PS3 doesn't need a powerful GPU because it has the Cell.

[QUOTE="HarakoMeshi"][QUOTE="cakeorrdeath"][QUOTE="dirtysneekers55"]The Cell + RSX >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> xenos + xenonpjbliverpool

Its well suited to graphics compared to a regular CPU.  Compared to a GPU though it sucks.I doubt Cell adds half of what RSX adds to the graphical power of PS3 in reality.  And thats if it dedicated itself to graphics which it won't under normal circumstances.

Remember Sony talking about how the PS3 can generate excellent real-time graphics using only the power of the Cell, with no GPU at all? They showed up demonstrations of this at E3.NickLikesWii

[QUOTE="pjbliverpool"]

[QUOTE="HarakoMeshi"][QUOTE="cakeorrdeath"][QUOTE="dirtysneekers55"]The Cell + RSX >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> xenos + xenonHarakoMeshi

Its well suited to graphics compared to a regular CPU.  Compared to a GPU though it sucks.I doubt Cell adds half of what RSX adds to the graphical power of PS3 in reality.  And thats if it dedicated itself to graphics which it won't under normal circumstances.

Fair enough, that it does.  I was talking more in terms of it working on its own as a GPU. 

Yes TEH CELLL!!! DUN DUN DUNNN!!!!PS3_king

I'm so tired damn tired of you idiots preteneding to be experts.

There's plenty of misconceptions about the cell and what it is. Firstly, for any CPU enthusiast the Cell is a beautiful design. The PPE itself, which is the core of the cell is not shabby at all for branched coding. Infact, in unomptimised benchmarks designed for x86 architectures, the Cell ranks with a 2.6GHz P4. And that's just the PPE!!!

Each SPE itself, in max theoretical power, is almost 15 to 20 times more powerful than a 3.2GHz P4. In all the Cell is atleast 100 times more powerful compared to a 3.2Ghz P4. The 360 CPU is nowhere close that, probally clocking in at a max of 10 times the power of a P4, at most.

Now, how does this help with the graphics? Well a lot is not known about the interface between the Cell and RSX. However, I can tell you it is a much closer relationship than what PC CPU's have with their GPU. Infact, many speculate the Cell can assist the RSX in rendering many effects, boast its fill rate etc.

On thing many are forgeting as well, is that while the XB360 has a more elagantly designed GPU, meaning it allows more flexability to developers. It lacks the brute force of the RSX, which can infact have almost double the theoretical power.


So why aren't PS3 games looking better than 360 games right now.

1. Developer tools are nowhere near the stage of microsofts tools, even at the 360 launch. Sony is getting there slowly, but its going to depend more upon the developers at this stage.
2. It is a simple fact that the 360 is easire to get high performance out of, than the PS3. A lot more work has to be done by the devs, but in the end it would pay off.
3. Most laucnh titles where developed for the 360 and then ported to the PS3 for laucnh. Ports always suck, but what one should notice is that these ports aren't half bad at all. For launch game ports, these ports are almost undestinguishable from 360 games. That alone speaks for the PS3s power.
4. Like the PS2, the PS3 has even more hidden powah!


Give the PS3 sometime. A year from now, there will be no doubt which system has the better graphics.
Rajeev84

Cell = no branching prediction = no physics XBOX 360 wins

RSX = last gen chip, slower than Xenos = XBOX 360 wins by far

That's about how Gears of War came, i just played the game today, PS3 has not a chance in a million to surpass those graphics

Remember Sony talking about how the PS3 can generate excellent real-time graphics using only the power of the Cell, with no GPU at all? They showed up demonstrations of this at E3.NickLikesWii

I'm so tired damn tired of you idiots preteneding to be experts. Rajeev84

Quite ironic considering your one of them.

There's plenty of misconceptions about the cell and what it is. Firstly, for any CPU enthusiast the Cell is a beautiful design. The PPE itself, which is the core of the cell is not shabby at all for branched coding. Infact, in unomptimised benchmarks designed for x86 architectures, the Cell ranks with a 2.6GHz P4. And that's just the PPE!!!

Err, who said they were designed for x86?  In order to run on Cell in the first place they need to be designed to run on PPC.  And no, it doesn't rank with a 2.6Ghz P4.  Its generally slower, quite a bit slower in many cases but its also a lot faster in some niche cases bringing its overall average up to around the level of a 2.4Ghz P4 or about a 1.4Ghz Core 2.

Each SPE itself, in max theoretical power, is almost 15 to 20 times more powerful than a 3.2GHz P4. In all the Cell is atleast 100 times more powerful compared to a 3.2Ghz P4. The 360 CPU is nowhere close that, probally clocking in at a max of 10 times the power of a P4, at most.

Laughably absurd.  For a start each SPE in the PS3 is capable of 25.6 GFLOPs single precision or about 2.5 GFLOPs dual precision.  That compares to a 3.2 Ghz P4 (incidentally, now an old CPU) with 12.8 GFLOPs SP or 6.4 GFLOPs DP.  And there is FAR more to performance than just floating point power which is the only thing an SPE is any good at anyway.

So yes, your "15-20 times more powerful" is utter rubbish At best its twice in one single measure and slower in many others.

Now, how does this help with the graphics? Well a lot is not known about the interface between the Cell and RSX. However, I can tell you it is a much closer relationship than what PC CPU's have with their GPU. Infact, many speculate the Cell can assist the RSX in rendering many effects, boast its fill rate etc.

There's no speculation about it.  Its a well known fact that Cell can help RSX with graphics, but no, it won't be "boasting its fill rate" any time soon.  Cell will aid RSX with vertex/geometry work and post processing effects mainly.  Fill rate would not be affected.

On thing many are forgeting as well, is that while the XB360 has a more elagantly designed GPU, meaning it allows more flexability to developers. It lacks the brute force of the RSX, which can infact have almost double the theoretical power.

No it doesn't, not in any measure.  RSX has a little more brute power in shaders and texturing but thats about it.


So why aren't PS3 games looking better than 360 games right now.

1. Developer tools are nowhere near the stage of microsofts tools, even at the 360 launch. Sony is getting there slowly, but its going to depend more upon the developers at this stage.
2. It is a simple fact that the 360 is easire to get high performance out of, than the PS3. A lot more work has to be done by the devs, but in the end it would pay off.
3. Most laucnh titles where developed for the 360 and then ported to the PS3 for laucnh. Ports always suck, but what one should notice is that these ports aren't half bad at all. For launch game ports, these ports are almost undestinguishable from 360 games. That alone speaks for the PS3s power.
4. Like the PS2, the PS3 has even more hidden powah!


Give the PS3 sometime. A year from now, there will be no doubt which system has the better graphics.

The Cell Cpu barely runs windows XP.

outlawz247

Remember Sony talking about how the PS3 can generate excellent real-time graphics using only the power of the Cell, with no GPU at all? They showed up demonstrations of this at E3.NickLikesWii

[QUOTE="Rajeev84"]I'm so tired damn tired of you idiots preteneding to be experts.

There's plenty of misconceptions about the cell and what it is. Firstly, for any CPU enthusiast the Cell is a beautiful design. The PPE itself, which is the core of the cell is not shabby at all for branched coding. Infact, in unomptimised benchmarks designed for x86 architectures, the Cell ranks with a 2.6GHz P4. And that's just the PPE!!!

Each SPE itself, in max theoretical power, is almost 15 to 20 times more powerful than a 3.2GHz P4. In all the Cell is atleast 100 times more powerful compared to a 3.2Ghz P4. The 360 CPU is nowhere close that, probally clocking in at a max of 10 times the power of a P4, at most.

Now, how does this help with the graphics? Well a lot is not known about the interface between the Cell and RSX. However, I can tell you it is a much closer relationship than what PC CPU's have with their GPU. Infact, many speculate the Cell can assist the RSX in rendering many effects, boast its fill rate etc.

On thing many are forgeting as well, is that while the XB360 has a more elagantly designed GPU, meaning it allows more flexability to developers. It lacks the brute force of the RSX, which can infact have almost double the theoretical power.


So why aren't PS3 games looking better than 360 games right now.

1. Developer tools are nowhere near the stage of microsofts tools, even at the 360 launch. Sony is getting there slowly, but its going to depend more upon the developers at this stage.
2. It is a simple fact that the 360 is easire to get high performance out of, than the PS3. A lot more work has to be done by the devs, but in the end it would pay off.
3. Most laucnh titles where developed for the 360 and then ported to the PS3 for laucnh. Ports always suck, but what one should notice is that these ports aren't half bad at all. For launch game ports, these ports are almost undestinguishable from 360 games. That alone speaks for the PS3s power.
4. Like the PS2, the PS3 has even more hidden powah!


Give the PS3 sometime. A year from now, there will be no doubt which system has the better graphics.
nasos_33333

Cell = no branching prediction = no physics XBOX 360 wins

RSX = last gen chip, slower than Xenos = XBOX 360 wins by far

That's about how Gears of War came, i just played the game today, PS3 has not a chance in a million to surpass those graphics

Remember Sony talking about how the PS3 can generate excellent real-time graphics using only the power of the Cell, with no GPU at all? They showed up demonstrations of this at E3.NickLikesWii

Remember Sony talking about how the PS3 can generate excellent real-time graphics using only the power of the Cell, with no GPU at all? They showed up demonstrations of this at E3.NickLikesWii

[QUOTE="Nagidar"]

[QUOTE="NickLikesWii"]Remember Sony talking about how the PS3 can generate excellent real-time graphics using only the power of the Cell, with no GPU at all? They showed up demonstrations of this at E3.FatedX3R0

:lol: :lol: You know absolutely nothing about computer hardware.

owned Indeed

Good thing it does have a pretty powerful GPU .  Its not the most powerful thing out but everybit as good as the 360's and the processor is actually amazing if you know how to program for it. Quicksilver128

The rsx is nothing compared to the xenos.

[QUOTE="NickLikesWii"]Remember Sony talking about how the PS3 can generate excellent real-time graphics using only the power of the Cell, with no GPU at all? They showed up demonstrations of this at E3.Nagidar

:lol: :lol: You know absolutely nothing about computer hardware.

The Cell Cpu barely runs windows XP.

outlawz247

[QUOTE="NickLikesWii"]Remember Sony talking about how the PS3 can generate excellent real-time graphics using only the power of the Cell, with no GPU at all? They showed up demonstrations of this at E3.kuu2

Yeah...remember the ps2 tech demo's they showed,no ps2 game ever looked like what they showed.blacktorn

[QUOTE="Nagidar"]

[QUOTE="NickLikesWii"]Remember Sony talking about how the PS3 can generate excellent real-time graphics using only the power of the Cell, with no GPU at all? They showed up demonstrations of this at E3.Andrew0987

:lol: :lol: You know absolutely nothing about computer hardware.

[QUOTE="Andrew0987"][QUOTE="Nagidar"]

[QUOTE="NickLikesWii"]Remember Sony talking about how the PS3 can generate excellent real-time graphics using only the power of the Cell, with no GPU at all? They showed up demonstrations of this at E3.Danthegamingman

:lol: :lol: You know absolutely nothing about computer hardware.

[QUOTE="kuu2"][QUOTE="NickLikesWii"]Remember Sony talking about how the PS3 can generate excellent real-time graphics using only the power of the Cell, with no GPU at all? They showed up demonstrations of this at E3.burntout_83

I'm so tired damn tired of you idiots preteneding to be experts.

There's plenty of misconceptions about the cell and what it is. Firstly, for any CPU enthusiast the Cell is a beautiful design. The PPE itself, which is the core of the cell is not shabby at all for branched coding. Infact, in unomptimised benchmarks designed for x86 architectures, the Cell ranks with a 2.6GHz P4. And that's just the PPE!!!

Each SPE itself, in max theoretical power, is almost 15 to 20 times more powerful than a 3.2GHz P4. In all the Cell is atleast 100 times more powerful compared to a 3.2Ghz P4. The 360 CPU is nowhere close that, probally clocking in at a max of 10 times the power of a P4, at most.

Now, how does this help with the graphics? Well a lot is not known about the interface between the Cell and RSX. However, I can tell you it is a much closer relationship than what PC CPU's have with their GPU. Infact, many speculate the Cell can assist the RSX in rendering many effects, boast its fill rate etc.

On thing many are forgeting as well, is that while the XB360 has a more elagantly designed GPU, meaning it allows more flexability to developers. It lacks the brute force of the RSX, which can infact have almost double the theoretical power.


So why aren't PS3 games looking better than 360 games right now.

1. Developer tools are nowhere near the stage of microsofts tools, even at the 360 launch. Sony is getting there slowly, but its going to depend more upon the developers at this stage.
2. It is a simple fact that the 360 is easire to get high performance out of, than the PS3. A lot more work has to be done by the devs, but in the end it would pay off.
3. Most laucnh titles where developed for the 360 and then ported to the PS3 for laucnh. Ports always suck, but what one should notice is that these ports aren't half bad at all. For launch game ports, these ports are almost undestinguishable from 360 games. That alone speaks for the PS3s power.
4. Like the PS2, the PS3 has even more hidden powah!


Give the PS3 sometime. A year from now, there will be no doubt which system has the better graphics.
Rajeev84

[QUOTE="Danthegamingman"][QUOTE="Andrew0987"][QUOTE="Nagidar"]

[QUOTE="NickLikesWii"]Remember Sony talking about how the PS3 can generate excellent real-time graphics using only the power of the Cell, with no GPU at all? They showed up demonstrations of this at E3.dracolich666

:lol: :lol: You know absolutely nothing about computer hardware.

[QUOTE="dracolich666"][QUOTE="Danthegamingman"][QUOTE="Andrew0987"][QUOTE="Nagidar"]

[QUOTE="NickLikesWii"]Remember Sony talking about how the PS3 can generate excellent real-time graphics using only the power of the Cell, with no GPU at all? They showed up demonstrations of this at E3.audioaxes

:lol: :lol: You know absolutely nothing about computer hardware.

He's right but the 360's xenos doesn't have that problem because of it's massive amount of bandwidth which eliminates the bottleneck.

[QUOTE="Rajeev84"]I'm so tired damn tired of you idiots preteneding to be experts.

There's plenty of misconceptions about the cell and what it is. Firstly, for any CPU enthusiast the Cell is a beautiful design. The PPE itself, which is the core of the cell is not shabby at all for branched coding. Infact, in unomptimised benchmarks designed for x86 architectures, the Cell ranks with a 2.6GHz P4. And that's just the PPE!!!

Each SPE itself, in max theoretical power, is almost 15 to 20 times more powerful than a 3.2GHz P4. In all the Cell is atleast 100 times more powerful compared to a 3.2Ghz P4. The 360 CPU is nowhere close that, probally clocking in at a max of 10 times the power of a P4, at most.

Now, how does this help with the graphics? Well a lot is not known about the interface between the Cell and RSX. However, I can tell you it is a much closer relationship than what PC CPU's have with their GPU. Infact, many speculate the Cell can assist the RSX in rendering many effects, boast its fill rate etc.

On thing many are forgeting as well, is that while the XB360 has a more elagantly designed GPU, meaning it allows more flexability to developers. It lacks the brute force of the RSX, which can infact have almost double the theoretical power.


So why aren't PS3 games looking better than 360 games right now.

1. Developer tools are nowhere near the stage of microsofts tools, even at the 360 launch. Sony is getting there slowly, but its going to depend more upon the developers at this stage.
2. It is a simple fact that the 360 is easire to get high performance out of, than the PS3. A lot more work has to be done by the devs, but in the end it would pay off.
3. Most laucnh titles where developed for the 360 and then ported to the PS3 for laucnh. Ports always suck, but what one should notice is that these ports aren't half bad at all. For launch game ports, these ports are almost undestinguishable from 360 games. That alone speaks for the PS3s power.
4. Like the PS2, the PS3 has even more hidden powah!


Give the PS3 sometime. A year from now, there will be no doubt which system has the better graphics.
audioaxes

Each SPE itself, in max theoretical power, is almost 15 to 20 times more powerful than a 3.2GHz P4.

This man speaks the truth, but last time i checked one SPU is almost 1500 to 1 MILLION times more powerfull than ALL CPU's on earth right now, so IMAGINE how much more powerful lthan xbox 360

I just added ANOTHER intelligent and well backed up COW POST

[QUOTE="blacktorn"]Yeah...remember the ps2 tech demo's they showed,no ps2 game ever looked like what they showed.burntout_83

if the cell was so awesome, how come no one uses them for pc's?spacebyrd

[QUOTE="NickLikesWii"]Remember Sony talking about how the PS3 can generate excellent real-time graphics using only the power of the Cell, with no GPU at all? They showed up demonstrations of this at E3.Nagidar

:lol: :lol: You know absolutely nothing about computer hardware.

[QUOTE="Nagidar"]

[QUOTE="NickLikesWii"]Remember Sony talking about how the PS3 can generate excellent real-time graphics using only the power of the Cell, with no GPU at all? They showed up demonstrations of this at E3.subrosian

:lol: :lol: You know absolutely nothing about computer hardware.

Remember Sony talking about how the PS3 can generate excellent real-time graphics using only the power of the Cell, with no GPU at all?NickLikesWii

Lol.

I'm sure the demo he was talking about that was being rendered by just the cell alone was getaway. During the presentation at E3 it was noted several times that the entire demo was being run off the cell processer alone and it was one of the few demo's that were being ran in real time and not a simulated target video.

I just wanted to say that it has been a very long time since I have seen a thread with people (for the most part) acting mature. But i'm sorry to say at this time it would not matter if a game like Killzone came out and even trumped it's target video. People,(gamers and editors alike) will just find another way to deem it a waste because of the current dislike people have for sony as a whole not just there gameing division.

I have been gameing for a long time,(lately it seems like too long because my ability to stand with all the smear campaigning is taking it's toll),and have only seen this kind of contempt once before and it was Nintendo in the hot seat.

Understanding why all the sudden people can take such a turn against an inantament object thats sole purpose is to provide entertainment  has never been something I have fully understood but as a friend put it, people just need to get there hate on. And in these times even if you do not fully understand what is going on in the world there are alot of reasons to feel that way.

But I think a more logical reason for this is, ( I'm afraid to say this because everyone knows somone who works for one of the big 3), somone I know who works at sony kind of explained it to me. He said the big problem they are having right now is the fruit of how sony behaved in the past. Sony has been at the top for a long time with there playstation brand and it has caused some of the top decision makers in sony to become arrogant and brutish. His exact example is setting deadlines for non first party companies to get there games out or else. Now these companies have had extremely good working conditions with Microsoft and now these companies do not feel the weight on top of them that sony used to have and now sony is being put in it's place.

I found it very interesting and I definetly drew a parallel to a situation nintendo got themselves into a while back and it took a long time for them to recover and learn from there mistakes.

Normaly none of this would bother me because this exists in many genres and I'm old enough now to really see how the whole thing works. Basicly everyone must get there turn. But I have a friend who's friendship is important to me because there are not many 35 year old men who enjoy playing games even worse who happen to be gay So this friend in particular is very important because we share that in common and he's cool with me being gay to boot. But if I so much as mention that I'm excited about a playstation 3 game comeing out he will stop speaking to me for about 2 weeks,(no exaggeration). The first time it happened I figured it was just bum luck but after him doing it about 3 times I got the picture. I should also mention that he is in his 30's as well so going through this beckons me back to my childhood, being on the playground at school in deliberation as to what saturday morning cartoon was best. That is what is bothering me about this. People are at eachothers throats. And i'm starting to feel like it's no longer about just getting a new game and being psyched to play it. It's about brand name and loyalty.

I own all 3 systems and I'm amazed constantly by all 3 of them. All those years about toy story type graphics and out of this world physics and new ways to interact with our games and we are finaly getting to see it materialize for the first time and all anyone wants to talk about is why the playstation 3 does not have a points system or how the wii's graphics will never be good or that microsoft will micro transact them into early bankruptcy. And i'm just wondering were all the people who just like playing games went?

Sorry about the gay comment and normaly I don't speak about it but you have to recognize the problem it produces with the current image that the word gay has and why that would make it difficult if your a big gamer and just want to hang out with a group of like minded people. The only gay people I know shop,drink,and complain.

Sorry for the rant.

OH NOEZZZZ WE NEED GOHAN! IT'S TEH CELL!!! KAMEHAMEHAAAAA...!!!

It seems that I can't get tired from that!

I followed a link to this post in another thread that was new. While reading it I found it very informative. Also at the same time and just like every other post about sony you have people come in and just make snide comments without ever reading the actual topic or post they just see sony. I also saw the topic of a demo that was being ran just off the cell processer alone and thought I would answer that.

The rest I apologize for I guess it was just my turn to rant. But I did think I was staying partialy on topic. My point is that no matter if the person talking about the cell processer came in here with charts, live demo's and a marching band it would not matter to some because they just do not like sony period.  The other part was how over the top it has become and how far some people are takeing it.

I'm sure the demo he was talking about that was being rendered by just the cell alone was getaway. During the presentation at E3 it was noted several times that the entire demo was being run off the cell processer alone and it was one of the few demo's that were being ran in real time and not a simulated target video.

I just wanted to say that it has been a very long time since I have seen a thread with people (for the most part) acting mature. But i'm sorry to say at this time it would not matter if a game like Killzone came out and even trumped it's target video. People,(gamers and editors alike) will just find another way to deem it a waste because of the current dislike people have for sony as a whole not just there gameing division.

I have been gameing for a long time,(lately it seems like too long because my ability to stand with all the smear campaigning is taking it's toll),and have only seen this kind of contempt once before and it was Nintendo in the hot seat.

Understanding why all the sudden people can take such a turn against an inantament object thats sole purpose is to provide entertainment has never been something I have fully understood but as a friend put it, people just need to get there hate on. And in these times even if you do not fully understand what is going on in the world there are alot of reasons to feel that way.

But I think a more logical reason for this is, ( I'm afraid to say this because everyone knows somone who works for one of the big 3), somone I know who works at sony kind of explained it to me. He said the big problem they are having right now is the fruit of how sony behaved in the past. Sony has been at the top for a long time with there playstation brand and it has caused some of the top decision makers in sony to become arrogant and brutish. His exact example is setting deadlines for non first party companies to get there games out or else. Now these companies have had extremely good working conditions with Microsoft and now these companies do not feel the weight on top of them that sony used to have and now sony is being put in it's place.

I found it very interesting and I definetly drew a parallel to a situation nintendo got themselves into a while back and it took a long time for them to recover and learn from there mistakes.

Normaly none of this would bother me because this exists in many genres and I'm old enough now to really see how the whole thing works. Basicly everyone must get there turn. But I have a friend who's friendship is important to me because there are not many 35 year old men who enjoy playing games even worse who happen to be gay So this friend in particular is very important because we share that in common and he's cool with me being gay to boot. But if I so much as mention that I'm excited about a playstation 3 game comeing out he will stop speaking to me for about 2 weeks,(no exaggeration). The first time it happened I figured it was just bum luck but after him doing it about 3 times I got the picture. I should also mention that he is in his 30's as well so going through this beckons me back to my childhood, being on the playground at school in deliberation as to what saturday morning cartoon was best. That is what is bothering me about this. People are at eachothers throats. And i'm starting to feel like it's no longer about just getting a new game and being psyched to play it. It's about brand name and loyalty.

I own all 3 systems and I'm amazed constantly by all 3 of them. All those years about toy story type graphics and out of this world physics and new ways to interact with our games and we are finaly getting to see it materialize for the first time and all anyone wants to talk about is why the playstation 3 does not have a points system or how the wii's graphics will never be good or that microsoft will micro transact them into early bankruptcy. And i'm just wondering were all the people who just like playing games went?

Sorry about the gay comment and normaly I don't speak about it but you have to recognize the problem it produces with the current image that the word gay has and why that would make it difficult if your a big gamer and just want to hang out with a group of like minded people. The only gay people I know shop,drink,and complain.

Sorry for the rant.

Vendalay

I fully agree with you 100%.

There are so many things I dislike about the way the industry is going and the things you mention are all on the top. My problem is not in trying to defend these companies but the people that are trying to enjoy the games. So often now I will see a post about a game or a bit of tech that looks interesting and almost everytime it is filled with people who have no interest in adding anything productive to what the topic is about but just to come in and make condensending remarks. And this is on all sides of the fence this just happened to be a thread about sony.

But I just don't see how going into a topic about a game and it turning into a debate about why this persons favorite console is better then the other persons favorite console is letting these companies know we don't like feeling like lemmings. I know that is not what this topic is about but you must see my meaning.

[QUOTE="marvelfan"]

[QUOTE="HarakoMeshi"][QUOTE="HarakoMeshi"][QUOTE="NickLikesWii"]Remember Sony talking about how the PS3 can generate excellent real-time graphics using only the power of the Cell, with no GPU at all? They showed up demonstrations of this at E3.HarakoMeshi

Iv been trying to tell people this, and have been looking for some info to show them, do you know where we can get a link that talks about this?

This is one example showing that the Cell can perform T&L 5 - 6x faster than a nVidia 7800 GT OC. http://gametomorrow.com/blog/index.php/2005/11/30/gpus-vs-cell/

 As someone who has done a lot of Cell programming I can tell you first hand that the Cell SPUs are every bit as fast as the published figures. The reason the SPUs can come close to their theoretical maximums is because they have no caches. They have 256KB of memory running at full 3.2GHz which holds the code and data which the SPU calculates on and there is essentially no high latency to accessing this memory. Furter to aid in the process the Cell has extremely fast DMAs that transfer data between SPU local memory and the rest of the system. If a process works on streaming data (such as Transform & Lighting) it can easily achieve the maximum performance by double buffering the data in & out of the SPU.

So it is quite easy to see that the GPU Flops plus the Cell Flops add up to very high numbers. What makes the combination even more powerful than the 360's GPU though is that the SPUs are much more flexible than the GPU alone. They can work not only 'faster' but also 'smarter' doing calculating things like LOD and procedural geometry so that you have fewer triangles going to the GPU but it looks better. Think of it like comparable to a GeForce 8800. The 8800 introduces geometry shaders - shaders that can create vertices. That is new in the world of GPU.

Cell is essentially the 'geometry shader' of the PS3, something the 360 doesn't have.  Sadly for the 360 its CPUs are nowhere near as fast at 'geometry processing' as the Cell.  So instead they have a faster GPU that offsets the need for 'geometry processing' off the GPU.  However as we see the trend with 8800 GPU and DirectX 10 'geometry shaders' are the way of the future.

it incourages me to see someone knowledgeable speaking in the cell's favor. but I hear others speaking in similar techno-babble saying the 360 is more powerful? is there any way to answer this in an unbiased way? I don't know if I can trust the "facts" from either side. the power of both systems in comparison seems to be up to interpretation right now.

supposedly there is a bottleneck in the ps3's system which slows down the memory to the SPEs or whatever. do you take that into account?