• Order of the Butterfly
    Order of the Butterfly
    minator
    Posts: 365 from 2003/3/28
    Quote:

    Really? I didn't know that and I think that's very cool.
    OK, I was wrong and I'm glad to know that as this is something significant.
    Suddenly CPUs with integrated GPUs and a Power design incorporating SPEs begin to have a common utility that I find VERY appealing.
    Thanks minator.


    Of course you do know the OpenCL programming model is more complex than Cell....

    Quote:

    This is where Microsoft's use of multiple identical cores on the Xenon may make more sense than the odd combination used in the Cell. Code is uniform requires no more consideration for the architecture then it be threaded.


    The MS approach proved very successful at the beginning of the current console cycle because it was easier to get things up and running.

    However, to get the maximum performance out of it is no easier than Cell. To get maximum performance out of *any* processor requires detailed knowledge of its internals. The tricks you use to get that performance out of Cell are exactly the same tricks you use to get performance out of any processor.

    In fact, it might be more difficult to get maximum performance from Xenon. The SPEs are deterministic, you know exactly what data is in the local memory. You don't know what is in a cache.

    Even if you do manage to get maximum performance out of Xenon, you still only have half the performance of Cell.

    It's a trade-off. Cell is more complex to program (Note: I never said it was simple) but in return for more work you get more performance. The design also has a lot to do with power consumption, there is no out-of-order because it would have required far too much power. The SPEs are very simple (i.e. they are true RISC processors) because any more complexity would make them too big and to hot.

    Would it have been better if they had made PPC SPEs? for the PS3 no. For market acceptance beyond the PS3, almost certainly yes.
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