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Ps3 Cell vs i7 Intel Quad Core Xeon 2.93ghz

waloshin

waloshin

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Oct 9, 2008
3,339
173
In a gaming forum I was reading that on average 90% of the forum users really think that the cell processor in the Ps3 would beat a Intel c2quad!

I highly doubt it, as an Intel c2q would cost anywhere around 250-1000.00
The ps3 costs what, 399.99!

- Who here agrees that the Intel i7 quad core running at 2.93ghz with 4 hardware cores, and 4 virtual hyper threaded cores has alot more power then the Ps3 cell?
 
T

trule

macrumors 6502
Mar 16, 2007
310
0
For raw number crunching I would say Cell, it has more real cores and specialised memory access.

I imagine someone will run Linpac on them both at some stage and then you will know
 
waloshin

waloshin

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Oct 9, 2008
3,339
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DoFoT9 said:
in what field?
Click to expand...

That's a hard one to answer as their both made for different things! How about general pc power, for running say Linux, when and if ever all spus get used in linux.
 
DoFoT9

DoFoT9

macrumors P6
Jun 11, 2007
17,586
99
London, United Kingdom
waloshin said:
That's a hard one to answer as their both made for different things!
Click to expand...

well there you go! you just answered your own question!!

you basically cannot compare the two because they are for different fields. the cell is for intense mathematical calculations (somewhat like a GPU i would guess) and the Xeon is made for everyday use and speed.

therefore you cannot compare them in a similar field, if you tried to use the cell as a everyday computer it would suck. if you tried to use the Xeon in a gaming rig it would suck too.

EDIT: for general CPU power, i would say the Xeon.. for mathematical operations i would say the Cell
 
0098386

0098386

Suspended
Jan 18, 2005
21,574
2,908
And then try running Linux on a PS3 (of course the CPU isn't the only bottleneck). From what I've seen no game on the PS3 looks to outclass the 360 in terms of processing capabilities, and thats a 3-core CPU.

An i7 will blow pretty much anything out of the water right now*, especially a games console from 2006.

*In general tasks and gaming.
 
gnasher729

gnasher729

Suspended
Nov 25, 2005
17,980
5,565
waloshin said:
In a gaming forum I was reading that on average 90% of the forum users really think that the cell processor in the Ps3 would beat a Intel c2quad!

I highly doubt it, as an Intel c2q would cost anywhere around 250-1000.00
The ps3 costs what, 399.99!

- Who here agrees that the Intel i7 quad core running at 2.93ghz with 4 hardware cores, and 4 virtual hyper threaded cores has alot more power then the Ps3 cell?
Click to expand...

The cell processors are damned fast and absolute hell to write code for. If you had some complex and time consuming calculation, and it took me a week to write reasonably good code for a MacPro for it, then I could probably write code that does it faster on a cell processor - if you give me six months time to do it.
 
Rapmastac1

Rapmastac1

macrumors 65816
Aug 5, 2006
1,120
47
In the Depths of the SLC!
The very sucky thing about the cell processors in the PS3 is they aren't very good for playing games - aka random memory access. They are processors that are much better for streaming media off of drives.

The 360's processors are far better for gaming and thus the 360 seems like a better games machine right now, on top of the fact it's much easier to write code for.

An i7 would do much better for general tasks and would kick butt for gaming, but the Cell Processor is much better for HD content and general media handling.
 
jaw04005

jaw04005

macrumors 601
Aug 19, 2003
4,513
402
AR
If you had the development chops along with the time and money, I'm sure you could make the cell very quick for certain needs (scientific, specific video encoding, etc).

However, a lot of third-party game developers have complained about it over the years.

"Anyone making a game, if you're going to make it for both, just lead on the PS3 because if it works on the PS3, it'll work on 360," he said. "We had to play catch-up on the PS3 because of the memory constraints and how it renders; how it processes is just different. And it's harder on the PS3."

And the best quote ever:

"We don't provide the 'easy to program for' console that (developers) want, because 'easy to program for' means that anybody will be able to take advantage of pretty much what the hardware can do, so then the question is, what do you do for the rest of the nine-and-a-half years?" explained Hirai."

http://news.cnet.com/sony-ps3-is-hard-to-develop-for-on-purpose/

Even Apple looked into the Cell, but ultimately Jobs said it was crap for general computing.

"Mr. Kutaragi tried to interest Mr. Jobs in adopting the Cell chip, which is being developed by I.B.M. for use in the coming PlayStation 3, in exchange for access to certain Sony technologies. Mr. Jobs rejected the idea, telling Mr. Kutaragi that he was disappointed with the Cell design, which he believes will be even less effective than the PowerPC."

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/11/technology/11apple.html?_r=1&oref=login

At NAB, a company announced that they will introducing an h.264 video encoder for professionals that runs proprietary software on the PS3.

http://www.techshowwire.com/2009/04...ion-3-at-broadcast-international’s-nab-booth/
 
C

ChessMyLife

macrumors newbie
Dec 19, 2009
1
0
Hi everyone

I play computer chess, and I’m using a very good machine for this propose, I’m using ASUS mother board with Intel Core i7 920 running at 2.66 GHz, and it’s doing good with chess engines calculations, but recently I heard that the cell processor is stronger than i7 I have which left me in a chock, once again I was twisted with the issue of what you exactly want to use the cell processor for??!! I want to use it for chess engines calculations (such as GUI Interfaces - i.e Rybka 3 on Fritz 11), but I don't know if it worth the time to install yellow dog Linux on my ps3 then install Win XP on Linux then install my chess program Fritz 11 and after that trying to install the engine inside Fritz11, its really not an easy thing but is it worth the effort to do it ?? My ps3 is 40 gigs, and I’m willing to format it if its worth the time, after all my big question is :


IS THER ANY WAY I CAN RUN A CHESS GUI INTERFACE SUCH AS Fritz 11 ALONG WITH RYBKA ENGINES ON PS3 ? IF YES, DOES IT SUPPORT 64 BIT TECHNOLOGY OR NOT??

thanx
 
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