| rocketpig said: The SPEs are part of the Cells biggest problem. Since everything needs to run through the main processor, the Cell cannot dedicate one SPE to a specific function without the main processor participating to that process. Which is why the Cell is a BAD GAMING PROCESSOR. Sony flatout screwed this up. The Cell is limited by its own main processor. Each SPE is capable of processing a lot of data but its biggest limitation is the main processor, which is why we see things like XB access inabled during gameplay. |
spe_create_thread(group_id, code, args, environment, affinity, flags);
And it's off and running. SPEs can (and should) initiate their own DMA transfers, so they don't need to constantly be "fed" data, they just need to know where it is. I don't know where people got this idea that the PPE needs to be involved in every little thing that happens on the Cell.
You're 100% right about the SNES though, its only disadvantage was a slower CPU clock speed, it had double the RAM, a better sprite engine supporting transparency, much higher color depth, a graphics mode that supported rapid sprite scaling and rotation (mode 7), and a more robust sound engine. And I'm probably leaving a few things out. :)
