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August 1, 2007

Sony computing board uses PS3 chip

Cell Computing Board for rack mount server

Martyn Williams

Sony has developed a prototype computer board based on the Cell processor, the same high-power chip used in the PlayStation 3 (PS3), and will show it at a conference in the US next week.

The Cell chip is the product of a joint development project by IBM, Sony, Sony Computer Entertainment (SCEI) and Toshiba. Each chip contains a main processor and eight sub-processors to deliver around 230Gflops (floating point operations per second) of power.

The 'Cell Computing Board' prototype, which is small enough to be mounted into a 1U-size server for a 19in rack mount, combines the Cell Broadband Engine microprocessor and RSX graphics processor. This pairing results in a high-power computing platform that goes beyond the power of the Cell chip alone, said Sony. The company did not disclose precise performance data for the board.

It will be unveiled at the SIGGRAPH show that will take place from August 7 to 9 at the San Diego Convention Center. The event is focused on the computer graphics industry and Sony will make a number of related demonstrations, it said. These will include real-time processing of '4K images', which are digital cinema pictures with a resolution of four times that of HDTV, computer graphics rendering and a multi-threaded physics simulation.

Toshiba has already demonstrated Cell-based computing systems for computer graphics work. At last year's Ceatec exhibition in Japan the company showed several development workstations that could handle multiple real-time HDTV streams or motion capture and process in real time.

Looking ahead, both Sony and Toshiba are working on more powerful versions of the chip for use in professional-class computers and smaller, low-power versions for use in consumer electronics devices beyond the PS3 games console.

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Comments received

Malike said on Wednesday, 01 August 2007

Could be nice if Sony does computers as home computers we got in the 80's including a simple built-in programming language with such powerfull capabilities!!
For sure it would explode PC games and home market!
Just imagine that in-house home developpers could rise as what happened in the beginning of the personal computer!!!
Please Sony, simply DO IT!!!

Bozo said on Wednesday, 01 August 2007

It would be useless if it runs Microsoft windows as the operating system.

Dave said on Thursday, 02 August 2007

Let's just hope it wont become a Sony systems ONLY chip

Fry said on Thursday, 02 August 2007

"Let's just hope it wont become a Sony systems ONLY chip"

Unlikely considering its a joint venture involving two other PC manufacturers.

jet said on Monday, 06 August 2007

I have been trying to get Sony, IBM and Toshiba to "do it" for about 2 years. Maybe they did it??
www.cellsupercomputer.com
I live near San Diego - so I will go see what they are up to at Siggraph.
You are correct - Cell could reset the PC industry.
Programming tools are already available for PS3.
PS3 is not enough - game console is a technology snapshot. What is needed is an evolving platform to compete with X86. IBM is reported to be building Cell2 with more cores and fast double precision.

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