"[RSX] ... we're still waiting" - Anon games exec, BusinessWeek article

[Titanio]

A sort of standard article about Cell, but has some interesting comment toward the end. Some of it seems suspect, but here you go anyway:

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/dec2005/tc20051222_242937.htm

Though Sony declines to comment on such complaints, in November it failed to deliver on a promise to send game creators an upgraded prototype containing a graphics chip made by Santa Clara (Calif.)-based nVidia (NVDA).

Without the souped-up graphics chip, "the machine we have is 10 times slower than the PS3 should be," says an exec at a game software maker who spoke on condition of anonymity. "The graphics chip was supposed to be ready by November. But we're still waiting."

The bit about being "10 times slower" than the final PS3 spec, and that the kits were due in Nov (when Sony had announced Dec publically) kind of make me wonder..

 

[Kb-Smoker]

the final dev kits were going out this month....

 

[Synergy34]

Sony is expected to sell more than 12 million PS3s in the first year and reach the 200 million mark within five years, estimates researcher Envisioneering Group.

LOL, yeah, in Fantasy Land.

 

[TurnDragoZeroV2G]

You can be a higher-up in a game company, but it doesn't mean you understand anything as well as the people working under you. PR tflops'd

 

[Nite_Hawk]

A sort of standard article about Cell, but has some interesting comment toward the end. Some of it seems suspect, but here you go anyway:

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/dec2005/tc20051222_242937.htm



The bit about being "10 times slower" than the final PS3 spec, and that the kits were due in Nov (when Sony had announced Dec publically) kind of make me wonder..

Well, you can take that two ways. On one hand, you could say that the developers should be pissed they are working on "10 times slower" hardware than what they are expecting.

On the other hand, if you assume that the kits they have now have anything even remotely close to 6800 or 7800 level hardware, it implys the graphics technology in the PS3 should be very very fast.

Nite_Hawk

 

[DarkRage]

10 times slower = 10 times less bandthwith CPU-GPU.

It doesn't mean 10 times less ALUs, GPU's power or something like that.

And 10 times less bandthwith CPU-GPU can be quite significant or not at all, depending on the way the system is used. But I don't expect it has got a big impact on first wave's games. And just a moderate impact in latter games (twice the framerate maybe?, but not 10 times...)

 

[Titanio]

Well, you can take that two ways. On one hand, you could say that the developers should be pissed they are working on "10 times slower" hardware than what they are expecting.

On the other hand, if you assume that the kits they have now have anything even remotely close to 6800 or 7800 level hardware, it implys the graphics technology in the PS3 should be very very fast.

Nite_Hawk

I prefer option c), as outlined by TurnDragoZeroV2G

 

[Dave Baumann]

If the current dev units are using PC G70's on a 1x PCIe inteface then they are getting a fair bit more local bandwidth in relation to RSX, whilst losing out on a lot of interface bandwidth - they may need to make adjustments to compensate.

 

[Synergy34]

10 times slower = 10 times less bandthwith CPU-GPU.

It doesn't mean 10 times less ALUs, GPU's power or something like that.

And 10 times less bandthwith CPU-GPU can be quite significant or not at all, depending on the way the system is used. But I don't expect it has got a big impact on first wave's games. And just a moderate impact in latter games (twice the framerate maybe?, but not 10 times...)

If the 10 times is refering to bandwidth then I would say it will make an impact. You'd be talking about dev kits with only 2.5gig and 2.2gid of BW for the components. Ask me and i'd say that is significantly lower than 25 and 22gigs.

 

[TurnDragoZeroV2G]

If there's a 10 times difference in bandwidth, it'll be in the CPU-GPU interface as DarkRage and Dave said. There should be considerably more bandwidth to RAM at the moment, however. IIRC, the dev kits out now are using a 7800GTX of some form (512 @ 550MHz?), at least from what I remember of those slides. And I think the PCIe interface was greater than 1x....

 

[Kb-Smoker]

Yes in your dreams

okay...........

 

[Guden Oden]

You do know those images prove exactly nothing, right?

They're old, and basically irrelevant.

 

[3roxor]

Could be a serious problem for Sony. I'm not that convinced about the source though.

 

[ManuVlad3.0]

10 times slower = 10 times less bandthwith CPU-GPU.

It doesn't mean 10 times less ALUs, GPU's power or something like that.

And 10 times less bandthwith CPU-GPU can be quite significant or not at all, depending on the way the system is used. But I don't expect it has got a big impact on first wave's games. And just a moderate impact in latter games (twice the framerate maybe?, but not 10 times...)

In this case, it would be 20 times slower:

PCI-Express = 2G/seg
FlexIO = 40G/seg

Right?

 

[Bad_Boy]

You do know those images prove exactly nothing, right?

They're old, and basically irrelevant.

I dont see how. If that was the plan for Sony back then, It still has a high chance of being Sony's plan now. If if that is so... then Kb-Smoker was correct when saying "the final dev kits were going out this month."

It's all we have to go by, so it is more relevant than you think.

 

[dantruon]

LOL, yeah, in Fantasy Land.

It took the Plastaytion 1 10 years to reach the 100 million mark
It took the Playstation 2 5 years to reach the 100 million mark
giving the fact that the PS3 will have so many next gen hardware in it, and the general consensus is that it is the most advanced hardware of next gen (the ps2 was the least advance hardware of it generation it still achieve the milestone)why cant it sell more than 200 million in 5 years? They might not get there at the end, but is going to be very close.

 

[Qroach]

So 200 million in 5 years, would mean 100 million in 2.5 years? I don't think sony is even capable of making that many units in that time, let alone sell them.

 

[dantruon]

So 200 million in 5 years, would mean 100 million in 2.5 years? I don't think sony is even capable of making that many units in that time, let alone sell them.

do you have any idea how many Labs and how many billion of dollar they put into building it since 2003 to manufacture the ps3 and Cell? i guess not.

 

[Tahir2]

Why dont you give us an idea dantruon?

 

[AlNom]

do you have any idea how many Labs and how many billion of dollar they put into building it since 2003 to manufacture the ps3 and Cell? i guess not.

You seem to be hinting that they put so much money into it, that they can produce more of this new tech quicker than PS2, which had less money put into it. I would just like to clarify.