Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

Previously, New PC.

> >I think, from looking in my crystal ball, reading the portents, and
> >sacrificing a few chickens to read their entrails, that the system will
be
> >my main system for about a year or until the ibm cell chip moves out of
ps3
> >into pc's, so max 2 years??
>
> You have a reliable source to suggest we'll be buying IBM "cell chips" in
> 2 years? Is this going to be cost effective and/or mature enough at that
> point or an alpha/experiment?

The cell chip will be a *lot* faster than anything available now, estimates
put it at 100x faster than 2GHz pentium, and 200x faster than PS2 - which
has a 300 MHz core. So somewhere between 60 - 200GHz. Even considering the
margin of error, it's still smoking. That's smoking with a serious amount of
rubber laid down on the track.

The cell was developed with the original aim of being a supercomputer on a
chip, and to be the core for the playstation 3. The playstation 3 is due to
be released next year, though estimates vary as to exact timing, some
suggesting spring, others in time for the christmas shopping spree. Either
way next year.

I've heard from a mate who develops games for Sony that the PS3 will cost in
the region of £400. Bearing in mind the subsidy on every games console ever,
that probably puts the real cost at closer to £600 maybe £700? at a guess
with games at c £30-50. This would put the chip at, as a maximum, £400?
Expensive? Yes. Will people buy it? Yes. Will it force prices of other chips
down? Yes. All round goodness.

Considering that whatever they put in to a games console has to be stable
(relatively), I think the chip will be mature enough to be used in a pc.

The current thinking is that the cell will 'revolutionise' anything with the
slightest chance it could use a processor, and that it will be put into
tv's, vcr/tivo's, fridges, ac, heating, etc. Or that the PS3 will sell in
two different versions, one a pure console, the other a console plus a
household management system... Whether it turns out this way is another
matter...

Another consideration is that Intel are also developing their own 'super'
chip, which will run at much higher efficiency than current pentium 4's.
Unfortunately, it's not expected until 2007..

Yes, the cell chip will be expensive. It will also be *quick*. Even if it is
prohibitively expensive to buy a 'cell', the corresponding drop in price of
every other chip should be promising.

Having said all that I've just read that a 'cell' based graphics workstation
will be released by the end of this year here:
http://www.ps3insider.com/modules. [...] le&sid=110

So, anyway, I think the Cell will be great, especially if it runs at the
spec'd teraflop.

Nick