Cell Inside, the Future of Processor Architecture - Cell Architecture
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At first glance, the Cell seems a simple idea that quickly becomes a fairly complex piece of hardware. It has one head processor controlling a series of other processing units, all working in unison.
To come at it completely non-technically, a normal processor is like one guy doing all his taxes on April 15th and hoping he can get to the post office on time; a Cell processor is like a guy separating his tax forms and handing them out to an office of professional tax preparers, then accepting them back when finished. While everyone at the office goes home early and takes a nap, the guy who did them alone is making coffee to stay awake.
There are a few main components to the Cell processor’s architecture that allow it to function this way. The first is the controlling processor, known as the PowerPC Processing Element (PPE). The 8 lower processors that the PPE works above are called Synergistic Processing Element (SPE). These parts can communicate with each other using the Element Interface Bus (EIB). Don’t get confused just yet; I have more confusing details about these parts and their interactions.
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