current Playstation3 dev kit has twin 6800Us in SLI. final PS3 far more powerful

[herzogzwei]

as most of you know, Nvidia is designing the GPU for Sony's PlayStation3.
this has been going on for several years--although NOT since the beginning
of PS3's development process which begun in 1999. - Nvidia came on
board in 2002 or 2003, athough talks had probably be going on longer.


the Nvidia GPU for PS3 is being based on Nvidia's true next-generation
architecture, whatever that is (NV5x I suppose). this architexture
is the basis for Nvidia's next-gen PC GPUs and the PS3 GPU. the PS3
version will of course have none of the windows components at all.

I have no idea about the G70 and G80, if these have anything to do
with the PS3 GPU (basic architecture, not specific chip) or not.

as far as I am concerned, the G70 and G80 are NV4x generation
and not NEXT generation. but i could well be wrong. for now, I
am going to forget G70 and G80 since i know nothing about them.


I will continue to assume that PS3 is using Nvidia's NV5x architecture,
or whatever architecture is a generation beyond any NV4x GPU.

with all of that said, here is a quote from PSM (playstation magazine)


"One of the next-generation Playstation project from the begining has been computing giant IBM. They helped co-design the system's integral Cell CPU with SCEI, but as PSM has learned from development sources, their involvment is extending way past the deal.

In fact the lastest version of the Playstation 3 development kit, as of this writing, is built around a custom Cell-based PC created by egineers at IBM. The system has a single Cell processor rather than multiple G5 chips some have specualated it would, and runs a custom Linux-based operating system designed by Sony Computer Entertainment and mention at last E3.

At present, the kit has two top-of-the-line NVIDIA graphics cards running in tandem (SLI) and even then, one source tells us it's "not even scratching the surface of what PS3 will be able to do visually"



so whatever GPU is going into PS3, is going to blow away SLI GeForce 6800U

:angel: :angel: :angel: :angel:

[Viffer5]

I'll believe it when I see it. PS has been traditionally inexpensive compared to high end gaming pc's. Loading up all that hardware will skyrocket the cost of this bad boy.

[grimreefer]

nvidia has said g70 is faster than the r500 in xbox2, so if xbox2 and ps3 are pretty similiar, that means pc isnt too far behind.

[$n][pErMan]

PC in my experiance has ALWAYS been BETTER than console.

[Butter Bandit]

Hard to believe.

[aZn_plyR]

lol...yah, the price will be 500 for the graphics plus w/e for the rest of the system hehe...were looking @ 800+ lol...I'll stick to my mouse and keyboard.

[Pandora's Box]

rumor mill? wrong forum section IMO

[ChrisRay]

Rumor thread :P

[SH64]

Whats the source for that quote ?

[nutball]

lol...yah, the price will be 500 for the graphics plus w/e for the rest of the system hehe...were looking @ 800+ lol...I'll stick to my mouse and keyboard.

Don't forget that $500 graphics cards don't cost $500 to make (by a *big* margin), and that consoles can be sold for a loss because the companies that build them use them as a loss-leader, and make money from licensing the rights to develop and sell games to them.

So... you can't take the PC cost for given graphics power, and assume that a console will cost the same.

[AlphaWolf_HK]

Not only that but it is quite cheaper to make an integrated graphics controller than it is to make a modular one (e.g. in the form of a PC expansion card.) Not only for manufacturing and design reasons, but other reasons as well (e.g. support, warranty, no marketing overhead, etc.) Plus its sold in very very high volume quantities with very long term commitments by the OEM.

[Marcos]

i call BS on that one. maybe it will be as powerfull as 2x6600gt

[MUYA]

I think it's projected figures in terms of performance, whether it will deliver is another question.

[thanosAIAS]

Yea, yea... we've seen that before...haven't we?

Six months after their release (ps3 of xbox2) they will be old news to the pc world.

Pcs will be way ahead of them and a year after there will be no reason to compare anything between consoles and pcs.

The way i see it, the pc is becoming the ultimate elite "console" to game and nothing more, provided you can spare the extra cash :)

[SLippe]

(bs2)

[vX]

I remember when sony "promised" that ps2 games would have final fantasy spirts within movie quality...we see how that went. Does MSG 3 look nice? Sure. Is it close to looking like anything from ff:sw? Hell no. aybe they'll make that promise again, this time using advent children as its example.

[ninelven]

final fantasy spirts within movie quality..I thought they promised FFVII - VIII FMV quality... either way.

[nicorulez]

First of all, the G70 is in no way going to be faster than the R500 in the XBox 360. First of all, it is well known that the R500 is a generation ahead of Fudo or R520; it is rumored to be based on the R600 platform with unified shaders and embedded DRAM. Thus, your idea that any PC based card will be superior is fallacy, at least for a generation or two.
Second, it is in Nvidia's interest not to produce a faster GPU for the PC at the moment. The PS3 will not come out for another year. Its CPU is supposed to be a monster. The GPU, I would assume, will be at least two generations ahead of current hardware. Thus, although a 6800U SLI set-up is fast by today's standard; it will actually be quite mediocre by this time next year.
Nvidia is going to make a bundle off of the PS3, and the pub it will get from the press will be deafening. If it produced a chip on a PC that was faster before the PS3 even came out; it would all be a letdown. Remember, back in 1999 when the PS2 came out it was a good deal faster than the fastest GPU. That was right around the time of the GeForce 2, I believe. The XBox, which came out a year later, was equivalent to GeForce 3.
Finally, the dude who claims a 6600GT SLI set-up will be superior....please. Get a life and deal with the fact that for at least the foreseeable future that consoles will be faster. In a year or two after their release, the PC will again crush them. It happens every generation. :D

[Sazar]

I think it's projected figures in terms of performance, whether it will deliver is another question.

Does it not ship this year though?

If so how can they put an un-announced product in which has not been tested or developed?

Or has it :D

[ninelven]

First of all, the G70 is in no way going to be faster than the R500 in the XBox 360. First of all, it is well known that the R500 is a generation ahead of Fudo or R520There is a difference between featureset and speed. Example: NV30.

[nicorulez]

Ninelven, what you say is pure semantics. Remember, whe the GeForce originally came out, people were bitching that the TNT2 Ultra was faster. Well, lo and behold, the GeForce became the new standard. Once again, the G70 may (and I say this with doubt) have a higher clock speed, but it is not going to be anywhere as fast. Nvidia knows that this product (the PS3 GPU) is the key to their future. If, as predicted, the PS3 can gain worldwide dominance and sell say a 100 million PS3's or more; Nvidia can only benefit. The PC market, although I am an addict, is not as big a piece of the pie (especially the high end gear....SLI, AMR, etc). Nvidia is being really close to the vest with this part as I suspect they know that by releasing such a powerful part for a console they will alienate that small segment of the hardcore PC audience. However, in the end, it will all be good for us PC gamers as this technology will make its way into the next next gen of chips. Imagine a 512MB to 1 GB monster in your AMD 6000+ dual core or P5 dual core in a couple of years. The PC will be faster in time; however the time for the next gen consoles to be superior is now and at least the foreseeable future. :)

[ninelven]

No, what I said is fact. The NV30 was in many ways a more advanced gpu than R300, but which would you have rather owned?

Once again, the G70 may (and I say this with doubt) have a higher clock speed, but it is not going to be anywhere as fast.Let's see ATi R500 = ~8 pipes w/ 48 total ALU's @ 500 Mhz. G70 = 24 pipes @ 450+ Mhz. R520 = 16+ pipes @ ~550 - 600Mhz.

[nicorulez]

Once again, not true. The R300 was way more advanced than the piece of junk NV30. First of all, until the 5900 came out, the first sniff we got of NV30 was the infamous dust buster....i.e. 5800 ultra. Advanced? I don't think so. It was rated at much higher clock speeds than the 9700 pro (which had been out at least 6 months) and got its ass handed to it. For one thing, the thing was on a 128 bit bus (big mistake). For another, it was 4 pipelines where the R300 was 8 pipelines. So mate, how was it more advanced?

Then, to call the R500 essentially 8 pipelines. Show me a link to a reliable page and we will see. I have heard it is actually more like 22-24 pipelines, and with its architecture it was far beyond R520 (or G70 for that matter). Look, technology is one thing and reality is another. R520 and G70 are going to be fast....however they are both going to pale in comparison to the next GPU that comes out on the PS3. Don't believe me, but it will be true. Financially, it is the soundest thing that Nvidia can do. They will not trump the PS3 before it even comes out. Just wait and see. It is all rather logical when you consider the bottom line....money.

[ninelven]

Again you equate speed with features.
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/print/geforce-fx.html
Here is a novel idea: learn about something before preaching about it.

[nicorulez]

What in that article showed me the superiority of the feature set for the NV30 over a 6 month old part. It lost almost every benchmark with AA/AF. Hell, I could imagine a card that cooks my toast and makes my coffee. There, it has more features. Granted, the NV30 had some cool features, but as was later found out; it was a 4 pipeline part (4:2 and not 8:1 as originally reported). Also, if Nvidia were going to truly make it advanced, why not a 256 bit bus? I could care less about the "flexibility" if it played games like shiiite. Remember, it was barely on the market a few months before it was usurped by its older brother. Thus, I once again ask you what was so revolutionary about NV30? Now, NV40 is a different story. That is a very capable and powerful chipset. I guess we will have to wait until E3 before we know anything more about the Nvidia specialized GPU in the PS3. Isn't that what this discussion really about?

PS... I am not preaching. I am using common sense. The G70 will not beat the PS3 GPU. Take it to the bank...err, Nvidia is going to do that. :D