PSP microcontroller

[Fafalada]

I know developers have somewhat overcomed embedded RAM limitations in PS2, but its still a notorius bottleneck in the architecture

The notorious bottleneck of PS2 is the R5900 core, eDRam is quite fine.

¿Shouldnt have Sony aproached Pixel/Vertex shaders advances in PSP architecture instead of reusing PS2 4-year old technologies?

PSP isn't reusing PS2 technologies.
And speaking of 'similarities' block layout where you have CPU, GPU, a main bus, and a sound chip, could be drawn for many other machines

 

[Tysan]

The notorious bottleneck of PS2 is the R5900 core, eDRam is quite fine.

Still the 4MB eDram [or more precisely the tough access the eDram cache has to main memory] has been quoted as a bottleneck when trying to use high-res textures.

PSP isn't reusing PS2 technologies.
And speaking of 'similarities' block layout where you have CPU, GPU, a main bus, and a sound chip, could be drawn for many other machines

Im not talking about PSP layout, Im talking about GPU core functions.

 

[Fafalada]

Still the 4MB eDram has been quoted as a bottleneck when trying to use high-res textures.

Quoted?

Im not talking about PSP layout, Im talking about GPU core functions.

Those are a pretty obvious a departure from PS2. Except for still using eDram, nothing else looks similar in those specs you posted links to.

 

[Tysan]

So then theres no problem accesing textures from main memory to GS Vram?

Except for still using eDram, nothing else looks similar in those specs you posted links to.

I dont see anything that points that PSP GPU is very different from GS aside from some coments about adding some features.

No PSP beta game seems to feature advanced pixel/vertex shader like effects, thats why I suppose they havent improved too much Gpu features over GS.

Bur forget it, I was curious but I really dont care that much about this...

 

[Fafalada]

So then theres no problem accesing textures from main memory to GS Vram?

Not in terms of it being a bottleneck. If PS2 had more then 32MB memory, then perhaps...

No PSP beta game seems to feature advanced pixel/vertex shader like effects, thats why I suppose they havent improved too much Gpu features over GS.

I thought you were discussing how hardware specs are similar, not what we think of beta games(there's a 12+page thread dedicated to PSP early games a bit lower).
Incidentially, vertex shader effects are in abundance in just about every PS2 game, so by your logic seeing those wouldn't be evidence of improvements either.

 

[Tysan]

I thought you were discussing how hardware specs are similar, not what we think of beta games(there's a 12+page thread dedicated to PSP early games a bit lower).

Yes, I know, but I didnt want to argue if the games looked better than / worst than etc etc I wanted to coment if Sony went in the right direction when designing PSP without -supposedly- including modern pixel shaders like effects.

Incidentially, vertex shader effects are in abundance in just about every PS2 game, so by your logic seeing those wouldn't be evidence of improvements either.

Excuse me, I really do not know what are the differences between pixel/vertex shaders, well I know what pixel shaders can do, but not really what vertex shaders do, so I should have stated only pixel shaders above.

Thanks for all your input.

 

[Farid]

I wanted to coment if Sony went in the right direction when designing PSP without -supposedly- including modern pixel shaders like effects.

The question is how many gaming handheld devices released around PSP own release, will support fragment programs, a.k.a Pixel Shader under DirectX, efficiently (for other things than tech demos, if there's any)?

 

[one]

News coverage for the symposium:

http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103_2-5322814.html

The PlayStation Portable will come with a 333MHz processor that includes integrated graphics, a specialized core for video, a reconfigurable processing core that will enhance sound and 4 megabytes of integrated memory, said Masanobu Okabe, a Sony researcher attending the Hot Chips conference this week at Stanford University.

The system will also include a 4.3-inch screen and play 1.8-gigabyte optical disks based on the Universal Media Disc standard from Sony, he said.


Integrating all of these functions into a single piece of silicon will help reduce both power consumption and size, important characteristics in a handheld. Overall, the processor will run on 0.8 volts to 1.2 volts. Integration was a major characteristic of PlayStation 2 chips as well.

Sony executives have touted the PlayStation Portable, which combines game and multimedia features, as "the Walkman of the 21st century." Sony, the market leader in living-room consoles with its PlayStation 2, plans to enter the market for handheld games with the device later this year, with releases in Japan, then in the United States.

The Japanese company will be competing with a growing number of ornate 3D handhelds. Nintendo's Game Boy has been the dominant player to date, but Nokia recently released a handheld player, and Samsung will come out with a phone designed to play games.

In the PSP, the core microprocessor unit--which essentially runs the handheld and manages the integrated chip cores--is based on the MIPS R4000 chip design, Okabe said. Both the PlayStation 2 and Sony's Qiro robot are based around MIPS processors, which are derived from chip designs created originally for Silicon Graphics Inc. servers.

In contrast, Sony's next living-room console, the PlayStation 3, will have a Cell processor derived from IBM's Power line of chips.

Half of the 4MB of integrated memory in the PSP chip will connect directly to the main microprocessor, while the other half will link to the media cores, Okabe said. The memory split is possible because the processor has a separate bus. The direct connection from the chip to the memory should help ensure that there's a steady flow of data, he said.

Earlier presentations by Sony showed the chip with 8MB of integrated memory.

The graphics unit will be enhanced by Sony technology that will smooth out geometric wrinkles in graphical images, Okabe added.

The reconfigurable core inside the processor, called the Virtual Mobile Engine (VME), exists so that the main chip can make changes depending on its workload, offloading calculations or operations that tend to require a lot of power, if necessary. (Chips from Xilinx and other makers also have this capability.)

Like the integrated graphics core, the integrated VME runs at 166MHz. Sony first started integrating VMEs into products last year with the Network Walkman, a portable music device.

The graphics unit, the VME unit and the video unit are designed to power down independently when not in use, to cut energy consumption.

The chip will be made on the 90-nanometer process, Okabe said.

You can browse the more descriptive report and the slides at ExtremeTech, including its graphics chip specs.

 

[PC-Engine]

for the PSP sound i recommend to use this:

the Sony Qualia010 headphone for 2500-3000$
"nano-composite diaphragm technology, an oxygen-free copper cord, and an lightweight magnesium frame"

For that price I'd rather get something from STAX