360 has 3x integer than ps3 or is this PR bs
- Thread starter cobragt
- 24 comments
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- 30,043
- Cuddington, Cheshire
- JDA1982
Thats a similar interview to the one in Edge, but he seemed less prepared in that interview. The feeling I got from reading that wa a feling of desperation and anger, like he's angry he keeps getting asked about the XB360's inferior hardware and desperation that the hardware is actually inferior and he know's it. There are that many different things to determine a consoles overall performance, all you need to know is that the PS3 IS more powerful than the XB360. One thing he did say which was spot ond, and I agree with 100% "Regardless of which configuration you might like better, taking full advantage of the hardware is going to be part of great software." basically it's all down to how the consoles power is used to determine which console has the better software.
- 3,420
you know what he's trying to do, he's trying to downplay floating points since that's another area the ps3 beats the 360 in. Read this
most games are about 80 percent integer and about 20 percent floating point.
how did he come up with that seriously? By his appeal, floating points dont matter :\
most games are about 80 percent integer and about 20 percent floating point.
how did he come up with that seriously? By his appeal, floating points dont matter :\
I agree with Live4speed... I think Allard is simply covering his ass.
The statement about 80% integer vs 20% floating point is true, but I think this is probably due more to limitations than anything else.. current CPUs are designed around integer-based calculations.. floating-point requires more power. Thus, a balance had to be maintained.
I don't know a whole lot about floating-point myself, but I haven't seen anything that states that floating-point arithmetic is incapable of performing integer-based calculations. 3x5 will yeild the same result as 3.000x5.000.
I think it's like the difference between a Volkswagen Jetta and a Ferrari. The Jetta will get you to work in the morning, so you don't "need" the Ferrari, even though the Ferrari will also get you to work just as well if you choose to use it.
The statement about 80% integer vs 20% floating point is true, but I think this is probably due more to limitations than anything else.. current CPUs are designed around integer-based calculations.. floating-point requires more power. Thus, a balance had to be maintained.
I don't know a whole lot about floating-point myself, but I haven't seen anything that states that floating-point arithmetic is incapable of performing integer-based calculations. 3x5 will yeild the same result as 3.000x5.000.
I think it's like the difference between a Volkswagen Jetta and a Ferrari. The Jetta will get you to work in the morning, so you don't "need" the Ferrari, even though the Ferrari will also get you to work just as well if you choose to use it.
- 30,043
- Cuddington, Cheshire
- JDA1982
The cell was designed to be a master at floating point calculations, if you had two games one using 80% integer and 20% floating point and another that uses 80% floating point and 20% integer, I'd suspect the one with more floating point calculations would be better in theory, the practice of it may or may not happen like that though because it's not that simple. And yes you may get to work faster in the Ferrari but you may end up in jail if you try 
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- 30,043
- Cuddington, Cheshire
- JDA1982
FLOP's are more complex, it does mean more work to get accurate calculations but the end result can bring better results and when used fully FLOPS offer a higher level of versatility. They also require more power to do, you can also find mistakes in FLOP's by converting them to integer. What the exact process of converting is I'm not sure, but theres plenty of sites that can explain all that for you. This site http://lua-users.org/wiki/FloatingPoint can explain floating point to you in detail if you're interested.
- 8,015
- Horbury, West Yorkshire
- GTP_Sprite
I agree that if the games for either console are cr*p then it will determin who wins the race for next gen console first place (in a perfect world), but this is not the case, alot of people who buy games cosoles will buy the one that is most powerfull, or better specs or even which looks better under the TV, i know a few people who do this and have no idea if a game is good or bad and they dont really care either. I know somebody who baught a PS2 just for the DVD playback, and said "if i want to play games on it i can, thats why ive baught one".
Sad but true.
Sad but true.
What's interesting about the "spec war" is that it's almost exclusively Microsoft who's gotten so defensive about it. That should tell you something.
As for the floating-point/integer thing.. I did some more reading, and it turns out that the two of them are largely interchangable. A floating-point architecture can easily handle integer calculations, sometimes even faster and/or more efficiently than an integer-based system.
Here's a link that I found quite informative, since it's less "techy" based than many other floating-point links: http://lua-users.org/wiki/FloatingPoint Although the link is specific to the LUA programming language, I don't see any reason why the base calculations themselves would change from language to language (it's basically just math, which is universal across all computer systems).
Basically, Allard is either misinformed or he's spewing BS, about the "three times the integer performance", since Cell is perfectly capable of handling integer operations. His misinformation is probably based on the fallacy that Cell has only one "general purpose" processor, while Xenon has three. Hence, "three times the performance". What he neglected to mention was the SPE's ability to handle integer performance if that's what they're assigned by the PPU. Allard seems to be under the impression that Cell, and specifically the SPE's, can ONLY do floating-point calculations, which is nonsense.
As for the floating-point/integer thing.. I did some more reading, and it turns out that the two of them are largely interchangable. A floating-point architecture can easily handle integer calculations, sometimes even faster and/or more efficiently than an integer-based system.
Here's a link that I found quite informative, since it's less "techy" based than many other floating-point links: http://lua-users.org/wiki/FloatingPoint Although the link is specific to the LUA programming language, I don't see any reason why the base calculations themselves would change from language to language (it's basically just math, which is universal across all computer systems).
Basically, Allard is either misinformed or he's spewing BS, about the "three times the integer performance", since Cell is perfectly capable of handling integer operations. His misinformation is probably based on the fallacy that Cell has only one "general purpose" processor, while Xenon has three. Hence, "three times the performance". What he neglected to mention was the SPE's ability to handle integer performance if that's what they're assigned by the PPU. Allard seems to be under the impression that Cell, and specifically the SPE's, can ONLY do floating-point calculations, which is nonsense.
- 30,043
- Cuddington, Cheshire
- JDA1982
Nice find Jedi, thats the exact same link I posted above 
. Allard knows what he's on about, he wouldn't be there if he didn't. He's just buckling under pressure from the press and probably MS telling him to get the press off their backs about the specs. Like Jedi said, floating point calculations are interchangable with integer so the fac that most games use more integer is simply because the hardware makes them do it, not because they have to or because it's better to.
. Allard knows what he's on about, he wouldn't be there if he didn't. He's just buckling under pressure from the press and probably MS telling him to get the press off their backs about the specs. Like Jedi said, floating point calculations are interchangable with integer so the fac that most games use more integer is simply because the hardware makes them do it, not because they have to or because it's better to.
- 4,004
- Croatia
For the 5 years Microsoft was always the first to explain how Xbox is faster, powerful and superior to PS2.
Now, Sony is kicking their aszes with their own weapon.
I will be very happy to read everything from MS when Sony shows us the true PS3 specs in the end of the year. Somebody is going to get fired big time...
Now, Sony is kicking their aszes with their own weapon.
I will be very happy to read everything from MS when Sony shows us the true PS3 specs in the end of the year. Somebody is going to get fired big time...
Man, I hate Allard.
That guy spews sooooo much "un-information."
His "re-direction techniques" are so transparent to me.
For some reason, he thinks that he doesn't have to answer anybody's questions with the answer and proceeds to lead everybody away from what we really want to know.
Microsoft is doing the XBox360 the best way they could possibly do it. They obviously realize that their only chance is to get it out well before the PS3. But watching any of the coverage of E3 will convince you of the differences between the two machines.
Is the XB360 truly a next-gen console? Or is it just a fancy "set-top PC"? Think Mediacenter...
The graphical difference is obvious. So Allard leads you down a long road of networking GIMMICKS that I wouldn't give a poop about.
Hey, I still feel stung from all of the Halo2 hype, and MS is starting to do it again.
If anybody believes that the XBox360 is the superior machine because of the Xbox vs. PS2 history in which everybody seems to think the XBox is more powerful, then do they realize that the PS2, an ancient piece of technology now, has the ONLY HD VIDEO GAME in existence?
In my opinion, the XBox360 is shaping up to be maybe a little more than a high-def XBox.
Just don't listen to Allard for answers, because he won't give them to you. I will not put on Microsoft's "blinders."
That guy spews sooooo much "un-information."
His "re-direction techniques" are so transparent to me.
For some reason, he thinks that he doesn't have to answer anybody's questions with the answer and proceeds to lead everybody away from what we really want to know.
Microsoft is doing the XBox360 the best way they could possibly do it. They obviously realize that their only chance is to get it out well before the PS3. But watching any of the coverage of E3 will convince you of the differences between the two machines.
Is the XB360 truly a next-gen console? Or is it just a fancy "set-top PC"? Think Mediacenter...
The graphical difference is obvious. So Allard leads you down a long road of networking GIMMICKS that I wouldn't give a poop about.
Hey, I still feel stung from all of the Halo2 hype, and MS is starting to do it again.
If anybody believes that the XBox360 is the superior machine because of the Xbox vs. PS2 history in which everybody seems to think the XBox is more powerful, then do they realize that the PS2, an ancient piece of technology now, has the ONLY HD VIDEO GAME in existence?
In my opinion, the XBox360 is shaping up to be maybe a little more than a high-def XBox.
Just don't listen to Allard for answers, because he won't give them to you. I will not put on Microsoft's "blinders."
