Gadgetory

so far in the console wars we've taken a look at the controller's the SKUs the design and the external features after three round the score is 1:1 and now we're starting to get into the stuff that truly matters and sets these devices apart in this round we're taking an in-depth look at the CPUs its LP from TechnoBuffalo and welcome to the next installment of the console wars back in the good old Nintendo Entertainment System days no one really talked about cpus and gpus when it came down to game console performance back then was all about the bits first start with the 8-bit systems then 16 an eventual assistant with a whopping 64 bits of graphics processing power pretty amazing stuff but these days you probably wish it was that simple game console hardware is something one doesn't slap together overnight a lot of consideration is put into the hardware because the life cycle of game consoles can be from five to ten years the most important factor for game console hardware is to be balanced on low levels this is obviously quite a task to achieve on a limited budget some of you guys may remember back in the day when Sony execs introduced the concept of the cell processor and the ps3 the device originally had two HDMI ports that would be capable of outputting to separate 1080p gameplay signals well that didn't exactly happen and very few games are running at 1080p from the single HMI source the point is that Sony could have manufactured Advice capable of this but the manufacturing cost would have been unbearable when it comes down to hardware the central processing unit is the heart of the system so this round is the battle between the Cell processor on the ps3 and then xenon CPU on the Xbox 360 the power of the Cell processor has been touted around the internet for years now it's been claimed to be the chip capable of almost super computing power contrary to what a lot of people believe the ps3 does not have seven cores the cell broadband engine is an IBM Power PC based solution with the single core controlling seven synergistic processing elements or SPE s there's actually eight SPE s but a single SPE is disabled for better production yields also another SPE is reserved for the ps3 user interface X and B so that leaves a single core and six synergistic processing elements free for games code so how the cell basically works is that the computational workload comes through the 3.2 gigahertz core and the core assesses the workload and distributes between the six synergistic processing elements so you can basically have audio processing handled by one SPE physics by another and so forth it's a fairly simple process in theory but game coders have noticed over the past few years that it can be a bit tricky in practice the 360s xenon CPU is based also on an IBM PowerPC core but that's pretty much the only thing it has in common with the Cell processor the xbox 360's processor has three individual cores no SPE s like the ps3 but three actual cores that can accept computational tasks individually multi-threaded code can be easily run on any of the three cores which makes it a pretty straightforward multi-core solution that has raw computing power when we start comparing the processors I think it comes down to two main things of course speed but also functionality and by functionality in this case I mean how easy it is to crunch out that speed and power out of that CPU as the Xbox 360 had a year's head start over the ps3 it managed to get a large enough installed base to make it the primary development platform for most games so the majority of multi-platform games have been made for the Xbox 360 and port it down to the ps3 and because the primary processing element or the single core on the ps3 is similar to the single cores on Xbox 360s processor it's fairly easy to get the same game working on the ps3 but is not going to be running as well if you do not take advantage of the 7 SP es so a large number of multi-platform games have been running thus far mostly on the SEL single core leaving the synergistic processing elements mostly unused and unfortunately it shows but in any case it's no secret that because of the Zenon processor the Xbox 360 is the main development platform for most games because it's that much easier to develop for having owned the ps3 from the very beginning I've experienced enough bad ports to last me a lifetime but there's absolutely no doubt that the Cell processor packs a serious punch if you have the time capabilities of optimizing and taking use of all the espys of the ps3 you will get an enormous amount of computing power but that's exactly just it game developers these days are pressed for time and money and capable code writers are not abundant so the lack of time money and expertise have been the reason why ps3 games have been having a tough time competing with the same games on the Xbox 360 so a lot of games have been running on lower frame rates and inferior graphics and it's definitely a frustrating situation for Sony in particular as they know that the hardware is capable of so much more luckily the PSP counterparts have been improving as the hope without a better code for the ps3 but unfortunately some major developers like valve have stated that they will not be developing for the ps3 for this reason it's too much of a hassle and they simply don't have the resources but the PlayStation 3 and the Cell processor definitely have a few aces up their sleeve namely some very capable first party developers like Naughty Dog who will put in the extra mile to crunch out the ps3 as well hidden potential the guys at Naughty Dog have intimated that with uncharted 2 they for the first time been able to take almost 100% use of all the PS threes SP ES and they've actually managed to take a substantial load of graphics pressing off the shoulders of the GPU and pass it over to the Cell processor which is definitely an impressive feat as CPUs normally aren't designed to handle complex graphics calculations having played through uncharted 2 I can say that it's definitely one of the best looking games made to date and it really shows off how well the ps3 can handle physics animations and high res textures or the constant framerate 2009 has been a very good year for Sony they finally come out with some IPS that really show off what the ps3 can do that Xbox 360 can and according to game developers and Naughty Dog in guerrilla games it's largely thanks to the Cell processor but this generation has proven that the time for exclusives is coming to an end 1 Sony exclusive like Final Fantasy and Metal Gear Solid are now being developed for the Xbox 360 and even the continuation for exclusivity of the Gears of War series on the Xbox is not confirmed it's simply a matter of economics games are increasingly expensive to develop and the install base of a single platform is just not enough multi-platform games are the future and from this perspective no matter how much power first party developers crank out of the Cell processor multi-platform developers like EA and Ubisoft will not be putting extra hours to make the ps3 counterparts run or look any better than Xbox 360 versions in fall 2008 I would have declared the Xbox 360 a winner in this round but the games released this year have really proven the cell processors potential and in my opinion they finally showed some stuff that the ps3 at the xbox360 can't the xbox360 exonym CPU is more than a capable processor but game developers have admitted that they've already hit the limits of the CPU the biggest way to tip the scales for the cell is that it can also handle graphics processing which enables the ps3 to move beyond the limitations of the GPU and that is what really sets the Cell processor apart from the Xenon CP on xbox 360 the PlayStation 3 takes the process around by a slight edge and puts the ps3 ahead of the Xbox 360 in the total score so I guess the 400 million bucks Sony invested in the cell broadband engine is starting to pay off GPUs are up next so stay tuned for the next round of the console wars LP signing out