360 CPU and Cell are fairly equal according to Dave Shippy

[heruamon]

joeorc said:

Ascended_Saiyan3 said:

heruamon said:

joeorc said:

Fishie said:

klarklar said:
so ya the chips are fairly equal, I completely agree, but 3 cores versus 7(or 6,they say one is turned off). Ps3 defiantly more powerful. problem is coding.

 

 

Again, the CELL processor in the PS3 only has a single core.

 

Dr. H. Peter Hofstee, Cell Chief Scientist and Cell Synergistic Processor Chief Architect ...

SAY'S the Cell Processor's SPE's are Cores

unless you are saying he's wrong

so that's now: 2 people from VGchartz that are saying the "Cell Chief Scientist" is wrong

Cueil

Fishie

 

The good Dr. is also making a sales pitch...but I do think it is multi-core, just not in a manner we are accustome to seeing it...ie...independent.

 

Dr. Hofstee was making a sales pitch by telling the people what his creation is?  BTW, the SPEs are "independent".  Maybe you mean it's not in the manner you are accustom to seeing independent cores (i.e. not traditional identical CPU cores).

 

yup they are:

From IBM's :

"The most distinguishing feature of the Cell Broadband Engine is that although all processors share main storage (the effective-address space that includes main memory), their function is specialized into two types -- the Power Processor Element (PPE) and the Synergistic Processor Element (SPE). The Cell Broadband Engine has one PPE and eight SPEs.

• The first type of processor, the PPE, is a 64-bit Power Architecture core. It is fully compliant with the 64-bit Power Architecture specification and can run 32-bit and 64-bit operating systems and applications.
• The second type of processor, the SPE, is optimized for running compute-intensive applications, and it is not optimized for running an operating system.

The SPEs are independent processors, each running its own individual application programs. Each SPE has full access to coherent shared memory, including the memory-mapped I/O space. The designation synergistic for this processor was chosen carefully -- there is a mutual dependence between the PPE and the SPEs. The combination of the two working in harmony produces a greater effect than each working alone. The SPEs depend on the PPE to run the operating system and, in many cases, the top-level control thread of an application. The PPE depends on the SPEs to provide the bulk of the application performance. "

 

 I'm not a programmer, but I do have a LITLLE bit of programming knowledge, but how would you differentiate between an independent, vice dependent processor?  I guess, I look at the OS as having a bigger role than the Cell model...there is no slight meant by this comments, but this seems analogous to a terrorist organization, where the cells are independent, but are all tied to a central organization for core doctrine.  Efficient and effective, but it has some downsides as well, and command and control can prove to be quite a challenge.  A symbiotic relationship....and it's the developer that turns it into either the Borg or the Trill.  It then is hard to say which one is better or worse, as it's a case by case basis.