Kougar
07-13-2006, 03:35 PM
Whoa, so I guess your PS3 made be missing a few of those cores Sony has been touting around...
Cell processor reliability details may surprise you
As Sony's PlayStation 3 console nears its official release, more focus has turned to the technical wizardry that lays inside the actual machine. The Cell processor, developed by IBM, Sony and Toshiba, has gained a great deal of attention over the last year. In an interview with Electronic News however, IBM vice president of Semiconductor and Technology Services Tom Reeves says that his company is lucky if it can get 10% to 20% yields on the Cell processor.
The Cell processor is so complex that IBM even accepts chips that have only four out of the eight cores working. Not all cores end up functional says Reeves. In regards to why the yields are so low, Reeves says "[defects becomes a bigger problem the bigger the chip is. With chips that are one-by-one and silicon germanium, we can get yields of 95 percent. With a chip like the Cell processor, you’re lucky to get 10 or 20 percent. If you put logic redundancy on it, you can double that." According to Reeves, Sony will be using Cell processors whether they have all cores functional or not. Reeves says that the PlayStation 3 requires at least seven of the eight cores operational.
Lots more info at http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=3295 (http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=3295)
Cell processor reliability details may surprise you
As Sony's PlayStation 3 console nears its official release, more focus has turned to the technical wizardry that lays inside the actual machine. The Cell processor, developed by IBM, Sony and Toshiba, has gained a great deal of attention over the last year. In an interview with Electronic News however, IBM vice president of Semiconductor and Technology Services Tom Reeves says that his company is lucky if it can get 10% to 20% yields on the Cell processor.
The Cell processor is so complex that IBM even accepts chips that have only four out of the eight cores working. Not all cores end up functional says Reeves. In regards to why the yields are so low, Reeves says "[defects becomes a bigger problem the bigger the chip is. With chips that are one-by-one and silicon germanium, we can get yields of 95 percent. With a chip like the Cell processor, you’re lucky to get 10 or 20 percent. If you put logic redundancy on it, you can double that." According to Reeves, Sony will be using Cell processors whether they have all cores functional or not. Reeves says that the PlayStation 3 requires at least seven of the eight cores operational.
Lots more info at http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=3295 (http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=3295)