# ps3 motherboards in computers?



## maylon69

Hello,

I am new to this forum, but I had this thought while on my way home from work tonight, would it be possible to take the motherboard from a ps3, which has a 9 core-cell processor cabable of 4.5 Ghz, into a pc?

I am not sure it is possible for the chance of it being encrypted or just not compatible, but I wanted other people's input on this thought.

Let me know what your ideas are, and if you think you know a way feel free to let me know.  It would be cool to have a computer with a 9 core processor.


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## linkin

No. because all the hardware is incompatible with regular pc hardware. I also doubt the ps3 has a 9 core processor...


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## Drenlin

^ It does, sort of. It has the main general-purpose PPC core, and eight more cores that are somewhat similar to the programmable shaders in GPU's. One of them is a backup, so only seven are functional.

However, if I remember right, you have to specifically program a game to use those, which is a pain in the arse and one of the reasons why most PS3 games aren't any better than the 360 versions. The 360 is MUCH easier to program for.


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## ultipig

Wow. And this is why I'm a pc gamer, exclusively.


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## JareeB

ultipig said:


> Wow. And this is why I'm a pc gamer, exclusively.



yup pc gaming for the win


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## linkin

Agreed.


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## danthrax

JareeB said:


> yup pc gaming for the win



PC gaming was the beginning and is the future (hopefully) of gaming, but that is a conversation for a different day


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## bomberboysk

Drenlin said:


> ^ It does, sort of. It has the main general-purpose PPC core, and eight more cores that are somewhat similar to the programmable shaders in GPU's. One of them is a backup, so only seven are functional.
> 
> However, if I remember right, you have to specifically program a game to use those, which is a pain in the arse and one of the reasons why most PS3 games aren't any better than the 360 versions. The 360 is MUCH easier to program for.



They are floating point stream processors, which make them really useful for caluclations such as physics and folding@home.

And, the PS3 is not 4.5Ghz, FYI.


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## ultipig

bomberboysk said:


> They are floating point stream processors, which make them really useful for caluclations such as physics and folding@home.
> 
> And, the PS3 is not 4.5Ghz, FYI.



Let me get this straight...

The ps3 has a 9 core processor; each core does a separate thing?


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## linkin

I'm guessing they are like FPU's in CPU's, which handle floating point calculations... i forget what those calculations actually are but anyway


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## spynoodle

linkin said:


> No. because all the hardware is incompatible with regular pc hardware.


Yeah, I don't think the processor in that thing isn't anywhere close to x86, or anything that Windows would recognize. You see, in a PC everything (mainly the processor) is made with a sort of common blueprint, which operating systems (and programs), are for the most part all designed for. Windows doesn't know how to run an instruction set properly on an 8 core cell processor. It knows the x86 and x86-64 architectures, which all run the same type of instruction set. PCs are complex things, and are insanely picky when it comes to coupling hardware with programming used to manipulate it.

But if the Ps3 was built with that common blueprint.......

That would be awesome. The RAM in that thing is ridiculously fast too. It's some strange thing called XDRAM or something. If I remember right, it has to act as the the VRAM too, so that's why it's so fast. There are only 256 megs of it though....

As a final note, there is a special version of Ubuntu for the PS3 called PSUBUNTU, I think. They must have redesigned the core. They do that kind of thing a lot in Linux. Good luck trying to get a game for that operating system though.


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## JlCollins005

if the ps3 has been updated linux or any other os can no longer be installed


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## bomberboysk

ultipig said:


> Let me get this straight...
> 
> The ps3 has a 9 core processor; each core does a separate thing?



It is not a 9 core processor.

It is a ~3Ghz Powerpc processor.
And then, 7 (Actual chip has 8, but one is disabled in order to improve yields incase one is faulty) stream processors. I could try to explain it, but the wiki definition is much more descriptive and further in depth:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_(microprocessor)


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## fastdude

Playstation 3 Cell Processor - ...
The setup of the Cell processor is like having a team of processsors all working together on one chipp to handle the large computational workload needed to run next-generation video games. In order to understand how the CEll processor works, it helps to look at each of the major parts that comprise this processor.

The "Processing Element" of the Cell is a 3.2-GHz PowerPC core equipped with 512 KB of L2 cache. The PowerPC core is a type of microprocessor similar to the one you would find running the Apple G5. It's a powerful processor on its own and could easily run a computer by itself; but in the Cell, the PowerPC core is not the sole processor. Instead, it's more of a "managing processor." It delegates processing to the eight other processors on the chip :good: 
It's hard to believe something as powerful as the PS3 only have 256 Meg of Ram, even if it is "XD" RAM  And i hear the GPU is particularly.... Awesome. Uses something called "RSX" -  It's a 550-MHz, 300-million-transistor graphics chip 

Okay, pedantic-ness over


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## ultipig

Mmk. I get it now.

I read somewhere that the xbox 360 only has 64mb of ram.


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## CrayonMuncher

JlCollins005 said:


> if the ps3 has been updated linux or any other os can no longer be installed



my orignal 60 gb uk model the first one released, can still instal linux but i believe the newer ones cant


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## JlCollins005

its not updated then the latest update from sony removed the whole install other operating system thing


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## spynoodle

JlCollins005 said:


> its not updated then the latest update from sony removed the whole install other operating system thing


Linux haters! Cheap shot....... I'm not a big Linux fan myself, actually, mainly because of the fact that every time I decide to try to use it for a while I'll end up smashing the ground with my fists because I can't get the right version of flash to install right in Firefox.  I like the OS, but some developers (*cough cough* ADOBE) don't put enough effort into programming for it, and don't update the bugs in the Linux versions of their software.

EDIT: Also found this link on Google:
http://playstation.about.com/od/ps3/a/PS3SpecsDetails_3.htm
I was actually pretty close on the RAM. It's XDR RAM.  The reason they only put 256 megs of it in the thing is because it runs at 3.2GHz.


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## lucasbytegenius

I fixed one for a customer when it yloded. Amazing thing, too bad it's not mine or I'd slap a Linux distro on it and have some fun


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