Wanna Buy A Ps3?

[DailyDi]

I bought a PS3, but it's more complicated than I like game systems to be. Got it and the new Need for Speed game. It's the 60gb PS3 with wifi. Anyone want to buy it? If not, I'll return it, but I know some areas are out of them so I thought I'd offer.

[restlessfox]

how much are you selling it for?

[restlessfox]

just another thought to consider other then selling it or returning it, they cost alot but if you gut it for parts, the stuff you get is worth a few hundred more then you actually payed, the processor is top of the line, one of the most powerful available and the other parts are equally impressive.

if you get someone who knows exactly what they're doing to help you you could integrate those parts into a server, or your personal computer and get a massive boost in speed.

just thought i would throw it out there as a possibility.

[t baby]

Have you tried ebay dailidi? At one time they were going for like 800.00 and up.

[pctrasher]

Not to bash on the gutting the ps3 reply, but do you know how complicated that would be. It would be way better to just rewrite the BIOS and install Linux on the thing. After all, the ps2 came out with a linux box option, which was naturally a flop. But the PS3 with Linux? Yea, that would smoke everything else in it's class. But yea, if you really do decide to strip it down, chances are that you can't really do much with it anyway since you would have to get drivers written specifically for each component in the system, and an OS that can handle the Cell processor. And everything is built into the MOBO so that complicates the whole driver issue a little more.

Moral of this story, just sell it or return it, yes the parts do cost more than the machine, but they're not much use individually.

[Incomplete Dude]

You can't integrate the parts into a server, because they are soldered onto the mobo (i.e. no sockets). Not that you'd need to, because the PS3 is a very capable server on it's own, what with gigabit ethernet, wifi and the CELL.

Also, you don't need to rewrite the BIOS or anything to use Linux on the PS3, it's supported out of the box. In fact, PS3 support is now standard in the Linux kernal, so any PPC compatible distro can be used with some modification. My brother has a PS3, and has already tried both Yellow Dog and Fedora Core. All the necessary drivers are included as well, although the GPU is inaccessible.

Performance wise, the main PPE core is on par with a 2.5Ghz P4, but the 6 available SPEs are far beyond that when it comes to raw math. However, the SPE's aren't much good at anything else but math. Still, if you're doing something like video decoding, they can together decode 48 DVD quality streams, or 2 HD streams with 5.1 SACD sound at 196 kHz. Also, it's a potent raytracer, capable of about 60M rays/s, which is a lot compared to a top of the line x86 CPU that can only get say 10M rays/s. You can check out the Saarcor website for more specific numbers. Either way, it's fast, which is why CELLs are being used in Cray's next super computer.

Also, next month IBM is introducing a new CELL revision that's 2x as fast as the one in the PS3. 6 Ghz is the number going around, as compared to the current 3.2 Ghz, but you won't be seeing this in any PS3. The CELL is also very popular for compute servers and workstations, which is where these beasts are headed. Of course, there's more improvements to come, especially in the area of FP doubles. Fyi, the current model does DP at about 1/11th as fast as SP, but IBM is going to bring that up to 1/2 SP performance eventually.

Anyways, the Linux thing works fine for email and internet, but you really must have an HD TV or hook it up to a computer monitor. Otherwise, you can't read anything. Personally, it's programming the CELL that interests me most.

Unfortunately, I can't currently afford a PS3, but if I could, I'd buy it for sure. It's totally awesome.

[pctrasher]

Hey, there are other Dl/AB smart people out there. Lol. Thought I was the only one here that knew about linux and stuff. Well, as far as the whole ps3 running linux goes, I did not know that the current kernel is compat with the CELL and all, that's rather interesting and goes to show how much better open source is compared to closed sourced windows stuff. Second, I'm sure that if your bro had some spare time and a lot of luck, he could probably get the graphics drivers strait out of the ps3 OS and then port them to linux. Now I'm sure that the graphics are Nvidia since I remember ppl comparing it to the 7900 GTX (now outdated by the 8800 series in which I am a proud owner of under msdn download of vista x64.) So Nvidia is known for it's Linux support, but doubt they would make drivers for the ps3 in linux, probably because the ps3 is all closed source because Sony is a dick when it comes to that, and every bit of hardware on that machine is on the market as something else except for that graphics card, so there's no open source for it. So my guess is that you'd have to go with idea number one and port it strait from the ps3 OS. And for those of you who don't know linux, install wine on top of linux and run your fav windows progs on that.

[Incomplete Dude]

I don't think you'll be getting any drivers out of the PS3, because CELL has some very powerful security and virtualization built into the hardware. In fact, all the guest OS's, like Linux, are actually running as virtual OSes on top of the PS3 hypervisor OS. That's why you can only use 192MB of the main system RAM, since the hypervisor reserves the other 64MB.

As for the RSX, from what I've heard it's essentially a somewhat memory constrained 7900GT. However, the FlexIO interface has so much bandwidth that you can safely texture out of system RAM anyways (at about 20GB/s). See DeanoC's post, who's currently developing Heavenly Sword, here. Unfortunately, Nvidia refuses to talk about the internal with the general public, and the developers are NDAed. Still, in time the details will be fully revealed, but overviews of the PS3 graphics pipeline, like this, are the best we've got.

btw, any knowledge I have of Linux is incidental, because I don't actually use it.

Also, as for me being smart, that would be an apt description. Still, with that intelligence comes the poignant awareness of one's own ignorance. After all, if I was smart in every way, I'd be developing PS3 games myself right now, but truly, I am somewhat lacking and definitely unemployed, lol. Personally, I suspect it's because I used to hit my head as a child as a way of pressuring my mom to give me what I wanted. As a result, I may have damaged my prefrontal cortex, thereby impairing my ability to suppress impulses and implement plans. However, that's just speculation, and indeed, is counter-pointed by my ability to remain calm in stressful situations, and the fact that various mental issues run in my family.

I better stop writing, because I tend to ramble on when I'm tired, like I am right now. In fact, this explanation of my excessive self-expression demonstrates this fact. I think it's because my associative memory structure is so consciously accessible, which after I conclude a point, allows me to see many further tangents in great depth. Combined with my impulsiveness, which is made more prominent when I'm tired, I then express these ideas almost compulsively. Moreover, my personal demand for correct language leads to numerous edits, and each one presents a new opportunity to add a point, like this sentence for example. Even worse, this creates a monologue situation, wherein one converses alone, and hence, has a propensity toward self-centred thought, despite any underlying self-less characteristics. It's an interesting problem, which is again, demonstrating itself in this very paragraph.

[Repaid1]

Well all this was very informing but DD has probably taken the sucker back by now!

[Lord_Azagathorn]

It doesn't surprise me that AB/DLs might have an interest in technical computer aspect. I myself am a third year graduate student studying computer science. I have just finished a module on Artifical Intelligence and Neural Networks. Very interesting indeed!

As for the PS3, there is no doubt it is an amazing system. The CELL chip is a wonderful piece of processing architecture, however in terms of raw speed the XBOX 360 should theoretically "kick its ass with instructions per second". I tried out a Wii the other day... Played some golfing game on it, pretty fun, you feel like a bit of a prat at first though, practicing your golfing swing using a remote control. LOL