AMD CEO Lisa Su reminisces about designing the PS3's infamous Cell processor

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Cell, Roadrunner, and Architecture Context

  • Cell co-architects also helped deliver early petaflop systems, e.g., Roadrunner combining PowerXCell and Opteron CPUs.
  • Roadrunner and Cell-based machines delivered strong FLOPS but were notoriously hard to program, with multiple architectures, differing endianness, and manual data movement.
  • Some view Cell and research chips like TRIPS as high-FLOP but wrong direction for general-purpose computing; programming difficulty outweighed raw performance.

Programming the PS3 / Cell

  • Developers describe SPEs as powerful but painful: no direct RAM access, tiny local memories, DMA latency, and awkward synchronization with the main core.
  • Effective use required hand-tuned vector code, double-buffering, careful task scheduling, and often separate codebases for PPE vs SPE.
  • Some argue mastering Cell’s task-based parallelism foreshadowed modern multicore and GPU-style models; others call SPEs fundamentally bad ideas (e.g., lack of caches).

Console Generations, Sales, and “Console Wars”

  • Disagreement over whether PS3 “lost” to Xbox 360:
    • One side: 360 dominated most of the lifecycle, better multiplatform performance, stronger game sales.
    • Other side: PS3 ultimately sold slightly more units globally, with late-cycle surges in regions like South America and SE Asia.
  • Wii is generally seen as winning the 7th gen in unit sales but targeting a different, more family/casual audience.
  • Nintendo is often framed as occupying its own space driven by first-party IP; some debate the extent of direct competition with Xbox/PlayStation.

OtherOS, Clusters, and Backward Compatibility

  • PS3 initially allowed Linux (OtherOS), enabling academic classes and small supercomputers; later removed over security/piracy concerns, prompting criticism and lawsuits.
  • Governments and research labs built PS3 clusters; performance-per-dollar was attractive but RAM constraints and evolution of GPUs limited long-term appeal.
  • Emulation: community projects now run PS3 games well on PCs, leading some to argue PS5 could emulate PS3, but Sony instead prefers remasters or streaming.
  • Xbox is praised for extensive 360 backward compatibility; PS3’s exotic design is blamed for many titles remaining locked to that platform.

From Exotic Consoles to PC-Like Boxes

  • Several commenters lament the loss of wildly different console architectures; modern systems are seen as “disguised PCs” (or tablets).
  • Others argue cost, complexity, and the need for multi-platform AAA releases make commodity-like x86/AMD-style SoCs inevitable.
  • There’s debate over whether unique hardware once forced better optimization versus simply imposing unnecessary pain on developers.

Controllers, Input, and Game Design

  • Discussion of how older generations introduced novel input (analog sticks, motion controls, pressure-sensitive buttons, touchpads), whereas recent Sony/Microsoft consoles are viewed as more iterative.
  • Nintendo is credited with continuing to push new input paradigms (e.g., Switch, Joy-Cons, HD rumble), though not all experiments succeed.
  • Some argue the main value of consoles now is ease-of-use and fixed targets rather than hardware uniqueness.

Game Budgets, Assets, and Aesthetics

  • Rising asset budgets (high-res models, full voice acting, cinematic cutscenes) are cited as a key driver for multi-platform releases and fewer exclusives.
  • Others counter that many successful PC/indie titles thrive without ultra-high-end production values, suggesting the AAA focus is a business choice, not a necessity.

AMD, GPUs, and MI300x

  • Mixed views on AMD’s GPU position:
    • Criticism that AMD underinvests in software (drivers, ROCm), leaving potential on the table versus Nvidia.
    • Counterpoint that MI300x is new, improving rapidly, and already usable for serious compute in some environments.
  • Practical constraints: lack of virtualization support and unstable software stacks currently make renting MI300x instances difficult; some startups are working around this and expect quick progress.

Broader Industry and Legacy

  • Some admire Lisa Su’s career and AMD’s role in mass-market advanced chips, while others think AMD is underperforming vs. Nvidia.
  • Brief digressions on PowerPC/POWER, RISC-V, ARM, and semiconductor supply-chain fragility underscore how much Cell and PS3 sit within a larger arc of CPU/GPU evolution and geopolitics.