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Forums - Sony Discussion - Toshiba is now backing PS3.

Game_boy on 24 February 2008
omgwtfbbq said:
Naraku_Diabolos said:
 

Wait, what? April 1st? lol j/k

Interesting. If the Cell is used for Toshiba computers, especially laptops, they are SCREWED. Why? My first laptop was a Toshiba, and GOD how I hated that thing. It was their Qosmio models and the model was discontinued before I purchased it. It had HORRIBLE ventilation and overheated in no time. It had horrible performance, and if the Cell is used in them, expect the computers to really malfunction by being overdone in processing power and dying.

The Cell will never be used in laptops, because then it wouldn't be able to run Windows.

 


THAT'S WHERE YOU'RE WRONG!!!!! LINUX DOMINATION FTW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

On a more serious note, if non-Windows operating systems such as BSD, Linux and OpenSolaris become more popular, computers will not need to use the x86 architecture and so consumers will be able to choose one that fits their needs. I could use a Cell laptop for example.



Ubuntu. Linux for human beings.

If you are interested in trying Ubuntu or Linux in general, PM me and I will answer your questions and help you install it if you wish.

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LordTheNightKnight on 24 February 2008
Game_boy said:
omgwtfbbq said:
Naraku_Diabolos said:
 

Wait, what? April 1st? lol j/k

Interesting. If the Cell is used for Toshiba computers, especially laptops, they are SCREWED. Why? My first laptop was a Toshiba, and GOD how I hated that thing. It was their Qosmio models and the model was discontinued before I purchased it. It had HORRIBLE ventilation and overheated in no time. It had horrible performance, and if the Cell is used in them, expect the computers to really malfunction by being overdone in processing power and dying.

The Cell will never be used in laptops, because then it wouldn't be able to run Windows.

 


THAT'S WHERE YOU'RE WRONG!!!!! LINUX DOMINATION FTW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

On a more serious note, if non-Windows operating systems such as BSD, Linux and OpenSolaris become more popular, computers will not need to use the x86 architecture and so consumers will be able to choose one that fits their needs. I could use a Cell laptop for example.


The PS3's Cell is just one version. One could easily be made for PCs, where the main core is x86. 



A flashy-first game is awesome when it comes out. A great-first game is awesome forever.

Plus, just for the hell of it: Kelly Brook at the 2008 BAFTAs

hunter_alien on 24 February 2008
Dolla Dolla said:
This article is funny.

Does the author not know that Toshiba was one of the three who created the Cell microprocessor? I'm guessing not. This isn't "backing" the PS3.

 Please read the article ... and I mean read it , and than youl find the answer for your question :P



Vote the Mayor for Mayor!

Game_boy on 24 February 2008
LordTheNightKnight said:
 

The PS3's Cell is just one version. One could easily be made for PCs, where the main core is x86.

  


Firstly, Cell is POWER based. That cannot be changed. Secondly, if you want to change the instruction set architecture, every single part of the chip needs a redesign. Thirdly,  software needs to be enttirely rewritten to support asymmetric multiprocessing, and it doesn't offer as much usable potential as symmetric multiprocessing did. Fourthly, the Cell's SPUs are in a modified POWER that is very efficient in vector operations. If these were changed to x86 cores, their speed advantages would be entirely lost. You'd need to persuade software manufacturers to write half their code in x86 and half in a vector form of it. Finally, and this is the clincher, Sony and Toshiba do not have x86 licenses, so any such microprocessors would be illegal. Whether IBM's x86 license is legal is questionable.

The closest it will come for x86 (and therefore Windows) systems is AMD's APU initiative codenamed "Fusion" that places x86 and graphics (you could say the instruction set is abstracted using DirectX or OpenGL) cores on one silicon wafer. While ATI's R700 is looking good on the graphics side, AMD's Phenom (K10) is losing heavily to Intel's Core 2 (Core "Penryn").  Intel's Larabee which aims for x86 yet vector-efficient cores is also possible.

So, no.



Ubuntu. Linux for human beings.

If you are interested in trying Ubuntu or Linux in general, PM me and I will answer your questions and help you install it if you wish.

Morgyn on 24 February 2008

This was announced in the latter part of 2007, not news.



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LordTheNightKnight on 24 February 2008
Game_boy said:
LordTheNightKnight said:
 

The PS3's Cell is just one version. One could easily be made for PCs, where the main core is x86.


Firstly, Cell is POWER based. That cannot be changed. Secondly, if you want to change the instruction set architecture, every single part of the chip needs a redesign. Thirdly, software needs to be enttirely rewritten to support asymmetric multiprocessing, and it doesn't offer as much usable potential as symmetric multiprocessing did. Fourthly, the Cell's SPUs are in a modified POWER that is very efficient in vector operations. If these were changed to x86 cores, their speed advantages would be entirely lost. You'd need to persuade software manufacturers to write half their code in x86 and half in a vector form of it. Finally, and this is the clincher, Sony and Toshiba do not have x86 licenses, so any such microprocessors would be illegal. Whether IBM's x86 license is legal is questionable.

The closest it will come for x86 (and therefore Windows) systems is AMD's APU initiative codenamed "Fusion" that places x86 and graphics (you could say the instruction set is abstracted using DirectX or OpenGL) cores on one silicon wafer. While ATI's R700 is looking good on the graphics side, AMD's Phenom (K10) is losing heavily to Intel's Core 2 (Core "Penryn"). Intel's Larabee which aims for x86 yet vector-efficient cores is also possible.

So, no.


The PS3's specific Cell processor is based on a Power PC chip. If IBM wanted to make a variant of the Cell that would work on Windows, they would do it. So what if the instruction set had to be rewritten. Would that magically change the structure of the Cell?



A flashy-first game is awesome when it comes out. A great-first game is awesome forever.

Plus, just for the hell of it: Kelly Brook at the 2008 BAFTAs