I hope that finally translates into the PS3 having significantly better graphics than the box.

"That is to say, the additional cores are dedicated to running only User mode apps, not the OS."

So that's why the PS3 OS reserves an SPE and does processing on the main core too? Great demonstration for a flagship implementation.

Soleron said: "That is to say, the additional cores are dedicated to running only User mode apps, not the OS." So that's why the PS3 OS reserves an SPE and does processing on the main core too? Great demonstration for a flagship implementation.

 

It's a good approach. Making sure the core OS runs on the PPE the results from the 6 app SPEs (for the general games developer) are predictable and far more contant. Games will still make use of the PPE though to some extend (although more and more code will be moved from the PPE to the SPEs as PS3 game engines mature), having one additional SPE reserved for the OS allows Sony to add multi-media or other performance critical features which will be far less dependent on the amount of resources games take on the PPE.

Exactly if PlayTV will indeed be able to capture a movie while playing (which they said it can) this will be a powerful demonstration of the benefits of this approach.



Let's see graphics are not the main thing that are influenced by the CPU. I would like to see some cool physics effects on PS3. But apparently you can also use the SPEs as very flexible shaders so we might see some cool effects on PS3 once these practices are used widely.

For some reason, being an aspiring Fantasy author, I've developed a mysterious aversion for the name "Paolini".
Go figure...

@ Kyros

The PS3 setup is a bit special in this regard, the GPU was adapted to take advantage of the Cell processor. Pre- and/or post process stuff, allowing the GPU to concentrate more on other graphical functions, making the setup graphically far more powerful. The setup is also well suited to perform some hybrid raytracing in games.

In general IMO games will roughly remain similar though, but allowing more complex AI, better graphics, more things on screen, better physics, more complex game worlds in general combined with better performance. A more powerful system combined with powerful mature game engines allows for more game design and artistic freedom, but it's still up to the developer's artistic and game design talents to create a true masterpiece and tap into this potential.