[psyki]

y would u want use the ps3
the hardwares so old now and even when it wasnt it old it still would have been a waste of time
it would be alot cheaper and more efficient to use PC's no questions about it

[TizzyT]

Originally Posted by psyki y would u want use the ps3 the hardwares so old now and even when it wasnt it old it still would have been a waste of time it would be alot cheaper and more efficient to use PC's no questions about it

Actually the raw performance of the cell was well ahead of its time when it initially released, and at crunching numbers was superior to even the corei7s at the time iirc, not sure about now though. And from them costing less then PCs led to the concept of using them in a cluster (I say concept as I am unsure of anyone actually doing so).

[psyki]

Originally Posted by TizzyT Actually the raw performance of the cell was well ahead of its time when it initially released, and at crunching numbers was superior to even the corei7s at the time iirc, not sure about now though. And from them costing less then PCs led to the concept of using them in a cluster (I say concept as I am unsure of anyone actually doing so).

yeah i see what your saying
and the cell processing was good on paper but is there any application that can utilize its potential?
in my mind you would need to write a whole new script to utilize the hardware
and if im not mistaken cpu rendering largely relies on the ram

P.S this is more of a question than a statement dont take it as fact!

[r2rX]

Thanks for all the replies, guys.

The reason i'm inquiring about this is that there is a chance that i'll be working with a couple of people with the intent on creating a render farm for use within the company and leasing the power out to clients. So, the PS3 was one of the first options I thought of...in regards to bang per buck. The original idea was to setup 16 PS3's....then increase it over time.

Granted, finding models that can be downgraded is a pain. Not to mention, the latest Mental Ray (for Autodesk suite) 2012 onward no longer supports PPC...so that will be a problem.

The render farm is for creative purposes at the moment but it will expand for the science community to take advantage of as well.

Thanks, manster and condorstike. I'll read through the Cluster and....openclit guide.

It seems that the direction will be to use PC's.....'cause even if I got the PS3's that I could install Linux on, the render software will most likely be incompatible with PPC...and I doubt using WINE will be such a good idea.

baargle, it is definitely something i'm very interested in; as long as the performance/software compatibility is good enough to support the bang per buck ratio of using PS3's instead of PC's.

r2rX

[xflarex]

Originally Posted by Simonbuck openclit ???? are you sure ,,,,,,,LMFAO ive got a mental picture going on in my head that I cant get rid of.

comes from OpenCL so OpenCLit. Yeah, someone had a tactless sense of humor. I approve.

[baargle]

Originally Posted by TizzyT Actually the raw performance of the cell was well ahead of its time when it initially released, and at crunching numbers was superior to even the corei7s at the time iirc, not sure about now though. And from them costing less then PCs led to the concept of using them in a cluster (I say concept as I am unsure of anyone actually doing so).

Proof that's it's fabricated PR hype and nonsense.

[r2rX]

Thanks for the feedback, everyone. I have an idea what to do now.

[TizzyT]

Originally Posted by psyki yeah i see what your saying and the cell processing was good on paper but is there any application that can utilize its potential? in my mind you would need to write a whole new script to utilize the hardware and if im not mistaken cpu rendering largely relies on the ram P.S this is more of a question than a statement dont take it as fact!

Hmm for a hardware related topic as this I think gurus in the field would be more appropriate in touching on this, maybe people like @euss or @defyboy would have something more accurate or informative to say/point out.

[r2rX]

Thanks for the idea/direction, TizzyT...i'll try contact them.

[baargle]

Wouldn't bother.

Just have a look at the entry for the "Cell" cpu on wikipedia and click a few sources when you're done if interested in further reading.