Toshiba has demonstrated its first processor based on the
Cell architecture.
Toshiba’s approach to Cell differs from that of development partners Sony and IBM in that it sees the multiprocessor architecture as co-processor technology which sits alongside the host CPU, not replacing it.
“We do not want to get in to a battle creating the next host processor architecture,” Emily Shirley, head of product marketing at Toshiba Europe, told
EW.
The SpursEngine is a co-processor which integrates four of Cell cores with hardware for decoding and encoding MPEG-2 and H.264 video.
One application is for HDTV up-scaling and the chip will upscale three hours of video content in an hour, this compares with over a day using a dual core processor, said Shirley.
The first chips, due next year, will run at a clock frequency of 1.5GHz and consume 10 to 20W.