ZEGO: GSCUBE evolved

[Archive]

posted by Barc0de on Nov 26, 2009:

Zego

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to:navigation, search
The ZEGO ("Zest to go") is a rackmount server platform built by Sony, targeted for the video postproduction and broadcast markets. The plattform is based on Sony's PlayStation 3 as it features both the Cell Processor as well as the RSX 'Reality Synthesizer'. It is aimed to greatly speed up postproduction work (in particular in the computationally extremely taxing 4K resolution), 3D rendering and video processing. In some respects it is rather similar to IBM's QS20/21/22 blades (such as used in the Roadrunner supercomputer that took the top spot in the Top500 in May 2008), although Sony seems to target the DCC (Digital Content Creation) markets rather than scientific like IBM, which can be seen by the inclusion of the RSX graphics processor in the ZEGO platform.
ZEGO runs Fixstars's Yellow Dog Enterprise Linux, which is also Sony's favourite Linux distribution for the PlayStation 3.
Contents

[[url=http://javascript%3cb%3e%3c/b%3E:toggleToc()]hide[/url]]
1 Architecture
2 History

3 Technical Specifications
3.1 BCU-100


4 References
5 External links
// [edit] Architecture

The architecture is not identical to the PlayStation 3. One difference is that the BCU-100 has 1 GB XDR RAM instead of the PlayStation 3's 256 MB. Video RAM is missing in Sony's system diagrams, but it is listed as 256 MB (like the PlayStation 3) further down in the tech specs. The XDR memory is shared by both the Cell and RSX. Sony uses the SCC (Super Companion Chip) to handle I/O tasks (HDD, USB 2.0, Gigabit Ethernet and other unspecified I/O); the SCC has its own dedicated memory of 1GB DDR2 as well as a Memory Extension Adapter connected via PCI Express that can hold up to 8 GB. Another option for the single PCI express slot is a Video Display Board with a DVI-I output.
Furthermore it is worth mentioning that the Cell in the BCU-100 offers the full 8 SPUs that Cell is manufactured with, as opposed to the 6 SPUs available in the PlayStation 3, which has one SPU disabled to improve manufacturing yields and one reserved for the system. This gives the BCU-100 an extra 33% potential CPU-power (or 51.2 GFLOPS more).
[edit] History

Sony presented its first ZEGO product, the BCU-100, to the public at Siggraph 2008 in mid-August. Sony plans to ship the BCU-100 by the end of 2008 and deliver it with the Mental Ray raytracer by Mental Images to speed up 3D rendering tasks and Houdini Batch by Side Effects Software. The company claims to be in talk with other software makers in the DCC field to port and optimize their software for the ZEGO platform.
ZEGO is similar to a workstation based on the PlayStation 2 architecture called the GScube, which was also shown at Siggraph in the year 2000, and which, although used for visualization in a few movie projects, ultimately failed in the market. However, while the GScube only targeted realtime visualization in 1080p HD, ZEGOs target markets are much broader, encompassing for example physics simulation, final 3D rendering and video processing as well as visualization. It remains to be seen if ZEGO actually manages what the GScube was unable to do.
It is worth noting that the massively parallel design of the GScube, being not much more than 16 Graphics Synthesizer chips with dedicated RAM, inspired [1] the design of the Cell processor itself with its 8 SPUs with dedicated RAM.
As of August 2009 the device appears to have been discontinued. Searches on sony.com and pro.sony.com for either Zego or bcu-100 return nothing but the year-old press release claiming the product would ship within a few months.
[edit] Technical Specifications

[edit] BCU-100

1U rackmount unit
3.2 GHz Cell/B.E. CPU
RSX (connected to Cell via a 20 GByte/s up- and 15 Gbyte/s downstream link)
SCC (connected to Cell via a 5 GByte/s link)
1GB XDR RAM with ECC (Cell and RSX, 25,6 GByte/s Bandwidth)
1GB DDR2 SDRAM (SCC)
2x Gigabit Ethernet
3x USB 2.0
1x PCI Express 4-lane (hosts either the Memory Extension Adapter or the Video Display Board)
160 GB 3.5" SATA harddrive
<330 Watts power consumption
optional BDCU-EX1 Memory Extension Adapter with 8GB RAM
optional BKCU-VD1 Video Display Board with DVI-I (for using the BCU-100 as a Workstation)

The Cell Returns

When the Cell processor turned up in Sony PlayStation 3 in 2006, many questioned the value of the initiative. It's a joint venture with IBM and Toshiba, beyond that gaming application. Who needed another type of media-savvy processor as graphics cards gained in potency? Even Intel got in the pixel-pushing game with its Larrabee initiative.
At SIGGRAPH 2008, Sony finally put its pro cards on the table with the debut of the Zego BCU-100. It's a 1RU device composed of a Cell processor and an RSX Reality Synthesizer GPU, a graphics chip codeveloped by Nvidia and Sony for the PlayStation 3. Expected to ship by the end of the year with a tab less than $10,000, the Zego is coming out of the newly formed Sony B2B of America division.
The unit will offer integrated support to the digital cinema industry, with products besides Zego on tap. This includes Sony CineAlta systems, SRW series tape decks and codecs, and CineAlta 4K SXRD projection systems, according to “Toshi” Ohnisi, senior VP at Sony B2B, who spoke at the press event.
At the demo, a rack of BCU-100s, latched together via Gigabit Ethernet, worked with the first two apps ported to Zego: a rendering program from mental images and an inclusive Side Effects Software Houdini server offering modeling, lighting, advanced physical simulations, particle effects, compositing, and rendering. www.sony.com/zego

WOW
 

[Archive]

posted by ASSEMbler on Nov 26, 2009:

Considering many places use the ps3 for non-gaming uses, it sort of makes sense.

However, combining the two for a stupidly high price...

Places will continue to just buy vanilla ps3 to use..
 

[Archive]

posted by _SD_ on Nov 26, 2009:




The spec increase over the standard PS3 does seem quite impressive. I'd like to see a video of that rack of Zegos running the rendering software.

On a side note, the US Military are purchasing 2200 new PS3 slims to build a 'research supercomputer' according to this article. This bring up two points: Why aren't they using Zegos? And the US Air Force have PS3 slimlines that run Linux!
 

[Archive]

posted by ASSEMbler on Nov 26, 2009:

Because the zego probably costs triple.
 

[Archive]

posted by Barc0de on Nov 26, 2009:

ZEGOs are expensive because of their built-in video processing abilities.

The military, on the other hand, are making a cluster of PS3s in order to use them for distributed processing, sort of like Folding but locally.
The heart of both systems consists of the CELL, with ZEGO offering more memory on the XDR side of things.

Since the airforce needs to do simulations, they obviously don't need the extra video memory and the rest to achieve their results.
Linux clusters are inexpensive and used in large volumes, even for movie rendering.

Supercomputers have a smaller piece of the pie, and professional equipment like the ZEGO is aimed at a market who are used to custom machines and simple interfaces - clustering PS3s wouldn't be their thing.



It's the difference between mainframes and supercomputers. They're both out of your budget but they aim at different goals.

PSops, guess we all skipped this bit:

As of August 2009 the device appears to have been discontinued. Searches on sony.com and pro.sony.com for either Zego or bcu-100 return nothing but the year-old press release claiming the product would ship within a few months.

happy hunting!

White Paper: http://pro.sony.com/bbsccms/ext/ZEGO/files/BCU-100_Whitepaper.pdf
 

[Archive]

posted by alphagamer on Nov 26, 2009:

_SD_ said:




And the US Air Force have PS3 slimlines that run Linux!

0_0 WANT!
 

[Archive]

posted by alecjahn on Nov 26, 2009:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjVP4KyZhf4
 

[Archive]

posted by Parris on Nov 26, 2009:

alecjahn said:




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjVP4KyZhf4

Yeah, but there was no tea in your cup you dick!
 

[Archive]

posted by alecjahn on Nov 26, 2009:

PSFREE!!
 

[Archive]

posted by Parris on Nov 26, 2009:

Well, well, the GSCube cubed! I love it!