PS3 Tough Enough To Keep Working Even If Cell Loses A Core

PS3 isn’t going to go away even if its Cell processor lose one of its eight cores, according to Tom Reeves of IBM. “…the Playstation 3 only uses seven of them. YouÂ’d have a spare. That isnÂ’t implemented in Cell, but it could be. We implemented that same strategy for IBM systems. If you take a logic hit on a chip, you donÂ’t have any impact on performance because there is enough redundancy built in.”

However, if you’ve already busted a core and the Cell is working with only seven core losing another one may cause the system to stop working. Reeves said if that should happen within the warranty period, you should send it back. “YouÂ’ll always have choices about how reliable you want to make a chip with burn-in. Most chips that go into the consumer marketplace on things such as camcorders or DVD players arenÂ’t burned in. But you can add burn-in and improve reliability 5x to 10x. ItÂ’s extra cost. Certainly, a company like Sony adds that in.”

A multi-core processor, like the PS3’s Cell, is an integrated circuit to which two or more processors have been attached for enhanced performance, reduced power consumption, and more efficient simultaneous processing of multiple tasks. The complex Cell processor, estimated to cost at about $230, is one of the reasons why the PS3’s price tag is on the budget-busting side. The PS3 is expected to sell for $499 and $599 (with extras) when it launches in November.

Via Punch Jump

PS3 isn’t going to go away even if its Cell processor lose one of its eight cores, according to Tom Reeves of IBM. “…the Playstation 3 only uses seven of them. YouÂ’d have a spare. That isnÂ’t implemented in Cell, but it could be. We implemented that same strategy for IBM systems. If you take a logic hit on a chip, you donÂ’t have any impact on performance because there is enough redundancy built in.”

However, if you’ve already busted a core and the Cell is working with only seven core losing another one may cause the system to stop working. Reeves said if that should happen within the warranty period, you should send it back. “YouÂ’ll always have choices about how reliable you want to make a chip with burn-in. Most chips that go into the consumer marketplace on things such as camcorders or DVD players arenÂ’t burned in. But you can add burn-in and improve reliability 5x to 10x. ItÂ’s extra cost. Certainly, a company like Sony adds that in.”

A multi-core processor, like the PS3’s Cell, is an integrated circuit to which two or more processors have been attached for enhanced performance, reduced power consumption, and more efficient simultaneous processing of multiple tasks. The complex Cell processor, estimated to cost at about $230, is one of the reasons why the PS3’s price tag is on the budget-busting side. The PS3 is expected to sell for $499 and $599 (with extras) when it launches in November.

Via Punch Jump