Real-time Ray Tracing With Three PS3s

[NrKissed]

Not sure where to post this so general section it is...

Over on HardOCP.com I found a link to this cool video showing three PS3 consoles doing real-time ray tracing. Very cool look at some of the potential for future cell processing. (And maybe even some trickle down to PS3 games)

Link to HardOCP.

Direct to the video.

[Shin-Ra]

Very cool and it's worth pointing out that the scene is being rendered entirely by the Cell processors as Linux on PS3 currently has no access to the NVidia RSX for anything except video output, so you can see!

If the video was of a decent quality you'd see that the lighting and shadowing are far superior to what we see in games currently - closer to movie rendering which isn't done in real time.

If Sony hadn't gone for Gigabit Ethernet in the PS3 there probably wouldn't have been enough bandwidth to share the workload as demonstrated with the three PS3's.

[WriteSimply]

I think the future of gaming would be FOUR Cell chips in one PS4. Eight Cell chips for luck. 8GB RAM and 2GB VRAM. That'd be sweet gaming right there.

It also looks like there would be an explosion of IBM's Blade servers using the Cell. Render farms can be inhouse and in real time. Of course, hopefully that won't mean we'd get a lot more high quality CGI movies with barely good stories.

There are more YouTube Ray Tracing on Cell videos here.


fuad

[ps3andlovinit]

Originally Posted by Shin-Ra

If Sony hadn't gone for Gigabit Ethernet in the PS3 there probably wouldn't have been enough bandwidth to share the workload as demonstrated with the three PS3's.

This according to Ken was in fact the main reason for including gigabit Ethernet..

It's worth "deciphering" the whole article... well it was for me

"..CELL will start to enter homes as the form of PS3. Thought in it there are 7 SPEs, it may be seen only as one hardware component from users. But since PS3 has Gigabit Ethernet from day one, you can connect CELLs right away at 1Gbps when you have more CELLs in your home. It can be a home server, or more PS3s, in various styles CELLs in home can connect with one another via network. With 100Mbps bandwidth, they can be connected even through internet."

http://www.geocities.com/ps3multimedia/kutaragi.html

It seems quite possible that on-line game servers/farms could provide much higher quality game worlds than would be possible on a single PS3 game..as the technology matures on the back-end and in broadband delivery.

[ps3andlovinit]

Originally Posted by WriteSimply

I think the future of gaming would be FOUR Cell chips in one PS4. Eight Cell chips for luck. 8GB RAM and 2GB VRAM. That'd be sweet gaming right there.

I believe way way back at the start they were shooting for an all Cell based PS3 as you describe.

It's also interesting to speculate..

What if they had added another Cell in the PS3 instead of the blu-ray? From a cost perspective it would have been a wash..maybe even a bit cheaper .. and from a graphics/competitive perspective it would have simply crushed the 360.

I wonder if that scenario was ever discussed along the way..probably would have required being at 65nm to do it.

However I'm quite happy about the blu-ray decision..I was looking for an all-in-one media center this time around .. having an xbox, ps2 and dvd player and all the various cables just wasn't in the cards again. Being able to consolidate it all in one place was the more important criteria for us.

[jorg]

Originally Posted by WriteSimply

I think the future of gaming would be FOUR Cell chips in one PS4. Eight Cell chips for luck. 8GB RAM and 2GB VRAM. That'd be sweet gaming right there.

It also looks like there would be an explosion of IBM's Blade servers using the Cell. Render farms can be inhouse and in real time. Of course, hopefully that won't mean we'd get a lot more high quality CGI movies with barely good stories.

There are more YouTube Ray Tracing on Cell videos here.


fuad

sorry to burst your buble but as of know you can only have cell prosesors paralaley prossesing somthing

[Nismobeach]

Originally Posted by ps3andlovinit

This according to Ken was in fact the main reason for including gigabit Ethernet..

It's worth "deciphering" the whole article... well it was for me

"..CELL will start to enter homes as the form of PS3. Thought in it there are 7 SPEs, it may be seen only as one hardware component from users. But since PS3 has Gigabit Ethernet from day one, you can connect CELLs right away at 1Gbps when you have more CELLs in your home. It can be a home server, or more PS3s, in various styles CELLs in home can connect with one another via network. With 100Mbps bandwidth, they can be connected even through internet."

http://www.geocities.com/ps3multimedia/kutaragi.html

It seems quite possible that on-line game servers/farms could provide much higher quality game worlds than would be possible on a single PS3 game..as the technology matures on the back-end and in broadband delivery.

Was this the same deal about how extra networked Cell chips would "ripen" the content they play back?

[jorg]

Originally Posted by NrKissed

Not sure where to post this so general section it is...

Over on HardOCP.com I found a link to this cool video showing three PS3 consoles doing real-time ray tracing. Very cool look at some of the potential for future cell processing. (And maybe even some trickle down to PS3 games)

Link to HardOCP.

Direct to the video.

i can already see what 360 fan boys will say"who needs real time ray tracing? its not like you can tell the diffrence!" some one actually said that on the comments on the you tube videos. thats like saying you need hd you can`t even tell the diffrence. im starting to think the 360 is out putting some hallucinogenic fumes lol there starting to see things.

[ps3andlovinit]

Originally Posted by Nismobeach

Was this the same deal about how extra networked Cell chips would "ripen" the content they play back?

Yeah, that was one of things he talked about.

The ray-tracing above being another one he didn't.

Thanks for this information.

[WriteSimply]

Originally Posted by jorg

sorry to burst your buble but as of know you can only have cell prosesors paralaley prossesing somthing

The PS4 (if ever) could have that architecture to fit three or four Cells. Using the smaller Cell chips, it may just fit in the same form factor of the PS3.

Another way of doing this, but of course highly unlikely, is for SCE to produce a Cell add-on box. The box comes with the three or four Cell chips, more RAM (or upgradeable RAM), more VRAM, and a hard disc for additional caching. The system requires Ethernet connection to work but basically the box works like the two additional PS3s in the video.


fuad

[Nismobeach]

Originally Posted by WriteSimply

The PS4 (if ever) could have that architecture to fit three or four Cells. Using the smaller Cell chips, it may just fit in the same form factor of the PS3.

Another way of doing this, but of course highly unlikely, is for SCE to produce a Cell add-on box. The box comes with the three or four Cell chips, more RAM (or upgradeable RAM), more VRAM, and a hard disc for additional caching. The system requires Ethernet connection to work but basically the box works like the two additional PS3s in the video.


fuad

I was thinking of the exact same thing. If that's the case, then it looks like the brilliance of Ken Kutaragi in conceptualizing the Cell BE is nothing short of amazing.

[Blackraven]

For the PS4 (which would be around FIVE years from now). Should have at least 4.0 GHZ......but even that number would be too small by that time.

Considering we've jumped from 233 mhz to around 3.2 ghz (PS2 to PS3 jump) caught me off guard. So I guess 4.0 ghz is TOO CONSERVATIVE.

I can tell you this though: Sony WILL use 32nm components. It could be either a super-enhanced version of CELL or a totally-new hardware architecture but IT WILL BE using AT LEAST 32 nm (or smaller).

I mean, the shift to 65nm parts will take place this year.....and the shift to 45nm components will happen in year 2009. When PS4 launches (most likely in year 2012), we would be in the 32nm era by then. Thus, it is expected that it would use 32nm parts (or smaller).

Same goes for the video card. Right now, the NVIDIA RSX is using either a 90nm or a 105nm in size. The shrink follows accordingly and will be smaller come PS4 time (probably at 45nm or smaller).

As for the power supply, since you've reduced the gap between northbridge and southbridge, there would be NO NEED to increase the power supply rating (which is at 330w for the PS3 atm). I'm expecting that the PS4 would use a power supply that has a figure of LESS THAN 300 watts (AC 100-240V 50/60hz).

To sum it up,PS4 WILL HAVE:
LESSER HEAT, LESSER NOISE, LESSER POWER CONSUMPTION AND MORE IMPORTANTLY, SMALLER FORM FACTOR.

Can't wait to see the PS4 being smaller than a PS3

[ps3andlovinit]

Originally Posted by Blackraven

To sum it up,PS4 WILL HAVE:
LESSER HEAT, LESSER NOISE, LESSER POWER CONSUMPTION AND MORE IMPORTANTLY, SMALLER FORM FACTOR.

Can't wait to see the PS4 being smaller than a PS3

IBM is already able to double the speed of the Cell and PPC processors while keeping the heat and power requirements roughly the same I believe..should start showing up in 2008 AFAIK.

[ps3andlovinit]

Originally Posted by Nismobeach

I was thinking of the exact same thing. If that's the case, then it looks like the brilliance of Ken Kutaragi in conceptualizing the Cell BE is nothing short of amazing.

Yes it is.