Leadtek demos Cell chip on a PCI-E card

Posted at: 4:34pm 2nd October 2008 by Ben Hardwidge

WinFast PxVC1100 features Toshiba’s SpursEngine for HD video transcoding that’s faster than real-time

After developing a brand new CPU architecture from the ground-up, you’d expect that Toshiba, Sony and IBM would have more uses for the Cell architecture than the PlayStation 3, and Toshiba has been quick to make use of the architecture’s HD video transcoding abilities in its new Qosimo laptops. However, Leadtek is now taking Toshiba’s efforts a step further by putting the chip onto a PCI-E card for desktop PCs.

The WinFast PxVC1100 is based on Toshiba’s Toshiba’s SpursEngine SE1000 processor, which is a cut-down version of the Cell chip. The SpursEngine chip features four SPEs (synergistic processing elements) based on 128-bit RISC cores, along with H.264 and MPEG-2 codecs, but it doesn’t contain its own CPU as the chip in the PS3 does. The chip is capable of encoding and decoding H.264, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 video streams in hardware.

Leadtek’s low-profile card also comes with 128MB of 1.6GHz XDR memory, and has a one-slot cooler. According to Leadtek, the card can be installed in 1x and 4x PCI-E slots, and it also requires external power from a four-pin floppy drive power connector. The company hasn’t revealed the clock speed of the SpursEngine chip on the card, although the SPEs in Toshiba’s SpursEngine-equipped laptops run at 1.5GHz. Leadtek says that the card will enable both encoding and transcoding at speeds that are ‘faster than real-time.’

Leadtek is currently demonstrating the card at CEATEC (Cutting Edge IT & Electronics Comprehensive Exhibition) in Japan, and says that it plans to ‘make a splendid speech about its outstanding development’ tomorrow. No release date has been revealed yet, but we’re told that the software bundle will include Corel’s WinDVD and DVD MovieFactory.