PS3 Development vs PS3 Console Systems

[Titanio]

Deano's reply also got me really curious about the southbridge. Why does it need such a high bandwidth? Even though it is connected to the HDD, sound output, ethernet and controller I/O, it seems like an overkill. Am I thinking too much to suspect that there is some additional function down there that is yet to be disclosed?

I was thinking about this too. I mean Bluray at 2x would be taking 13.5MB/s. MS thinks it can get away with 500MB/s both ways for the HDD, DVD drive etc., so why so much?

Perhaps hooking a HD camera up to it might require more? Or also perhaps to make Cell-to-Cell collaboration across ethernet physically possible? Although gigabit ethernet only = 125MB/s.

 

[Bobbler]

Deano's reply also got me really curious about the southbridge. Why does it need such a high bandwidth? Even though it is connected to the HDD, sound output, ethernet and controller I/O, it seems like an overkill. Am I thinking too much to suspect that there is some additional function down there that is yet to be disclosed?

I was thinking about this too. I mean Bluray at 2x would be taking 13.5MB/s. MS thinks it can get away with 500MB/s both ways for the HDD, DVD drive etc., so why so much?

Perhaps hooking a HD camera up to it might require more? Or also perhaps to make Cell-to-Cell collaboration across ethernet physically possible? Although gigabit ethernet only = 125MB/s.

Maybe it has to do with the PS2 emulation? Could be some piece of the PS2 emulation is on the southbridge. Otherwise I'm at a loss why they'd need such a huge amount for the SB...

 

[Titanio]

Another possibility may be handling lots of things all at once.

6 USB devices + gigabit ethernet (how does the 3 ports affect this) + up to 7 bluetooth devices + bluray + HDD + portable memory = ??

6 USB 2.0 devices = 360MB/s
Gigabit ethernet = 120MB/s
2x Bluray (assumed) = 13.5MB/s
7 Bluetooth devices = ???
HDD = ???
Portable memory = ???

 

[gosh]

As I understand it the RSX's core is to be clocked at 550MHz while the 7800 GTX is clocked at 430MHz.

The RSX and Cell also have some special abilities when exchanging data between one another according to Sony etc.

There's no doubt more we don't know yet.

All in all I wouldn't conclude the 7800 GTX is on par with what the RSX will be. The parts may be siblings but I believe it will be easy to determine who's the big brother of the two.

you forgot to mention the rsx has lower memory bandwidth in itself than the G70 7800 GTX, higher clockspeed means nothing, we know Xenos will be better than the R520 and RSX will be better than G70, what we have to find out is if ATIs remark about 90-100% efficiency is true, then get ready for some fireworks

 

[Npl]

Deano's reply also got me really curious about the southbridge. Why does it need such a high bandwidth? Even though it is connected to the HDD, sound output, ethernet and controller I/O, it seems like an overkill. Am I thinking too much to suspect that there is some additional function down there that is yet to be disclosed?

I was thinking about this too. I mean Bluray at 2x would be taking 13.5MB/s. MS thinks it can get away with 500MB/s both ways for the HDD, DVD drive etc., so why so much?

Perhaps hooking a HD camera up to it might require more? Or also perhaps to make Cell-to-Cell collaboration across ethernet physically possible? Although gigabit ethernet only = 125MB/s.

I`d go for the easiest explaination - they use a single FlexIO-Lane, which just happens to provide 2,5GB/s. Means they cant go lower?
I`m just guessing but I vaguely remember around 70GB/s total and 14-15 lane, so it would fit.

 

[Titanio]

you forgot to mention the rsx has lower memory bandwidth in itself than the G70 7800 GTX, higher clockspeed means nothing, we know Xenos will be better than the R520 and RSX will be better than G70, what we have to find out is if ATIs remark about 90-100% efficiency is true, then get ready for some fireworks

a) Xenos has no place in this thread - your mentioning it was not prompted. Remember how the console forum was closed for a while..?
b) we don't know anything officially about the R520 or how it compares to Xenos.
c) Utilisation would be a slightly more qualified descriptor than efficiency, and comparisons between closed boxes will be different to comparison between chips in PCs.
d) Higher clockspeed does mean something.

I felt compelled to respond to you, and perhaps shouldn't have - this discussion does not belong here.

I`d go for the easiest explaination - they use a single FlexIO-Lane, which just happens to provide 2,5GB/s. Means they cant go lower?
I`m just guessing but I vaguely remember around 70GB/s total and 14-15 lane, so it would fit.

Ahh, now this makes sense. Cheers

 

[gosh]

Hi. This is not Gosh. Since his username and password was on bugmenot.com, I changed his password to avoid spam and trolling from anonymous users.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Any way to stop these anonymous logins? There's no point with B3D. I've never received more junkmail since signing up.

On topic : Npl offers the ideal explanation. Integrate the whole system onto the unified bus. Incidentally would this not allow direct commincation between I/O devices and GPU over the ring bus? Can't honestly think why, but I have to say I'm liking the M25 architecture.