| MikeB said: @ LTKN No IBM's design goal was to make the SPEs full processors being able to greatly facilitate any kind of program. They dropped a lot of redundant and legacy stuff, which in no sense render them not being full processors. The only difficulty is redesigning legacy code efficiently, but the redesigned code will run better on any other multi-core or multi-processor CPU, the difference is that it's crucial and more benefial for the Cell, on other processors the benefit is smaller. |
Oops. I mean full processor as in acting as a full PC CPU. No, one SPE cannot be one, since that would defeat the purpose of its design. They are powerful processors, but they are not processing cores like the Xenon. That would make the SPEs cost a lot more. The SPEs are closer to suped-up vector units, which are full processors, but just specialized at dedicated numbers cruching. This is not a knock. Vector units were used on supercomputer CPUs for years, because they allowed the most powerful numbers crunching. That is what the SPEs do. Making them as capable as a PC CPU would be not only redundant,* but also counterproductive, since that would take away processing power needed for the Cell to work.
* Yes, one SPE handles the OS, but that's all it does, and all it needs to do.
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