PS3 Emulation - Cell Architecture

[cm_bushman]

I know the PS3 isn't even close to being emulated, and the hardware requirements are beyond even top-flight PCs of today. I also know that the PS3 utilizes CELL architecture, which is different than your standard PC CPU, like the 360 uses.

What I'm wondering is if this Cell Architecture would be more difficult to emulate than a standard CPU. If so, would a CELL cpu be better suited? Lastly, is Cell exclusive to the PS3, or is it an emerging/niche field that simply hasn't made it in home PCs?

I've read about CELL on Wikipedia, but it soars over my head with details about it's logic and operational details. I'm looking for a general comparison of the two and an overview of it's possibility to be emulated.

[ulaoulao]

What I'm wondering is if this Cell Architecture would be more difficult to emulate than a standard CPU. If so, would a CELL cpu be better suited?

suited for what? Emulating a CELL CPU, then yes.

CPUs have things like op codes and endianness among with other technologies like SSE or MM technologies. If we are emulating a CPU that already understands this stuff of course there is less to emulate.

is Cell exclusive to the PS3

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_%28microprocessor%29 It's pretty much is for Sony so dont count on seeing it on a PC system or peripheral.

Emulating this thing is possible like everything else but its a bit of a struggle, if you want to help check out the ps3 emulator in development.
http://www.emulator-zone.com/doc.php/playstation3/ This is what they are doing now. Mapping each instruction from INTEL to CELL. This is how emulators start Once this is done slowly but surely we will get faster computers and be able to play games.

All CPUs require this translation period. The Cell is not really all that much of a pain. The two issues are the speed technologies and graphics technologies. These require wrappers that have to figure out how the CPU is making its calculation and find what technology our CPU has that is a good match.

[cm_bushman]

Thank you, ulaoulao. I had heard that Cell Architecture was an advancement over traditional CPU architecture when the PS3 was getting so much buzz, but almost 10 years later, nothing more has come of it. The PS3 was certainly more powerful than the 360, for a now competitive price, so I have to assume there is some advantage. It was just intriguing to me to see how the Cell system affected emulation efforts.

I'll do more research into the engine, I still don't really understand how it is different from x86 or x64.