[He is] a sheep in sheep's clothing - Winston Churchill
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Slim PS3 gets new Cell
WHEN SONY'S SLIM PS3 hits the shops next month it will come with the latest Cell chip.
The new, smaller gaming console will carry an upgraded version of the Cell microprocessor jointly developed by IBM, Sony and Toshiba.
According to Big Blue, it is fabbed using a 45nm manufacturing process. It will still use IBM's Power CPU architecture but will draw less power than earlier chips.
The earlier PS3 console carried a Cell processor manufactured using the 65nm process. Sadly IBM tells us that speed wise it will all be the same, but our power bills will be smaller.
The smaller chips cost less to produce, which contributed to Sony's decision to cut the console's price to $299. A Sony executive said the advanced manufacturing process was a factor in driving the console's price down.
Earlier consoles carried the RSX GPU developed jointly by Nvidia and Sony. The graphics core in the PS3 Slim has to be compatible with the RSX GPUs so existing games for the PS3 can run on the new console.
More details on the PS3 Slim are available here. µ
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Wii, Xbox360, PS3, I prefer Wii and PS3, PS3 is more classic. Maybe PS3 could save Sony.
This tool is useful for PS3 users.
4Media DVD to PS3 Converter
http://www.111download.com/product/4media-dvd-to-ps3-converter.html
or will it still run Linux? It would be the best workstation deal around and Univ should buy them up by the van load. Stanford uses them in a protein folding project.
If Sony has closed the box they should only be dispataged. I think the PS-3 has been the only public access non-x86 computer available and an example of what can be done.
Current speed is 3.2 ghz. 10-to-1 the new chip will be 3.4 ghz.
I do hope there are no games that depend on the processor being 3.2 for their exact gameplay speed (no reliance on timers). That means games on it would run too fast.
I seem to remember something about the PS3 being "future-proof". Like they mentioned it at a moment along the way. Couldn't have been Sony's mantra or anything.
How much you want to bet there will be games that simply won't work on the PS3 slim?
Playstation has gone from 90 nm to 45nm with 65 hm step between while 90 & 65 nm are intercompatible, there is some question if 45nm will carry that on. Fine wording indicates NO.
If it does carry thru, it might be due to fact that Nvidia has NOT changed graphics gpu, at lerast Jens.en isn't willing to comment. If its same as large playstation, it seems smaller cell won't have that much better of operation. especially if software remains same.
Cell is most powerful processor today, so it may be more updates in fab process than anything actually better in performance.
vondrashek
The PS3 slim would be a nice Rootkit-ray player if it weren't for the fact that other Rootkit-ray players are much less expensive now than the 300USD Sony wants for their cheap, bare bones Slim. Sony removes feature after feature in an effort to affect their bottom line. At this point in the game, does anyone care? The PS3 may be a very nice device, but from a business perspective it is one of Sony's all time greatest failures.
"yadda yadda - theyll say anythin if they think itll shift more units
while i'm ranting, isnt it a disgrace that the yanks pay massively less for these type of things than us europeans!
scammers
maybe the yanks get a discount for having an untrustworthy government structure"
Way to stay on topic.
.....went about 6 months after it came out. First it went in Europe and was replaced with software emulation then was gradually phased out altogether iirc.
Where's it gone?
I remember when the price was $599.99 when it first came out, i thought that was outrageous, but now, it's dropped $300.00, so i wouldnt be clpmlaining about the price, what i would worry about, is if it overheats faster than the old one.
Making some PS3s faster than other PS3s just doesn't make sense.
On the other hand, the new cell is probably 'capable' of being faster than the older cell; that would be important when using the cell in other machines.
...the fact checking is getting very poor here.
As for the PS3...still too pricey for a three year old, current gen machine.
I agree with both above posts and I too think this site is losing its luster. I have to go to other sites like Tom's Hardware to read news I used to get from the INQ.
"Sadly IBM declined to say what the clock speed of the new Cell processor will be."
possibly because it's a stupid question, as 'Gh05t' already commented.
This site is really going down the drain...
Agree with the above. Poorly worded (and late) article. Don't enjoy this site much these days.
The article rambles about the CPU, then makes a statement about the GPU that assumes we already know... something. What that something is is anyone's guess, is it in a previous article? Is it hiding on another website? Who knows!
This post needs to be edited for accuracy purposes. The CELL processor has had a die shrink, however there has been no speed boost. IBM did release a statement when the die shrink occured that said that the speed would not change for PS3 compatibility purposes. Also, the RSX processor has not been changed or removed. It did have a die shrink down to 65nm some time ago, for the 40GB PS3. The Slim PS3 does not have any significant changes inside, only smaller heatsynks/fans and a redesigned power unit.