Toshiba Releases Cell Based Processor

    SpursEngine is the name of the new high-performance processor, the release of which was announced just yesterday by Toshiba.

    The main feature of the chip is that it is built on the basis of four cores Synergistic Processing Element (SPE) with RISC-architecture. Exactly the same are present in the Cell processor (although there are twice as many) created by Sony and IBM. The chip works with XDR DRAM and supports PCI Express x4, x2, x1, is capable of operating at a frequency of 1.5 GHz and at the same time consumes no more than 20 watts. The tasks for which this stream processor is “sharpened” have an exclusively multimedia focus, namely, video encoding and decoding, including high definition, as well as real-time processing of three-dimensional images.

    SpursEngine will be used as a coprocessor in consumer electronics and even computer technology. In particular, Toshiba plans to demonstrate the capabilities of the new chip on the example of a laptop that will be displayed at the company's booth at the Japanese exhibition Ceatec 2007. The presentation, I believe, will be very interesting, since the Japanese promise to "raise video processing in consumer electronics to a new level of realism."

    The developers are still silent about the cost of SpursEngine, so it is still difficult to assess the feasibility of introducing a new product.

    via Yahoo! News

    Also popular now: