PS4 To Use A Power7 CPU?
Today's random PlayStation 4 hardware rumour.Published 26/11/2009 at 10:00 by Watchful
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The PS4 will use an IBM Power7 CPU according to Dutch site PS3Clan.nl. They go further saying that it was Sony’s decision to swap from the Cell BE architecture to IBM Power architecture that prompted IBM to cancel further development of the PowerXCell 8i CPU.
The Power7 is a CPU that has been under development at IBM since April 2006 and is not expected to be released as a product until mid-2010. IBM did reveal some of their design goals and intended specifications back at the wonderfully named Hot Chips conference back in August.
The headlines of those planned specifications are for the chip to initially be manufactured on a 45nm process and run at 4GHz. It will have 4, 6 or 8 cores per chip with each core will be capable of running 4 threads.
So according to the rumours that are floating around we now know both the CPU and GPU for the PS4. They are both plausible, but it will likely be some time before we know whether we can believe them.
Update: The original source for this rumour, like the GPU one, is FGNOnline.
Comments
Please note that all comments are the opinion of the individual author and not TheSixthAxis.« Previous 1 2
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Apnomis | 26/11/2009 12:46
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724 TSA Points | Member since: Sep 2009
Well based on the rumours, the specs of the PS4 are looking pretty impressive! I’m more interested in the GPU at this stage though as that was the main ’slip up’ when developing the PS3, it’s nice to see that they will address that on the PS4.
The big question is though, if the PS4 doesn’t use the Cell will it be possible to have backwards compatibility with PS3 games? Or has IBM’s new processor incorporated enough of the Cell design to allow it? I was kind of hoping they would have stuck with the Cell to justify the developers investment in learning how to use it – it’s always the same with the Sony console line, they reinvent every generation and cause devs to reinvent as well – the result is amazing games at the end of the lifecycle, but comparably poor games at the start. For once it would have been nice for devs to hit the ground running with a Sony console (although the evolution of games does add to the lifecycle I suppose)…
Eitherway I don’t think we’ll see a PS4 (or Xbox 720) until at least Christmas 2013. So if they’re basing the specs on bleeding edge 2010 specs, it should hopefully give time for the component price to drop – surely Sony won’t make that ‘mistake’ again! One of the things that interests me with the GPU is that it’s got a good cost to performance ratio compared with more traditional GPU’s.
Whatever the future holds for PS4, I sincerely hope Sony make the (current) PSN FULLY compatible with PS4. Imagine unwrapping your shiny (or matt) new PS4 and logging straight in with your existing PSN account – syncing to bring back your PS3 trophies, and continuing on collecting PS4 trophies. In my ‘perfect world’ I could also go to the PS Store and still be able to download and play all the PS3 era PSN games (includling redownloading ones I paid for on PS3), as well as new PS4-only releases, and even insert my old PS3 games and have access to all the same functions as I did on PS3 – online would still work and trophies would still unlock etc. Oh, and Home would be built in and fully integrated and have no load screens! If they did this the PS4 would be a day one buy for me regardless release date/price (within reason), if not I don’t think I’d be quite as eager to upgrade as I was from PS2 to PS3. But surely Sony aren’t daft enough to throw away the PSN (and people’s attachment to their UserID’s and trophies) and start from scratch… are they?!
carlosfilippsen | 26/11/2009 13:40
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1316 TSA Points | Member since: Mar 2009
Too early to be talking about PS4, the PS3 still has a lot to improve and a lot to deliver..
hazelam | 26/11/2009 14:59
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3920 TSA Points | Member since: Feb 2009
personally all this talk of processors and graphics chips means little to me.
as long as it has decent games on the machine they could make it out of cheese for all i care.
and as for the “which machine is more powerful” argument, couldn’t care less, as i’ll probably have more than one anyway.
but one thing needs to be done for the next playstation.
they need to have routines for all the what are now considered basic console functions ready and working before the launch of the hardware not have them missing and bring them in a year or two down the line so no bloody games support them.
BIGAL-1992 | 26/11/2009 17:37
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1229 TSA Points | Member since: Jan 2009
Let’s wait and see first, as it may be all nonsense in the long run.
gazzagb | 26/11/2009 18:38
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2760 TSA Points | Member since: Feb 2009
How much more powerful is it than the current PS3 one?
iNsAnE_gAmInG | 26/11/2009 19:14
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-1930 TSA Points | Member since: Jul 2009
I no little about processors and stuff but I am pretty sure 4 gigahertz results in a bloody fast machine.
superjag86 | 27/11/2009 09:48
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713 TSA Points | Member since: Feb 2009
Found some new info on the “IBM discontinuing Cell story”
http://www.itproportal.com/portal/news/article/2009/11/24/ibm-denies-pulling-out-cell-development/
http://www.driverheaven.net/news.php?newsid=344
It seems it’s only one processor design that’s being discarded whereas other processors in the Cell family will still be developed, including the Cell that will be used in the PS4.
Watchful | 27/11/2009 11:41
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As I noted in the first paragraph, IBM have only cancelled “further development of the PowerXCell 8i CPU”. They are still making and using other Cell processors, in their super-computers among other things, as are Toshiba who use the Cell in consumer products (and who now wholly own the Cell-making foundry they used to share with Sony).
Whether the PS4 will use a Cell processor is also speculation. There’s no new information in those links that wasn’t in Alex’s post from Monday.
superjag86 | 27/11/2009 16:40
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713 TSA Points | Member since: Feb 2009
Sure thing, I thought I was just adding some extra clarification.
I suppose we won’t know anything for sure for quite a while anyway.
Imaruler | 01/12/2009 02:25
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203 TSA Points | Member since: Nov 2009
We will have to wait a long time for the ps4 if this is real.