IBM has a demo for PS3 where it can do raytracing with no GPU help.
http://www.alphaworks.ibm.com/tech/irt
On the Playstation 3 running Linux, six of the Cell Broadband Engine's eight SPEs are available and are deployed for ray tracing. The RSX graphics chip normally used to compute images sits idle as 720p or 1080p frames are computed by software and sent directly to the framebuffer. Furthermore, the user can navigate through the scene with the PS3 controller.
3 PS3s doing it -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLte5f34ya8
right now the rig running it cost $10k. so is it fair to say that by the time it becomes available to the average joe we will have next gen xboxes and playstations?
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