Cell processor (kind of O.T.) 2005-02-10 - By hans_k
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I read about the new Cell processor yesterday. It is something
like 10 times as fast as current PC processors. It has a PowerPC
"front end" that manages 8 special processors. All in one circuit.
But there are no plans to put it in any ordinary computer,
because to get more than a PowerPC out of it, you have to care
for that in the programs. So there is no backwards compatibility.
First I thought that it could be a good idea for Caligari to
make a special purpouse computer and a special tS version.
But of course that is not realistic - who wants to pay for a
special computer that can only run tS?
So what about a pci-express card to put in an ordinary computer
to boost tS?
Then I thought about what in tS could benefit from being boosted.
Well its the DirectX/OpenGL part and especially the rendering.
But DirectX/OpenGL is cared for by Nvidia et al, and they are
already at 1/3 of the Cell processor speed. And the rendering
is the render engine peoples business, so it is they who should
make a Cell processor card to speed things up.
The Cell processor will be used in PlayStation, so maybe there
should be a render engine programmed for that...
- Hans
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