WereKitten on 20 November 2009
| nightsurge said: This just basically means that if the PS4 wants to use an improved version of the Cell to have backwards compatibility with PS3, they will have to commission IBM to design it, since IBM is no longer working on the Cell BE successor. Just makes it harder on Sony to get a better and backwards compatible CPU for next gen. |
Nothing has changed in this sense, because IBM already developed the PowerCell 8i targeted at HPC and their next architecture stems from the Cell family design. It was already implicit that if Sony wanted an even "softer" CPU upgrade (i.e. basically a Cell with more SPEs and minor architectural changes) they'd have to commision a special design. Not that IBM would have any trouble at producing that, given their know-how, but I hope they move to something more radical.
