Sony New Cell Processor Sets To Replace Pentium

[sky888]

Sony: Shooting from the Chip?
A top exec boasts that the new Cell processor is "as good as the Pentium, if not better." But topping Intel is a tall order

Nearly anyone who owns a PC is familiar with the "Intel Inside" sticker. The blue-and-white logo has been a potent symbol of Intel's (INTC) virtual lock on the market in PC processors over the past decade. Despite their best efforts, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Samsung, Texas Instruments (TXN), and other chipmakers have failed to knock Intel from the No.1 spot.

Now, Sony (SNE) is winding up for a swing at the champ. On Dec. 14, Kenshi Manabe, its semiconductor chief, told a gathering of financial analysts that he expects the next-generation Cell processor to become the industry standard for all kinds of multimedia consumer electronics. "The Cell chip is as good as the Pentium, if not better," Manabe said, according to several people who attended the meeting.

full story at
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/dec2005/tc20051222_242937.htm

 

[jsbn]

Interesting. :think:

If the Cell Processor does live up to its hype for pure power and there's a Pro Photo Editing suite (looking at PhotoShop CS) for the Cell Processor, it'll certainly catch my attention.

 

[ricohflex]

ha ha
Can hope lah.
Maybe 1000 years later they can match Intel.
They were inward looking, replicating the mistake China made in the Ming and Yuan dynasties.
They refused to learn English, the international language. Others have to learn Japanese to interact with them.


Japs were NEVER good at software for use by the rest of the world.
They are excellent at re-engineering other people's hardware.
But japs are NOT ORIGINAL.
They got a problem and they know it.
They are not creative for fundamental research.
The chip will be so buggy and incompatible with software written for Pentium.
I expect it to be full of sh*t

 

[jsbn]

ha ha
Can hope lah.
Maybe 1000 years later they can match Intel.
They were inward looking, replicating the mistake China made in the Ming and Yuan dynasties.
They refused to learn English, the international language. Others have to lean Japanese to interact with them.


Japs were NEVER good at software for use by the rest of the world.
They are excellent at re-engineering other people's hardware.
But japs are NOT ORIGINAL.
They got a problem and they know it.
They are not creative for fundamental research.
The chip will be so buggy and incompatible with software written for Pentium.
I expect it to be full of sh*t

Which year are u living in buddy? I had met Japanese with far better command of English than you do.

 

[Watcher]

There are many chips out there "better" than Pentium. Some are also faster by many times. But they are not a threat to Pentium. Why? The main reason is that on the PC (where Pentiums are used), who else have the same backward compatibility? Even the PowerPC that Apple used in their Macs are inferior and have no chance of catching up, that is why they threw in the towel to use Pentiums. Only the AMD chips has a chance but they too run into difficulties as well.

These chips including the Cell are more specialize chips. Try programming for it first.

As for inward looking, etc, that has always been a cultural thing; I doubt they would change in the current generation.

 

[Paul_Yeo]

so what OS will run on this new chip?

 

[sammy888]

so what OS will run on this new chip?

This was talked about since last year. The last I heard about it and I think it came up again when I was hearing one of those podcast show, Sony was intending to use it for their next Playstation 3. Tt was to be usuable with Linux and Mac OS X Tiger as some earlier reports from Sony claimed. But think there will be some further delay with the PS3 release that will take place in 2007 as they have not choose the final OS yet. And there was a lot of talk about home much more power and stable this new multi-core "cell" type CPU would be. I guess if the Cell CPU were to make its debut it will be with the PS3 or Sony's own VAIO notebooks. Like they did with the Crusoe CPU designed by Linus Torvalds of Transmeta.

 

[Deadpoet]

This was talked about since last year. The last I heard about it and I think it came up again when I was hearing one of those podcast show, Sony was intending to use it for their next Playstation 3. Tt was to be usuable with Linux and Mac OS X Tiger as some earlier reports from Sony claimed. But think there will be some further delay with the PS3 release that will take place in 2007 as they have not choose the final OS yet. And there was a lot of talk about home much more power and stable this new multi-core "cell" type CPU would be. I guess if the Cell CPU were to make its debut it will be with the PS3 or Sony's own VAIO notebooks. Like they did with the Crusoe CPU designed by Linus Torvalds of Transmeta.

Well, let's not forget the betamax and now the memory stick. Sony had this tendency to strike out on it's own against industry standard, and strike out!

 

[sammy888]

Well, let's not forget the betamax and now the memory stick. Sony had this tendency to strike out on it's own against industry standard, and strike out!

heheh I am not surprise about that. But then again there is that "law of average" with so many false starts and miss-firing..one day it will hit the target like the way the walkman did. heh. These days, big companies like Sony can't afford to be betting on wild ideas like before. They have been slowly losing ground the last few years. And now with the recently ROOTKIT fiasco and Korean brands starting to be really big power houses, Sony has to really deliver now and be willing to play ball with more of the "boys" or be totally isolated and left to die a slow death heh.

 

[ricohflex]

Which year are u living in buddy? I had met Japanese with far better command of English than you do.

2005
you do? good for you. :bsmilie:
Let us see what these few Japs ( 0.01% of population ? )with good command of English can do.
The Japs are in trouble as the PRC Chinese are plunging into learning English in a big way. The difference will begin to hurt the Japs in say, 3 to 5 years from now.

 

[kegler]

2005
you do? good for you. :bsmilie:
Let us see what these few Japs ( 0.01% of population ? )with good command of English can do.
The Japs are in trouble as the PRC Chinese are plunging into learning English in a big way. The difference will begin to hurt the Japs in say, 3 to 5 years from now.

Read from the link.... Sony, IBM and Toshiba ...its a joint venture.... if sony alone...what u said might be possible...with IBM ...i doubt so

Cheers!

 

[Zplus]

Read from the link.... Sony, IBM and Toshiba ...its a joint venture.... if sony alone...what u said might be possible...with IBM ...i doubt so

Cheers!

Contrary to what you might imagine... having IBM might be a good idea. IBM has expertise in servers. If the Cell Processors are that good, you might find it in IBM servers, Lenova laptops, etc, etc.... Pentium got where it was not becoz of games but becoz of good mkting and targetting the business mkt.

Of course, I would imagine IBM would be in it to have a peak at the technology behind the Cell Processors..... maybe they can use it for their own chips...