Serverworks LE versus VIA Chipset

[Joseph A Del corso]

I'm a little confused... I was reading up on the specs and I'm not sure
how you justify that a PS2 is (according to NBC) "up to a 1000 times more
powerful than current consumer pc's" According to the hardware specs
released by Sony (I'll post it after this) it doesn't appear that the
system is much more than a low end Alpha... Can someone explain where 
all this "power" is coming from?  Is it the 128 bit cpu? <- in light
of everything else the system has, it seems a moot point, but maybe I'm
wrong... Please explain.

PlayStation2 Hardware Specs

                     TOKYO - As part of Sony Computer Entertainment's
                     PlayStation2 unveiling, the company has released a
list of
                     hardware and technical specifications for the system. 

                     CPU: (128-bit Emotion Engine)
                     System Clock Frequency - 294.912MHz
                     Main Memory - Direct RDRAM
                     Memory Size - 32MB

                     Graphics: (Graphics Synthesizer)
                     Clock Frequency - 147.456MHz
                     Embedded Cache VRAM - 4MB

                     Sound: (SPU2)
                     Number of Voices - 48 channels plus software
                     Sound Memory - 2MB

                     IOP: (I/O Processor)
                     CPU Core - PlayStation CPU+
                     Clock Frequency - 33.8688MHz or 36.864MHz
                     (selectable)

                     Disc Drive: (CD-ROM and DVD-ROM)
                     Device Speed - 24X CD-ROM, 4X DVD-ROM 

                     Dimensions: 
                     301mm (W) X 178 (D) X 78 (D)
                     12" x 7" x 3"

                     Interfaces: 
                     2 Controller ports
                     2 Memory Card slots
                     1 AV Multicable output
                     1 Optical digital output
                     2 USB port
                     1 i.Link (IEEE1394/FireWire)
                     1 Type III PCMCIA card slot 

This was found on:
http://headline.gamespot.com/news/99_09/13_vg_specs/


~~Joe


On Fri, 22 Dec 2000, Markus Lechner wrote:

> Oh well,
> 
> i make it as short as possible:
> 
> There were a few articles in the ct, a german magazine months ago pointing 
> out what the PS2 can be in the near future:
> 
> Playstation 2 plus will run linux, it has an ethernet-card buildt into it - 
> well, no gigabit.
> 
> You need no monitor and no keyboard, just as nodes need to be.
> 
> It falls under the supercomputing restrictions in japan! So it's only 
> exported and is not allowed be be sold in japan itself.
> 
> The system is capable of playing more than 256 mpg's simultaneously and this 
> without stressing the machine even a bit. No joke.
> 
> My company wait's for them because you can build cheaper and faster beowulfs. 
> Ok, the ethernet is only 100mb/s but the machine is in itself so highly 
> parallel that it can beat a normal pc-based beowulf.
> 
> It's hard to compare PS2+ and PC but it turns out that the PS2+ beats the PC 
> in almost every respect.
> 
> I remember that the number of calculations done in a second when using a PS2+ 
> are way of higher than a PC could do.
> 
> The chips inside the PS2+ are build with a new technology, much higher 
> integration than possible even with the new technology which Intel said it 
> will come out with in a few month.
> 
> Please dont ask me for numbers, i will search for the old articles and post 
> the relevant parts if i find them.
> 
> 
> Markus Lechner
> 
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