> Power7's core processor should be far beyond any previous PPE core.

Yes, that's a given, even if stripped down. The same applies to POWER8 to an even greater extent. If the PS4's Cell should have a POWER PPE I'm inclined to believe it will be derived from POWER8, not from POWER7 like was planned for the PowerXCell 32ii and 32iv.

> we don't yet know how much improvement has been made in the SPE's

True. According to IBM roadmaps the PowerXCell 32ii's and 32iv's eSPE was not supposed to improve in SP FP or DP FP performance over the PowerXCell 8i's eDP SPE. Some suspected cache enlargement and latency reduction though.

http://www.google.com/search?q=powerxcell+edp+espe

> Is it a Cell derivative? Yes, I guess it is.

So we have the same point of view. Nice.

> But as a Power6 successor Its also so much more.

That's called product line evolution ;-)