ninjai wrote:That's what I was reading and I got pretty confused lol. Too many acronyms I'm unaware of.
in a more basic explanation:
PS3 CEll or CPU however you want to call it is different from the typical home computers we use in present or in past, its a combination of gpu+cpu if that would clarifiy you a bit better altough it is not the proper term.
It is combined like this: The "CPU" has 8 Cores:
1 is 3.2ghz normal CPU core
2 SPE core, can render graphics and physics much like a gfx card, it can do a few more things but atm its irrevelant
3 Another SPE core
4 and another
5 and another
6 and another...
7Another SPE core altough this one is used as "hypervisor" think of it like an antivirus, an antivirus doesnt let your pc get harmed when it detects malware codes, a "Hypervisor" is mostly to avoid hacking and piracy, which is what makes impossible playing pirated games on ps3, and will keep that way for a long time possibly forever)
8th core is not used, and according to some sources its useless as its more used for manufacturing errors (if factories creates a damaged spe core it uses the 8th so it wont have to discard the whole cpu just because 1 core)
So in general that Cell or CPU is able to run both graphics and general tasks at such speeds that it can replace a weak/average graphic card, please note tough it cannot compete with any modern gfx card such as ati4870 or 5870.
Did that answear your question?
EDIT: Wow i tought this was a recent thread... sorry guys...