Cell-powered graphics cards on the way
Bennett Ring02 October 2008, 8:10 PM
The so-called SpursEngine, a four-core variant of the Cell processor, is right up there with the PPU as a great way to waste a PCIe slot.
We’ve got the feeling that the current winner of the “Most Pathetic Use for a PCIe Slot” award – the Physics Processing Unit, or PPU – is about to be dethroned. Based around the SpursEngine, the new waste of silicon promises to speed up HD and SD playback and encoding for users of low end CPUs and/or GPUs.
At the heart of this PCI-E x 1 card is Toshiba’s SpursEngine, a four-core variant of the Cell processor made famous by Sony’s PS3. It’s fed by 128MB of XDR RAM, and includes a separate CPU to control the four Cell SPEs. It’s also shaping up to be a dismal waste of money. Here’s why.
For starters, there’s the fact that it’s targeted at low end CPU or GPU users, who wouldn’t otherwise have the grunt to run and transcode HD video smoothly. Nice idea, apart from the fact that the first cards are going to be priced at US$300 or more. Convert to Aussie dollars and include shipping, and we’re expecting a local price tag of around AU$350 to AU$400. For that price you can buy a blazingly fast CPU, run all the HD channels you want and still have enough processing power remaining to control the orbital patterns of several satellites.
Strike two is the dismal range of software which supports the SpursEngine’s hardware acceleration – a measly two products so far. If you spend 98% of your PC time using Corel's DVD MovieFactory and WinDVD, then you’ll love spending $400 on a card that does the job of a $200 CPU, but the rest of us could care less. Without software support, this card is going to go the way of the Dodo and PPU.
Finally, there’s the fact that the same SpursEngine chip hasn’t been performing quite as well as expected in its laptop form. Instead of crunching through HD rips at eleven times the speed of a regular PC, tests at ComputerShopper.com show that it managed to save a paltry 90 seconds off the time of a normal rip. Hear that tapping sound? I believe that’s the final nail being smashed into the SpursEngine’s coffin.
We’d love to be wrong about this, and here’s hoping that Leadtek and Thomson can prove as much in a few weeks when they release cards using the SpursEngine. But until then, let’s just say that YOU, DEAR CONSUMER, HAVE BEEN WARNED!