Talk:CELL BE

Cell Broadband Engine

The Cell CPU has one 3.2Ghz PPE (Power Processor Element) with two threads and eight 3.2Ghz SPE (Synergistic Processing Elements).

The PPE is a general purpose CPU, while the eight SPE are geared towards processing data in parallel. One SPE is disabled to increase yield, so the PS3 can have at most 9 threads runnings at the same time (2 from PPE and 7 from SPE). Note that one SPE is reserved for the hypervisor, so PS3 programs can take advantage of 8 threads. Both the PPE and SPE of the Cell are 64 bit, and manipulate data in Big Endian.

Specifications

• 1 PPE (Power Processor Element)
  • 3.2Ghz
  • 64 bit, Big Endian
  • 2 threads (can run at same time)
  • L1 cache: 32kB data + 32kB instruction
  • L2 cache: 512kB
  • Memory bus width: 64bit (serial)
  • VMX (Altivec) instruction set support
  • Full IEEE-754 compliant
• 8 SPE (Synergistic Processing Element)
  • 3.2Ghz
  • 64 bit, Big Endian
  • 1 SPE disabled to improve chip yield (see: Unlocking the 8th SPE)
  • 1 SPE dedicated for hypervisor security
  • 256kB local store per SPE
  • 128 registers per SPE
  • Dual Issue (Each SPE can execute 2 instructions per clock)
  • IEEE-754 compliant in double precision (single precision round-towards-zero instead of round-towards-even)

There is a lot of info about CELL/BE on the Cell Programming IBM page.

Serial Numbers @ SKU

The Cell was introduced at 90nm. Later, PS3 model numbers starting with CECHG uses the 65nm version, while the PS3 Slim (CECH-20xx) used the 45nm version (See SKU Models and table below).

A sampling of the serial numbers by model number.

PS3 Model	CELL Serial	Die Tech	Total Die Size	Width x Length	SPU size	PPE Size
CECHA	CXD2964GB	90nm	235.48mm²	19.17mm x 12.29mm	14.76mm²	28.86mm²
CECHB	CXD2964GB	90nm	235.48mm²	19.17mm x 12.29mm	14.76mm²	28.86mm²
CECHC	CXD2964GB	90nm	235.48mm²	19.17mm x 12.29mm	14.76mm²	28.86mm²
CECHD	unreleased	90nm	235.48mm²	19.17mm x 12.29mm	14.76mm²	28.86mm²
CECHE	CXD29??	90nm	235.48mm²	19.17mm x 12.29mm	14.76mm²	28.86mm²
CECHF	unreleased	90nm	235.48mm²	19.17mm x 12.29mm	14.76mm²	28.86mm²
CECHG	CXD2981AGB	65nm	174.61mm²	15.59mm x 11.20mm	11.08mm²	19.60mm²
CECHH	CXD2981GB	65nm	174.61mm²	15.59mm x 11.20mm	11.08mm²	19.60mm²
CECHI	unreleased	65nm	174.61mm²	15.59mm x 11.20mm	11.08mm²	19.60mm²
CECHJ	CXD2981GB	65nm	174.61mm²	15.59mm x 11.20mm	11.08mm²	19.60mm²
CECHK	CXD2989AGB	65nm	174.61mm²	15.59mm x 11.20mm	11.08mm²	19.60mm²
CECHL	CXD2990AGB	65nm	174.61mm²	15.59mm x 11.20mm	11.08mm²	19.60mm²
CECHM	-?	65nm	174.61mm²	15.59mm x 11.20mm	11.08mm²	19.60mm²
CECHN	unreleased	65nm	174.61mm²	15.59mm x 11.20mm	11.08mm²	19.60mm²
CECHO	unreleased	65nm	174.61mm²	15.59mm x 11.20mm	11.08mm²	19.60mm²
CECHP	-?	65nm	174.61mm²	15.59mm x 11.20mm	11.08mm²	19.60mm²
CECHQ	CXD299?	65nm	174.61mm²	15.59mm x 11.20mm	11.08mm²	19.60mm²
CECH-20xx	CXD2992AGB	45nm	115.46mm²	12.75mm x 9.06mm	6.47mm²	11.32mm²
CECH-21xx	CXD2992AGB	45nm	115.46mm²	12.75mm x 9.06mm	6.47mm²	11.32mm²
CECH-25xx	CXD2992GB	45nm	115.46mm²	12.75mm x 9.06mm	6.47mm²	11.32mm²
CECH-30xx	-?	45nm?	115.46mm²?	12.75mm x 9.06mm?	6.47mm²?	11.32mm²?

Source: http://www.edepot.com/playstation3.html#PS3_CELL_CPU

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