So how is the PS3 arcitech set up? What would its 3.2ghz compare to a P4?

[dario03]

Basically I'm wondering if Sony has given these kinds of specs to compare their cpu to other cpus. Like how a amd 64 1.8ghz is comparable to a 3.0ghz P4.
I have heard that it is similar to a 8 core with 1 for reduncy and they run at 3.2ghz. But is that closer to a 3.2ghz P4 or 3.2ghz Amd or just completly different.

 

[aaronkupen]

My guess is that it is completely different, I haven't seen many benchmarks on it for gaming. I think once the system comes out, we will find out the comparrison. The processor is more powerful than a 3.2 p4 and a 3.2 AMD, but for games it is still a little hazy.

 

[zmatt]

the cell archetecture is nothing like the p4. NETBURST aka pentium, is a very plain CISC archetecture with one cpu core and 6 intructoins per clock cycle. Cell is a cluster of 8 cores that act togerther to run code very fast, the main core divides the work up between the seven cores, each that run at 3.4ghz although its been stated in IEEE magizine that it can go up to 5ghz. each core has its own 128k cache. the Cell is many times more advanced than anything in a pc right now. Every time a new console comes out it out performs current pcs, but within a few months to a year the pcs have passed them up, just wait until they start implementing Cells in pcs, everything will change.

 

[korky122]

i heard some where that the gpu in the ps3 was as powerfull as 2 6800 ultras in sli,

 

[aaronkupen]

Yeah me too, but it's actually more powerful. Also, SLI doesn't mean double the performance so that isn't an accurate statement.

Secondly, these are gpu's based soley for gaming and not general computing so they will also work better with games than an nvidia 6 or 7 series.

Isn't this a processor thread though?

 

[dario03]

Well the PS3 is almost out. Can anybody explain how that 3.2ghz rating compares yet???

zmatt's explaination helps but can anybody be more clear?

And I saw the thread on how powerful the Ps3 is after posting this but I just want to know if anybody knows how many instructions per clock the Ps3 does?

 

[killians45]

Keep in mind, the 7 SPE's are NOT general purpose cores which in some ways is limiting. They are specialized cores, with limited branch prediction.