2008 as too late a launch window, as I imagine PSP was always meant to have a shorter refresh cycle than the home console five-year. Cell is almost a given, but assuming an NVidia GPU, I wonder how backwards compatability will be handled.
Well, assuming this *is* for PSP2 that is...
(True though, Cell inside PSP before 45nm seems a little too extreme. Hmmm....)
Maybe it's an 'insurance' architecture, in case Microsoft gets aggressive with their console cycle, or just a 'Kutaragi-esque' vision of a GPU, a la Cell on the CPU side.
Well, assuming this *is* for PSP2 that is...
(True though, Cell inside PSP before 45nm seems a little too extreme. Hmmm....)
Maybe it's an 'insurance' architecture, in case Microsoft gets aggressive with their console cycle, or just a 'Kutaragi-esque' vision of a GPU, a la Cell on the CPU side.
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mckmas8808
Legend
Bobbler said:
Yeah they've proven already.
Bobbler said:
Given that, after Nvidia has done their work, they need to tape out and to ramp up production, I'd say 2009 is the launch window we're looking at. Suddenly, the PSP cycle would be 5 years, which is very similiar to a console cycle. So it could very well be the PSP2 contract.
