Yes, after all the PS3 will have only one CELL, due to cost issues, and the decision of making a GPU on PS3 by NVIDIA, is due largely to this fact : Only ONE CELL on PS3, so there is no way that this CELL could be used as a multi-purpose processor and as a GPU in the same time ! 256 GFLOPS is not sufficient to do this…gone are the days of DREAMING of ((( a PS3 with 4 CELLS ( 4*256 GFLOPS = 1024 GFLOPS or 1 teraflops) with 1024 GFLOPS power, allowing the system to do all the graphics stuff plus AI, PHYSICS…on those CELLS without any need of a GPU, and making the dream of real time ray-tracing finally possible…)))
Unfortunately, its not the case, and without wasting time, those are near-final PS3 specifications :
1/ 1 CELL running at 4 GHZ, providing 256 GFLOPS power ( 1 PPE ( L1 cache 32 KB, L2 cache 512 KB, and 8 SPE each one having 256 KB )
2/ there is 2 I/O ( input/output ) on CELL, to communicate with other parts of the console, the first I/O of the CELL has the main purpose to communicate with the unified shared (between the CELL and the GPU) XDR Ram memory ( from RAMBUS) at a 50 GB/s bandwidth ( 4 * 64 MB = 256 MB of memory )
3/ The second I/O is called FlexIO ( flexible input/output ) and this allow the CELL to communicate with the next generation NVIDIA GPU at a 76.8 GB/s bandwidth ( this GPU with 190 million transistors will run at a 600 MHZ, with a 32 rendering pipelines, associated with 16 MB of Toshiba Embedded DRAM of 256 GB/s bandwidth)
The CELL will help the GPU in creating advanced physics for particle effects.
4/ retro compatibility with PS1 ( emulated by the CELL ) and PS2 ( emulated by the CELL )
5/ a Hard Disk of 160 GO, Ethernet port ( no modem this time ), wireless, USB2 port, and a flash stick memory duo-pro support.
6/ the controllers will not so much differ from those of PS2, with the main difference that they will be WIRELESS, and with better analog buttons and more varied vibration effects.
7/ If the first CELL IBM produced prototypes are using 90 nanometer technology, the first SDKs containing the CELL that developers will receive after 2 months will be produced with this technology, but the CELLs that will be used on PS3 ( and later SDKs ) will be produced with the 65 nanometer technology, allowing sony to decrease the costs of PS3, and to tackle the problems of HEAT.
8/ The PS3 will ship on MARS 2006 in JAPAN ( earlier than what a lot of people thought before ) there will be 2 versions of PS3, but only the first version will be shipped on mars 2006, ( at a price range of 299-399 $ ) with a read only blue-ray, and as mentioned a 120 GO hard disk capacity. The second version of PS3 will ship some months later, ( 399-599$ ) with a writer blue/ray, a 400 GO hard disk, for the main purpose of recording TV digital programs.
Date of releasing the PS3 on USA and Europe hasn’t been determined yet by sont but its believed that the PS3 will ship between July and October 2006 in USA and in late 2006 in Europe.
Source
Unfortunately, its not the case, and without wasting time, those are near-final PS3 specifications :
1/ 1 CELL running at 4 GHZ, providing 256 GFLOPS power ( 1 PPE ( L1 cache 32 KB, L2 cache 512 KB, and 8 SPE each one having 256 KB )
2/ there is 2 I/O ( input/output ) on CELL, to communicate with other parts of the console, the first I/O of the CELL has the main purpose to communicate with the unified shared (between the CELL and the GPU) XDR Ram memory ( from RAMBUS) at a 50 GB/s bandwidth ( 4 * 64 MB = 256 MB of memory )
3/ The second I/O is called FlexIO ( flexible input/output ) and this allow the CELL to communicate with the next generation NVIDIA GPU at a 76.8 GB/s bandwidth ( this GPU with 190 million transistors will run at a 600 MHZ, with a 32 rendering pipelines, associated with 16 MB of Toshiba Embedded DRAM of 256 GB/s bandwidth)
The CELL will help the GPU in creating advanced physics for particle effects.
4/ retro compatibility with PS1 ( emulated by the CELL ) and PS2 ( emulated by the CELL )
5/ a Hard Disk of 160 GO, Ethernet port ( no modem this time ), wireless, USB2 port, and a flash stick memory duo-pro support.
6/ the controllers will not so much differ from those of PS2, with the main difference that they will be WIRELESS, and with better analog buttons and more varied vibration effects.
7/ If the first CELL IBM produced prototypes are using 90 nanometer technology, the first SDKs containing the CELL that developers will receive after 2 months will be produced with this technology, but the CELLs that will be used on PS3 ( and later SDKs ) will be produced with the 65 nanometer technology, allowing sony to decrease the costs of PS3, and to tackle the problems of HEAT.
8/ The PS3 will ship on MARS 2006 in JAPAN ( earlier than what a lot of people thought before ) there will be 2 versions of PS3, but only the first version will be shipped on mars 2006, ( at a price range of 299-399 $ ) with a read only blue-ray, and as mentioned a 120 GO hard disk capacity. The second version of PS3 will ship some months later, ( 399-599$ ) with a writer blue/ray, a 400 GO hard disk, for the main purpose of recording TV digital programs.
Date of releasing the PS3 on USA and Europe hasn’t been determined yet by sont but its believed that the PS3 will ship between July and October 2006 in USA and in late 2006 in Europe.
Source
