It still seems way too early to be talking about the PlayStation 4 and
yet, rumored news continues to pop up everywhere.

The latest is big, if it proves true: according to European source
PS3Clan, it seems SCEI "has officially chosen" the technical setup for
their next PlayStation iteration, which supposedly - depending on if
you believe the translation - will launch in 2012. The choice? The
PowerVR Series 6 by Imagination Technologies that utilizes a
technology known as "TBDR," which is "3-5 times better than a
competitive level nVidia/ATI Graphics card." Evidently, Sega used TBDR
to help power the old Sega Dreamcast and if you remember, that console
was definitely ahead of its time in the visual department. But perhaps
the most interesting part about all of this is that Sony will retain
the Cell processor currently in all PS3s; this new piece of advanced
technology from Imagination will work with the Cell. The quote in
question is as follows, although you may wish to take it with a grain
of salt without any official information:

"The PlayStation 4 shall use a high end variant of the 6 Series line.
Performance, specifications and features are at this time unknown. The
Series 6 shall receive an official announcement from IMGTEC sometime
in 2010, with initial models targeting the smartphone and netbook
sector."

On top of which, the rumor gets bigger by saying that SCEI has
furthered opted to work with IMGTEC for the next iteration of the PSP;
the new handheld will get the benefit of the Series 5XT. All of this
may sound like complete gibberish unless you're really into hardware
or programming but if it's all true, this is the first solid piece of
technical information we've seen concerning the PS4. The only doubt we
have is whether or not it'll be available by 2012... However, if you
think about it, the time frame would be in line with the last
generation; the PS2 launched in late October and the PS3 launched in
November of 2006. So you never know.

http://www.psxextreme.com/ps3-news/6173.html
http://playstationlifestyle.net/2009...graphics-card/
http://www.thesixthaxis.com/2009/11/...4-out-in-2012/


Sounds like 1997-1998 all over again, I mean, Sega Dreamcast...It was,
at first, rumored to use a high-end variant of PowerVR Series 2, then
it really happened. Now supposedly PS4 in 2012 with PowerVR Series 6
(and apparently PSP2 with Series 5) ?? Amusing if true. The more
things change, the more they stay the same.

Jim wrote:
> With IBM out x86+Larrabee looks more likely than PoweVR. Intel can make an
> offer Sony can't refuse.

Except that Larrabee isn't proven yet. PS4 can still go to a more
traditional regular PowerPC processor along with a traditional GPU,
making it more like the Xbox360.

Yousuf Khan

* Jim:

> IBM is still on board the Cell train afterall so we can expect Cell to stay.

Nope, it isn't. IBM discontinues all Cell development. Cell is dead.

Benjamin

Jim wrote:
> "Yousuf Khan" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:4b0ee987$(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Except that Larrabee isn't proven yet.
> The same could have been said of Cell. Without crazy Ken shooting for the
> moon we can expect a "cheap" PS4. I'm not expecting much from Larrabee (its
> just a supercharged PentiumMMX afterall) but with Intel's fab capacity it
> should be cheap.

Cheapness has nothing to do with fab capacity, it has everything to do
with die sizes: the smaller the better. Current estimates are that
Larrabee will be *big*.

> IBM is still on board the Cell train afterall so we can expect Cell to stay.

You missed the other part of this thread that said otherwise.

Yousuf Khan

On Nov 27, 3:15*pm, Yousuf Khan <bbb...@spammenot.yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> You missed the other part of this thread that said otherwise.
>
> * * * * Yousuf Khan

Based on what I Googled, one division of IBM is off the Cell... not
the whole of IBM.

--
Bill Cable - Steelers Fan & Star Wars Collector
http://CreatureCantina.com <----- funny!
(E-Mail Removed)

On Nov 27, 4:24*pm, Bill Cable <billca...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Nov 27, 3:15*pm, Yousuf Khan <bbb...@spammenot.yahoo.com> wrote:
> > You missed the other part of this thread that said otherwise.
>
> Based on what I Googled, one division of IBM is off the Cell... *not
> the whole of IBM.

The link has already been posted in another part of the thread. Here
it is again.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/cpu/dis...l_Concept.html

* Bill Cable:

> Based on what I Googled, one division of IBM is off the Cell... not
> the whole of IBM.

You didn't google very well then:
<http://arstechnica.com/hardware/news/2009/11/end-of-the-line-for-ibms-cell.ars>

Benjamin

Bill Cable wrote:
> On Nov 27, 3:15 pm, Yousuf Khan <bbb...@spammenot.yahoo.com> wrote:
>> You missed the other part of this thread that said otherwise.
>>
>> Yousuf Khan
>
> Based on what I Googled, one division of IBM is off the Cell... not
> the whole of IBM.

There's more here:

Cell is no longer hpc material - The Inquirer
"According to the IBM executive's crystal ball, Cell is now no longer
the right platform on which to develop HPC computing and so IBM will be
shifting its focus from Cell-based co-processing to OpenCL-based
co-processing - AMD's GPU stuff, in not so many words. This means that
while Cell served its purpose in proving parallel processing was the way
to go, development costs of further Cell based products become pointless
as GPGPU computing becomes more widespread. Considering AMD is one of
IBM's closest research partners this hardly comes as a surprise."
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/...l-hpc-material

So it looks like IBM will be moving towards AMD's solutions for at least
HPC stuff from now on. Other than HPC and Playstation stuff, what else
is there left for Cell? It looks pretty dead to me.

Yousuf Khan

On Nov 25, 12:56*pm, Benjamin Gawert <bgaw...@gmx.de> wrote:
> * parallax-scroll:
>
> > The choice? The
> > PowerVR Series 6 by Imagination Technologies that utilizes a
> > technology known as "TBDR," which is "3-5 times better than a
> > competitive level nVidia/ATI Graphics card." Evidently, Sega used TBDR
> > to help power the old Sega Dreamcast and if you remember, that console
> > was definitely ahead of its time in the visual department.
>
> Yes, at a time when the 3Dfx Voodoo2 was a top-of-the line 3D graphics
> card for PCs. However, it is not 1998 any more, and while AMD and Nvidia
> invested lots of ressources into advances in the performance and
> capabilities of their GPUs, the PowerVR today is merely a low-power GPU
> for handheld devices as their "grownup" versions never left the
> prototype stage.
>
> Sony would be mad if they choosed PowerVR for the PS4.
>
> > But perhaps
> > the most interesting part about all of this is that Sony will retain
> > the Cell processor currently in all PS3s; this new piece of advanced
> > technology from Imagination will work with the Cell.
>
> The PS4 is very unlikely to be Cell based as IBM as stopped all
> development for this architecture. Cell is dead.

Wow. I hadn't read that. So much for Blig Merk's constant yabbering
about how great Cell is.

On the other hand, isn't it still possible that they'd use some
current variant of Cell to power their next console? There must have
been developments to the processor since the launch of the PS3 3 years
ago and it would allow them to not have to worry about forcing
developers to learn yet another brand new architecture for the next
generation...

> Benjamin

On Nov 26, 3:48*pm, Yousuf Khan <bbb...@spammenot.yahoo.com> wrote:
> Jim wrote:
> > With IBM out x86+Larrabee looks more likely than PoweVR. *Intel can make an
> > offer Sony can't refuse.
>
> Except that Larrabee isn't proven yet. PS4 can still go to a more
> traditional regular PowerPC processor along with a traditional GPU,
> making it more like the Xbox360.

I'd love to read comments from the fanboys on BOTH sides of the fences
on this one, haha...

> * * * * Yousuf Khan