My XBox 360 vs PS3 comparison (mostly technical)

[Final-Fan]

On another note:

I was poking around the Internet for a diagram of the PS3 like the one at Wikipedia of the Xbox 360. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_360_hardware ) I didn't find it but I found this extremely interesting quote in a very technical article about the Cell:

Cell is a revolution, a completely new microprocessor architecture which, while it may take some time to get used to, promises a vast performance boost over today’s systems. GPUs can already run 10 times faster than desktop CPUs, Cell will not only bring similar performance but will do so for more applications and it’ll be easier to program.

Being produced in large volumes also means the Cell will be cheap. They will likely see wide spread not just in living rooms but but in the realm of industry and science as well. The embedded world is much, much larger than the PC world and often imposes stringent constraints on the components used, the same sort of constraints the Cell has been designed for.

Some have suggested that STI should have gone for a more conventional design such as three PowerPC 970s on a single chip. Such a design would not have addressed the power issues and would, as a result have to of been driven at a relatively low clock rate. Instead, by using simpler designs which use vectors the Cell designers have managed to fit 9 cores on a single chip at a higher clock speed, the potential performance is consequently considerably higher.

The Cell is a new architecture and will seem strange and alien to many used to rather more conventional desktop designs. In order to utilise it properly programers will have face new problems and devise new ways of solving them. It remains to be seen how much of the Cell’s potential can be achieved and how difficult it is to extract it, but it’s clear that STI are trying to make this as painless as possible.

Many people do not like change, to them Cell represents a threat. For others it represents an opportunity.

[edit:  my source is http://www.blachford.info/computer/Cell/Cell0_v2.html ) 

 

I think that this perfectly explains why some developers seem to talk like 360 fanboys. They don't want to spend the effort on learning completely new architecture, but don't want to admit it to themselves, so they subconsciously rationalize that the Cell must be TEH SUXOR. The ones who are more daring are the ones excited about the possibilities presented while still cognizant of the extra effort that will be required.

 

But this does mean that effectively porting to and from the 360 and the PS3 is probably quite awkward. (No big surprise here coughMaddencough)