The PS3 Console - Technical Specifications
So you tend to have technical inclinations? Often get the urge to get down and dirty with with some sleazy motherboard? Love the whirring of that hard drive? You've come to the right place, because we do too!
We've taken the PS3 technical specifications directly from Sony, and of course will update it as they do. Also, for those not too familiar with CPU speeds and gigabit interfaces, we've provided an explanation of what these crytpic acronyms actually do! Follow the links in the yellow boxes, for further detail:
The Console - In all its glory
| Cell Processor
PowerPC-base Core @3.2GHz
1 VMX vector unit per core
512KB L2 cache
7 x SPE @3.2GHz
7 x 128b 128 SIMD GPRs
7 x 256KB SRAM for SPE
* 1 of 8 SPEs reserved for redundancy
total floating point performance: 218 GFLOPS
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| RSX @550MHz
1.8 TFLOPS floating point performance
Full HD (up to 1080p) x 2 channels
Multi-way programmable parallel floating point shader pipelines
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| Dolby 5.1ch, DTS, LPCM, etc. (Cell- base processing) |
| 256MB XDR Main RAM @3.2GHz 256MB GDDR3 VRAM @700MHz |
| Main RAM 25.6GB/s
VRAM 22.4GB/s
RSX 20GB/s (write) + 15GB/s (read)
SB< 2.5GB/s (write) + 2.5GB/s (read)
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| 2 TFLOPS |
| Either 20GB HDD or 60GB HDD |
| USB Front x 4, Rear x 2 (USB2.0)
Memory Stick standard/Duo, PRO x 1
SD standard/mini x 1
CompactFlash (Type I, II) x 1
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| Ethernet (10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, 1000BASE-T) x 3 (input x 1 + output x 2)
Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11 b/g
Bluetooth 2.0 (EDR)
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| Bluetooth (up to 7)
USB 2.0 (wired)
Wi-Fi (PSP)
Network (over IP)
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| Screen size: 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p
HDMI: HDMI out x 2
Analog: AV MULTI OUT x 1
Digital audio: DIGITAL OUT (OPTICAL) x 1
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| CD PlayStation CD-ROM, PlayStation 2 CD-ROM, CD-DA, CD-DA (ROM), CD-R, CD-RW, SACD, SACD Hybrid (CD layer), SACD HD, DualDisc, DualDisc (audio side), DualDisc (DVD side)
DVD: PlayStation 2 DVD-ROM, PlayStation 3 DVD-ROM, DVD-Video, DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW
Blu-ray Disc: PlayStation 3 BD-ROM, BD-Video, BD-ROM, BD-R, BD-RE
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CPU
CPU, or Central Processing Unit, is the brain of a computer or machine. Its primary job is to translate instructions and process data from programs that initiate it. In other words, you click a button, the CPU interprets that to mean kick the bad guy in the head, and resulting in favorite character executing a sublime round house kick. Pretty much all modern day CPUs have a microprocessor at their heart, increasing performance drastically from earlier methods. The PS3's CPU is built exclusively for the console, therefore is not extremely scalable, but packs a hell of a punch for your PS3 gaming needs
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GPU
GPU, or Graphics Pro, no Proceed, hang on, I cant imagine what it will be. Got it! Graphics Processing Unit! Is the daddy behind your visuals on the console, and is extremely powerful with graphic manipulation and rendering, as it is a dedicated piece of hardware. Whilst delivering atonishing Playstation 3 graphics, it also alleviates some of the load from the CPU, letting the brain get on with doing what it does best
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Sound
The PS3 will have Dolby 5.1CH speakers, synonomous with quality home theatre systems. In short, when you hear a few rounds cracking out of a semi automatic behind you, Japan hasnt invaded, its the game.
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Memory
Ever forgotton where you put that damn memory card? Well, the PS3 tries not to. The memory in the PS3 console is important, it never forgets where to picked up your last reward, villains you have slain, or puzzles you have solved. The more memory, the better. When information is stored in memory, it is much quicker for the system to retrieve that information, as opposed to reading it from the hard drive, in otherwise less hanging and skipping.
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System Bandwidth
Is somewhat a speculative term, which is hard, or near impossible to prove. It is a complex assumption, involving the capacity of certain items to communicate with each other, how fast they do it, how much resources they use. If you want more information, try a quantum computing night course.
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System Floating Point Performance
System Floating Point Performance is an indicator of the computer or consoles performance especially when extensively using floating point calculations. The PS3 has 2 TFLOPS (obviously), which equates to 1012 FLOPS (naturally). In layman's terms, the console can compute advanced calculations prety damn quickly
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Storage
Everyone loves lots of storage space. For the car, home or office, you just cant get enough sometimes. The Playstation 3 likes space too, it has lots of data and information to store, when it needs to permanently remember things, or the memory cant cope. With either 20GB or 60GB hard drive space, you have enough room to swing 10 cats tied together with string.
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I/O
I/O, I/O, its off to work we go. I/O (Input/Output), is the speed and type of devices that the PS3 reads from or writes to. As you can see, there's a few gadgets you can plug in to the console.
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Communication
Communication is the key to success, and this model of Playstation has taken a leap from its predecessor, and is now hooked up to the information super highway, or internet as we often say. Multi-player online gaming is now a thing of the present with the snazzy new PS3
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Controller
Controllers basically control (yep, control) how different components communicate, and interface with each other. Generally, this applies to peripherals (not on board). Exciting stuff.
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AV Output
AV Output is the method of displaying output, the visuals you see when running amock in GTA. You could have the best GPU, but without any mechanism to pipe it on to your screen, your screwed.
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Disc Media
Obviosuly, what type of disks your Playstation 3 can read. There's quite a few supported formats, so check em out
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