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Video Cards Featuring SpursEngine (Cell Processor) Coming Soon
Posted by Mark Wilson at 5:00 AM on October 2, 2008
We've already seen the SpursEngine teased in laptops, but Toshiba is becoming vocal about bringing the SpursEngine—the same technology found in the PlayStation 3 Cell processor—to standalone video cards in 4-core configuration. The first will come from Leadtek later this month for $US286, a 128MB card that can fit into a small form PC, and it will be followed in November by Thomson cards that will start in the high $US300s. SpursEngine cards have built-in MPEG2 and H.264 codecs which equal smooth video playback and the ability to uprez SD content on the fly. And at least Leadtek's offering sounds like a solid alternative to small media PC packed with integrated graphics. [PCWorld]
Comments (AU Comments · US Comments)
There are currently no AU comments for this post.
SirBeef
Posted 5:30 AM 2/10/08
This whole time I thought there was magic inside that made it work. What's this about a processor??
SirBeef
tanukineri
Posted 5:29 AM 2/10/08
@ Norcross
The latest ATI vid cards already have integrated video/7.1 sound over HDMI, depending on the media/software used.
tanukineri
lpranal
Posted 5:28 AM 2/10/08
@hykos: Not to mention cheaper. I recently picked up an ATI 4850 for 130 bones at best buy. Ah, progress...
lpranal
Norcross
Posted 5:23 AM 2/10/08
Why can't someone make a good integrated video / sound card with a single HDMI output so I don't have a bunch of wires going out of my media center PC into my TV?
Norcross
hykos
Posted 5:17 AM 2/10/08
Current gen video cards are already more powerful than the cell processor, and cheaper. What's the point of this exactly?
hykos
LittleJon
Posted 5:11 AM 2/10/08
@Franklin Comes Alive!: You beat me to it! The Cell wasn't fast enough for graphics, that's why the swapped one for a GPU.
LittleJon
daftrok
Posted 5:10 AM 2/10/08
Hmm...Cell....
+ Watch video
daftrok
Franklin Comes Alive!
Posted 5:09 AM 2/10/08
Fun fact, the PS3 was originally supposed to have two Cells, one for processing and one for graphics.
Franklin Comes Alive!
Nintenboy01
Posted 5:37 AM 2/10/08
@lpranal: Heck, the GeForce 8800 released back in 2006 was already considerably more powerful than the Cell.
Woulda been nice if the PS3's GPU could've been based on a prototype 8-series GPU rather than a 7800 with 50% reduced bandwidth and ROPs.
Nintenboy01
Earthslide
Posted 6:07 AM 2/10/08
Doesn't matter. Tech has already reached it's breaking point in Graphics. Next up, reality.
Earthslide
LastAndLeast
Posted 5:56 AM 2/10/08
@Norcross: A lot of the newer cards with HDMI output will take the digital output of your sound card and output it over HDMI.
LastAndLeast
KJA
Posted 6:43 AM 2/10/08
This is interesting. I'd like to find out what the benchmarks are when the tests are out.
BTW, I hate this new commenting scheme. Stop making Gawker websites more like Digg. Even allowing Facebook users to join in the reindeer games will wreak havoc upon this site. Don't be surprised.
KJA
ripfire
Posted 6:39 AM 2/10/08
... using the technology derived from Duncanobilarker...
ripfire
jdickson87
Posted 6:21 AM 2/10/08
@Franklin Comes Alive!: Yeah, until they were about to go into production and they realized that they were only getting about 1/4 of what they were going to need (iirc), then they went to Nvidia and begged for 7800 GTs. Lol. I think it's kind of mis-matched that the PS3 has such a powerful CPU and such a (comparatively) weak GPU.
jdickson87
SScorpio
Posted 6:58 AM 2/10/08
@Norcross:
I used a Sapphire HD4850 in a recent build for someone and it did just this. I also know that the 9800GTX cards have a pinout to support a sounds cards spdif-out header and pass it over via HDMI.
SScorpio
SerleWinecor
Posted 7:10 AM 2/10/08
I think letting facebook access to gawker sites makes it a lot easier.
SerleWinecor
Jitty
Posted 7:55 AM 2/10/08
@hykos:
How do you know? Are you a cell and GPU expert? If a major company is using the cell in a GPU, it should be at least halfway decent.
Jitty
diabolusunknownTheSecond
Posted 8:53 AM 2/10/08
@jdickson87: Well, i wouldnt say that. A video card will always be better at video than a CPU.
Its just the way it is. Even in 10 years when we have 64 core CPUS, graphics cards will be up to thousands of shaders, and will still be faster than a CPU at graphics.
And when ray tracing enters into the equation, they will still be faster.
That 7800GT, even though its quite old, is still extremely powerful when you consider its ability to calculate. But the PS3, given the time it came out, should have come with something more powerful, since that is holding it back big time. In fact, the 360 isnt being held back by its Xenon processor, since that is pretty damn powerful as well. Its the ATI chip thats in it that is preventing it from moving forward. I wouldnt be suprised if the next xbox got a similar processor that it has now, except with an extremely powerful graphics core which now has the capability to house physics and general calculations.
diabolusunknownTheSecond
VakeroRokero
Posted 9:59 AM 2/10/08
@Norcross: GO to a store and ask for it, this is already available.
VakeroRokero
VakeroRokero
Posted 9:58 AM 2/10/08
I might finally replace my 3DO Blaster with this card.
I love pointless console hardware inside my 5x more powerful pc.
VakeroRokero
DJTripleRRR
Posted 5:16 PM 2/10/08
I really like the cover of that ps3... They should make a see through one...
DJTripleRRR
Norcross
Posted 12:18 AM 3/10/08
@LastAndLeast @VakeroRokero @SScorpio: yeah, it's been something I've put off for a while. Once I saw Dell putting them on their laptops, I assumed they were around now.
Norcross
hykos
Posted 11:40 PM 3/10/08
@Jitty:
Actually yes. I have a Phd in microprocessor computing.
hykos