A British company may have won the contract to design and build the next-generation graphics processor for the PSP2. Imagination Technologies Group announced in a press release this week that the company has signed a license agreement with a new partner, “a major consumer electronics company.”
Industry sources say that the partner is almost certainly Sony, and that the SGX55x graphics chip will be used in the upcoming PSP2.
The secrecy on the part of Imagination Technologies makes sense, because Sony is understandably unwilling to announce its plans for a PSP successor just yet. Imagination's PowerVR MBX chip is already being used in the Apple iPhone, so Sony finds itself in good company with this manufacturer.
The SGX55x chip promises to be much more powerful than what is currently found in the PSP. At the moment, the PSP uses a... More »
The new version of YDL was released. I think the most important new feature is that you can now use the memory of the RSX-GPU as a swap partition.
You should notice a great increase of speed while using linux.
The free version can be downloaded in four weeks. For now only owners of YDL.net Enhanced Accounts can access YDL 6.1.
Press Release: AUSTIN, Texas - 19 November 2008 - From the show floor of SuperComputing 2008, booth #1915, Fixstars today released Yellow Dog Linux v6.1 for Apple G4/G5, Sony PLAYSTATION3, PowerStation, and IBM Power Systems. Built upon the CentOS foundation, a derivative of Red Hat Enterprise Linux, YDL v6.1 offers several end-user and development tool improvements over the previous v6.0.
"This marks the final release of Yellow Dog Linux by Terra Soft and the first by Fixstars," states Owen Stampflee, Fixstars Solutions' Director of Engineering, "In my five years with Terra Soft we have made incremental impro... More »
There's general agreement that Sony stumbled out of the gate with the PlayStation 3. Months of intense hype were followed by a late launch (fully a year after the Xbox 360) and a staggering $600 price tag for the deluxe model.
Even worse, the PS3 didn't initially have any real must-have exclusive titles, and despite the power of its vaunted Cell processor, multiplatform games from third-party developers didn't look appreciably better than the respective titles on the Xbox 360.
Since then, the company's been modifying the PlayStation product line to better fit the competitive market landscape. As of August 2008, a new "bargain" PS3 is available with a larger, 80GB hard drive, and a "deluxe" model is due in November, doubling the capacity to 160GB.
Both, however, lack backward compatibility with PS2 games and do not come with flash card readers. If those features are a must, it might be best to pick up the 80GB "Metal Gear" bundle version on eBay w... More »
Last we heard, it was still up in the air somewhat as to whether upcoming PlayStation 3 consoles would house the elusive 65-nanometer RSX graphics processor.
According to couch21, a curious buyer of Sony's newest 80GB unit, there is a smidgen of data that hints at a 65nm chip actually being under the hood. By using the oh-so-scientific Kill-A-Watt, he discovered that his older 40GB PS3 sucked down 125.8-watts when idle, while the fresh 80GB edition ate up just 111.9-watts.
The findings were similar when looking at power draw during DVD playback and while spinning Metal Gear Solid 4. Unfortunately, this mighty fine fellow is planning to return the new unit after being disappointed by the minimal energy savings, so he's not apt to rip the thing open and prove once and for all what kind of GPU is in there.
Meanwhile, we heartily suggest that someone do just that and put... More »
With the PlayStation 3 40GB model slowly being phased out, it’s time to make room for a brand-new addition to the PS3 hardware lineup - an Uncharted Drake’s Fortune PS3 bundle.
In North America specifically, it’s slated to hit in November at an MSRP of $499.99 and includes the aforementioned game, a voucher for PSN title PAIN, a DualShock 3 wireless controller, and a 160GB hard drive.
Over in Europe, the bundle is due out October 31. Configuration-wise there will be no difference, aside from the fact that it’ll include an “additional PSN title,” according to SCEE, which may or may not be PAIN.
Sony was quick to mention that this bundle will retain “all the same functionality” as the new 80GB that’s popping up on retail shelves here in the U.S. That means no backwards compatibility, but you should be used to that now.
Press Release: Sony Computer Entertainment America Announces Limited-Edition Uncharted: Drake's Fort... More »
There has been a lot of talk about the PlayStation 3's Random Access Memory (RAM) vs Xbox 360's RAM, saying that the 360 has more RAM to work with etc. Here is an article to explain the situation of its RAM.
Just so you know, the PS3 has 512MB of RAM (256 for video and 256 for system). The Cell chip has 256MB of completely sharable RAM, the GPU has 256MB of dedicated RAM. Now the key here is what type of RAM it is.
The PlayStation 3 has 256mb of GDDR3 at 700mhz and 256Mb of XDR at 3.2ghz. So what exactly is XDR ram? Here are some of the highlights:
- XDR makes PS3 super effiecient
- XDR aids in faster cache mapping, both direct and indirect
- XDR ram works by a pointer to pointer technology and needs very small buswidth for execution
- XDR is not just faster than GDDR3 but it is much more efficient
- XDR RAM works by breaking down data into several packets which prevents data loss and exceptions
The PlayStation 3 can be a significant contributor to your power bill, but Sony is reacting to recent criticism with a third-generation hardware version that we will be shipping this holiday season. According to media reports, the updated console will consume about 10 – 20% less power than current systems.
The transition to the new generation will mainly consist of a 65 nm shrink of the RSX GPU, which will join a 65 nm Cell processor. Combined with a new cooling architecture, which replaces copper heatpipes with smaller aluminum plates, the new PS3 is expected to consume only 100 – 120 watts, down from 135 watts today. The initial PS3 with a 90 nm Cell processor was estimated to consume up to 180 watts in normal operation.
It is unclear whether the reduction power consumption will be enough to allow Sony to drop the hardware into a slimmer case.
To us, it seems to be rather unlikely that Sony will change the form factor of the PS3 this yea... More »
Kotaku are reporting that as part of Sony's "cost down efforts," the PlayStation 3 will be getting smaller, cooler, cheaper, more efficient 65nm RSX graphics chips starting this fall.
Kaz Harai noted in his corporate strategy speech earlier today that the Cell processor has been manufactured with 65nm process technology as of "last holiday."
Both were originally manufactured at 90nm, which was charming at first, but now seems rather vulgar. We're updating our console power consumption charts in anticipation of the new RSX's release. :p
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