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Shacklebolt
Jan 19, 2007, 03:24 AM
Okay, let's get into the ridiculously hypothetical here.

Let's say that Apple let Sony use the PS3 to run OSX. What would run it faster, the top of the line Mac Pro, with, let's say, 2 GB of RAM, or the PS3? And could someone explain to me why?


greatdevourer
Jan 19, 2007, 04:24 AM
Far less. It struggles to compete with a 1.6Ghz G5 (someone geekbenched it)
Counterfit
Jan 19, 2007, 04:27 AM
The Cell is made for number crunching and...



There is no and. It's great for that stuff, but pretty poor for most other things.
Mac Player
Jan 19, 2007, 04:29 AM
Okay, let's get into the ridiculously hypothetical here.

Let's say that Apple let Sony use the PS3 to run OSX. What would run it faster, the top of the line Mac Pro, with, let's say, 2 GB of RAM, or the PS3? And could someone explain to me why?

The cell processor inside the PS3 is a CPU optimized for games, it will only be to beat the Woodcrest on a few tasks. Anyway the Mac Pro features 2 woodcrests so basically it blows the PS3 away.
Markleshark
Jan 19, 2007, 04:30 AM
*Snore*

Why would this matter? :rolleyes:
MacRumorUser
Jan 19, 2007, 04:51 AM
*Snore*

Why would this matter? :rolleyes:


exactly. A reward for silliest post/thread of the day is surely forthcoming.
Shacklebolt
Jan 19, 2007, 05:03 AM
exactly. A reward for silliest post/thread of the day is surely forthcoming.

Sweet, what do I win?

And what do you mean, why does it matter? With the nine billion PS3 posts on here, and Ken Kutaragi (of Sony) calling the PS3 a "computer, not a video game console", it seems perfectly reasonable to compare its computing power to that of a, you know, actual top of the line computer.
Markleshark
Jan 19, 2007, 05:03 AM
exactly. A reward for silliest post/thread of the day is surely forthcoming.

Yup. As long as we can replace 'silliest' with a stronger word then im all for it.
Shacklebolt
Jan 19, 2007, 05:08 AM
btw, source for above

http://digitalbattle.com/2006/07/01/ps3-running-os-x-and-linux/
tyr2
Jan 19, 2007, 05:21 AM
No the PS3 won't run OS X faster than a Mac Pro.

BTW this was discussed before. http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=265337
whooleytoo
Jan 19, 2007, 06:45 AM
exactly. A reward for silliest post/thread of the day is surely forthcoming.

Absolute silliness.

Now, back to business: I reckon Batman would hand Spiderman his ass on a plate? Whaddya think?
dllavaneras
Jan 19, 2007, 06:54 AM
Now, back to business: I reckon Batman would hand Spiderman his ass on a plate? Whaddya think?

Never in a million years. Batman is nothing without his gadgets. Spiderman is more agile and stronger :rolleyes:

I recall the PS3 did folding computations at an amazing rate, faster than a Mac Pro. I could be way off on this though, I'll try to look for the link.
greatdevourer
Jan 19, 2007, 07:16 AM
Never in a million years. Batman is nothing without his gadgets. Spiderman is more agile and stronger :rolleyes: Yeah, but all The WitchBlade has to do is turn up, and they're both so stunned they faint :D
saunders45
Jan 19, 2007, 07:46 AM
Never in a million years. Batman is nothing without his gadgets. Spiderman is more agile and stronger :rolleyes:


Yeah but Batman is a player..... How many hot chicks does Spider Man get?
Markleshark
Jan 19, 2007, 08:52 AM
I like how this thread has gone... Good effort.
jdechko
Jan 19, 2007, 08:56 AM
How many hot chicks does Spider Man get?

Spider Man has Mary Jane and the Black Cat. And MJ's a redhead. :)

And on topic, I thought we discussed this years ago when the cell came out. The cell isn't a good general purpose processor, and it can't handle massive amounts of RAM, so the MP would be a much better computer in all but a few tasks.
blitzkrieg79
Jan 19, 2007, 09:19 AM
Okay, let's get into the ridiculously hypothetical here.

Let's say that Apple let Sony use the PS3 to run OSX. What would run it faster, the top of the line Mac Pro, with, let's say, 2 GB of RAM, or the PS3? And could someone explain to me why?


I think you asked the wrong question. The Cell found in PS3 is more of a specialized processor and it won't run OSX any faster than Intel Core 2 Duo. IBM designed the PS3 Cell with Sonys specifications. However, people don't realize that Cell is not limited to one processor, it's a versatile architecture and in 2008 IBM will release a more friendly version of Cell (with much more improved double precison floating point performance) for general purpose computing tasks that will also go in to Roadrunner supercomputer. So basically , if the OS X would have been programmed and recompiled from scratch for the Cell I am pretty sure it would wipe the floor with any of the current Intel offerings.

http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/News/Details.aspx?NewsId=19418

http://www.beyond3d.com/forum/showthread.php?t=36335

http://www.cercs.gatech.edu/docs/SC06_Cell_111606.pdf