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PlayStation 3 Cell Chips Unveiled
- February 22, 2005 17:10 PM PST
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Sony, IBM, and Toshiba get technical about the future of PlayStation 3 gaming.
The PlayStation 3 should generate processing power ten times that of current PCs, according to representatives from the Sony Group (Sony and Sony Computer Entertainment), IBM, and Toshiba at the International Solid State Circuits Conference in San Francisco, CA.The four companies unveiled technical details of the Cell microprocessor, which they have been working on since 2001, that will be the heart and soul of the PlayStation 3.
The prototype chip consists of one 64-bit Power PC core processor and eight separate processors called synergistic processing elements (SPEs). There will be 2.5MB of on-chip memory, and the Cell will use 234 million transistors (the PS2 has 10.5 million transistors). A multiprocessor design enables the SPEs to work independently or together and in parallel in any number according to the demands of the software design.
According to representatives at the press conference, the Cell has turned in clock speeds at the IBM labs at more than 4.5 GHz. By comparison the PlayStation 2's Emotion Engine processor developed by Toshiba and Sony is rated at 250 Mhz clock speed.
Another advantage of the Cell is an ability to support multiple operating systems. Conventional operating systems (like Linux and Windows), real-time operating systems for games and other computer entertainment, and guest operating systems for specific applications can all run at the same time.
The Cell chip on display was manufactured using IBM's 90nm (nanometer) fabrication process to produce extremely small chip sizes. However, the four companies have also been investing heavily in a still more compact 65 nm technology, and speculation has this chip slated for duty in the PS3.
Interestingly, IBM stated that Cell manufacturing will occur at its plant in East Fishkill, New York, and Sony pegged its Nagasaki facility for chip fab in Japan. Toshiba declined to comment about its plans for Cell chip fabrication.
When it was all said and done, it was clear that at the soonest PS3 will show up is in 2006 or even early 2007 to coincide with the end of Sony's fiscal calendar. And what was not up for discussion at this time was the intricacy involved in designing software applications (including games) for Cell and the timeline for the release of programming tools.
Still the announcement was an interesting shot across the bows of Microsoft and Nintendo. Nintendo has promised to make and announcement about its next generation game technology at the Game Developer's Conference in San Francisco in March, and it is widely speculated that Microsoft will unveil is new game system (codenamed Xenon ) at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in May.
