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[PS3Scene]

Geekbench for PS3 Linux: PlayStation 3 Performance Posted by XanTium | 22-11-2006 1:11 EST

From geekpatrol.ca: Geekbench is a cross-platform benchmark suite for Mac OS X, Windows, Solaris, and Linux. Geekbench is designed to measure the performance an average application can expect from both the processor and the memory subsystem. On Monday I started receiving requests for Geekbench for Linux PPC so people could run it on the PlayStation 3. I managed to get a beta version out last night and while it's not quite ready for public release yet, one beta tester sent in the results for his PlayStation 3 which I thought I'd share. To give the results some context, I'm going to compare the PlayStation 3 results against one of the first Power Mac G5s running at 1.6GHz with 1280 MB RAM. There was a comment on Slashdot last year that made the following assertion about the Cell processor: "The problem is that though the main CPU is PowerPC-based like current Apple chips, it is stripped down, and the Altivec support will be much lower than in current G5s. Unoptomized, Apple code would run like a G4 on this hardware." Turns out the comment was right; Cell processor performance is comparable to low-end PowerPC G5 performance (which in turn is comparable to high-end PowerPC G4 performance). I can't comment on Altivec performance, unfortunately, since Geekbench for Linux PPC doesn't measure Altivec performance yet. Geekbench also isn't able to exploit the eight vector processors on the Cell processor. Any program designed and optimized for the Cell processor should be a lot faster than one designed for a generic processor (like, say, Geekbench). So while the Geekbench results might seem disappointing, keep in mind that Geekbench can't exercise the PlayStation 3 to its full potential. Read More: geekpatrol.ca (incl. all the scores and graphs)

[snake36]

So if you are unable to use the entire cell what is the point of releasing this information.  Who knows what other kinds of problems this app might have running on a council.  This information is pointless about the ps3 performance..

PS
This is coming from a MS fanboy!!!

[Itcouldbeyou]

QUOTE(snake36 @ Nov 22 2006, 07:40 AM)

So if you are unable to use the entire cell what is the point of releasing this information.  Who knows what other kinds of problems this app might have running on a council.  This information is pointless about the ps3 performance..

PS
This is coming from a MS fanboy!!!

Well it tells you that Linux and the programs included will run as fast as being run on a slow G5 unless they are really optimized for the cell. Thus said I doubt Linux will suffice right now for playing back HDTV h264 streams with Linux (repeat: BR will be fine, I'm speaking of running under unoptimized software in Linux)

[aepuppetmaster]

looking at some of the multi-core benchmarks tho the ps3 smoked the other computer.  like ppl said it just needs to be optimized, so hopefully will see a optimized vlc and encoder program.

[Muzzakus]

The 360 has 3 x PowerPC cores.  If M$ would ever open up the 360 like Sony did the PS3 - the 360 running unoptimised code should be 3 times faster in theory than a PS3.  PC / Mac ports would be a dream on the 360 comperatively.

Anyway, we can only hope.

Muz

[ConteZero76]

What brunch of useless crap you've tried to carry out.
Cell, like Xenon, has no OoOE and is tied to 512Kb cache, while G5 are full of cache.
Cell isn't a general purpose processor but can perform quite well, and it of course (you FUD spammer) play HD with no problems at all (because most of the work is going to be made by SPE and the GPU, things really difficoult to bench with a unoptimized linux with video drivers that doesn't exploit the card's full power... i.e. every video driver on linux).
As for the rest I don't really mind... a low end G5 (or high end G4) suffice for most of the people out there and is a matter of time until a compiler and an optimized kernel will be able to use the modified AltiVec and the SPEs.
As for the rest I'd like to know how the other people is trying to "exploit" the full potential of a Xenon with 1Mb cache and three cores... more cores you use, less cache each core gets... and C2D have two cores and 2/4 Mb cache exactly for that reason...
More about this... CELL "CPU" is almost the same as Xenon "CPU" (core wise) so they benched something like 1/3 of a Xenon (well, with 512Kb cache instead of 1Mb) so you can expect the same results on a Xenon core (either the AltiVec is a "customized version", and both CPU are from IBM).
Difference lies in the additional features, Xenon has 3 cores and an ATi GPU, Cell has 7 SPE and a nVidia GPU.
In the world of "general purpose processors" Xenon could get some advantage, but when it comes to games things are getting different (a game is a differend kind of beast) and seven SPE's could carry out better results than two cores.

This post has been edited by ConteZero76: Nov 23 2006, 12:20 PM

[thax]

QUOTE(ConteZero76 @ Nov 23 2006, 12:17 PM)

Cell, like Xenon, has no OoOE and is tied to 512Kb cache, while G5 are full of cache.

The x360 CPU has 1 MiB of L2 cache, where as the Cell has 0.512 MiB if L2 cache, this is a large disparity. I think you try to mention this later on, but I have a hard time understanding what you are trying to say because of the excessive use of brakets.

QUOTE

Cell isn't a general purpose processor but can perform quite well, and it of course (you FUD spammer) play HD with no problems at all (because most of the work is going to be made by SPE and the GPU, things really difficoult to bench with a unoptimized linux with video drivers that doesn't exploit the card's full power... i.e. every video driver on linux).

Don't call people names.

"Itcouldbeyou" states that he doubts that right now linux could play HD streams using the unoptimized software.  He didn't state that with optimized software that linux could not play HD; your criticism is not warrented.

In addition linux will not be allowed to use the GPU like you stated, so that means using the SPE's to do the work. This further compounds the problem of using linux to play back HD content.