[djskribbles]

Some pics of the 40GB PS3's insides.
HDD is now made by Hitachi. afaik, the other models have Seagate drives (at least the 20/60 models did in NA).

[Versatil]

Any new pictures of a recent 80GB PS3??
Damn, what are they waiting.

[infinity4]

Very interesting looking at changes made throughout the life cycle. I am still wondering if they will ever sell a "wholesale" version of a PS3 without a HDD so they can save costs, and those who want the HDD size of their own, can save costs as well!

[Panajev2001a]

Originally Posted by infinity4

Very interesting looking at changes made throughout the life cycle. I am still wondering if they will ever sell a "wholesale" version of a PS3 without a HDD so they can save costs, and those who want the HDD size of their own, can save costs as well!

Unless they put some good quantity of Flash storage inside the HDD stays: a re-writable high capacity storage is part of platform's specification and games take advantage of it.

[assen]

Originally Posted by Panajev2001a

Unless they put some good quantity of Flash storage inside the HDD stays: a re-writable high capacity storage is part of platform's specification and games take advantage of it.

Flash right now can't economically match the throughput of standard HDDs; I don't expect flash-based SKUs of PS3 and 360 before 2010.

[Arwin]

I just bought a 2.5" external 160GB drive for 79 euro (Lacie's, I think it's Toshiba inside?). And that's in Europe! I think it will be quite a while before Flash can compete with this.

[Crossbar]

Originally Posted by Arwin

I just bought a 2.5" external 160GB drive for 79 euro (Lacie's, I think it's Toshiba inside?). And that's in Europe! I think it will be quite a while before Flash can compete with this.

For large sizes Flash will probably never be able to compete, but if you make a 16-20 GB flash drive for an entry model it may even be competible by 2009, but 2010 is a better bet:

http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9825675-7.html

Meanwhile, the world is swimming in NAND flash, leading to drastic price declines. NAND prices are set to drop 57 percent this year and 52 percent next year, said Joseph Unsworth, an analyst at Gartner.

Put those two factors together, and it could be possible to come out with a 64GB solid-state drive for close to $300 toward the end of 2008, Unsworth speculated. That's still high. He estimates that only 8 million solid-state drives will get shipped in all of '08.

But after that, the industry should begin to be able to show the benefits of these kinds of drives, the Micron executives predict. Think about it. Even if price declines begin to slow, 64GB drives will likely move toward the $200 range by late 2009 and then drop to sub-$100 about 18 months after that.

[infinity4]

Originally Posted by Panajev2001a

Unless they put some good quantity of Flash storage inside the HDD stays: a re-writable high capacity storage is part of platform's specification and games take advantage of it.

No, I know that you still need a HDD as compulsory, I was saying to give us an option of what size we want. That way you don't throw away a unused HDD, and costs. 40GB PS3 is a really attractive option to me but 40GB looks really small and I really think I would later upgrade to at least 100GB.

Or were you saying you need a flash even if you will buy a HDD later?

[Blackraven]

Originally Posted by infinity4

PS3 without a HDD so they can save costs

Not sure if that would happen as it appears that the PS3 checks for the presence of a physical storage drive during start-up. If it it doesn't detect one, then it won't load to XMB. Much like how X360 checks the presence of an HDD before loading to Xbox Live.

[Npl]

Originally Posted by Blackraven

Not sure if that would happen as it appears that the PS3 checks for the presence of a physical storage drive during start-up. If it it doesn't detect one, then it won't load to XMB. Much like how X360 checks the presence of an HDD before loading to Xbox Live.

He meant selling it without HDD, so that the buyer can choose a HDD that fits his needs without having an additional, unused 40 GB HDD (I certainly hope we will see such kits soon). He dint implied it would work without.

You cant use a PS3 alone anyway, if customers understand that they need a TV for it, why wont they understand they need a HDD? Just imagine if every PS3 had an elcheapo TV inlcuded.

[cherbert]

ok. I haven't seen this mentioned anywhere on the net so I thought I'd quickly highlight something to add to the confusion...

I just had delivered a brand new Sony PS3 (Ceramic White) from Hong Kong. Unlike the Japanese model it appears to have the old style motherboard layout with all the rear ports on the same side as the PSU.

The Model Number is: CECHG12CW

I have read people confirming Black 40gb haveing the old motherboard but I think I am the first to spot a White one.

Does this mean I don't have the new cooler chipset?

[oramay]

Originally Posted by cherbert

ok. I haven't seen this mentioned anywhere on the net so I thought I'd quickly highlight something to add to the confusion...

I just had delivered a brand new Sony PS3 (Ceramic White) from Hong Kong. Unlike the Japanese model it appears to have the old style motherboard layout with all the rear ports on the same side as the PSU.

The Model Number is: CECHG12CW

I have read people confirming Black 40gb haveing the old motherboard but I think I am the first to spot a White one.

Does this mean I don't have the new cooler chipset?

May be you can compare the air vents?

[cherbert]

[Carl B]

Originally Posted by cherbert

Does this mean I don't have the new cooler chipset?

You don't have the new chipset in the literal sense, but you still have the 65nm Cell, new power supply, and new drive. And certainly it's still a very contemporary/newer chipset. So in terms of "coolness," you're still very much ahead of the previous gen 20GB, 60GB, and 80GB consoles. Think of the Japanese white consoles as simply a further refinement on the design you already have.

[cherbert]

Thats great to hear!

Its certainly a very quiet machine! The fans don't kick in while playing or watching Blu-ray like my older 60gb did!

What is new about the drive?


P.S Sorry for the multiple posts - I didn't realise my posts were being vetted. It was't very clear what was happening.

[Carl B]

Originally Posted by cherbert

P.S Sorry for the multiple posts - I didn't realise my posts were being vetted. It was't very clear what was happening.

That's ok, I should have caught it honestly... but since I can see them regardless it slipped my attention.

Anyway the extent of the drive changes going from the old to the new are unknown, but the new drive is the supposed reason why the SACD playback is gone - for which there was consideration before - and even with a minimum of other alterations, one would still expect a nominally reduced power drain, etc...

Hopefully someone opens one up at some point to compare it to the shots of the previous model.

[Nesh]

Any possible conclusions on the SCC that can be derived from the recent internal pics?

[Solomon]

Can anyone confirm if the new motherboard supports an updated HDMI transmitter (the Vastlane 1932) with the Vastlane 1934 chip?

[Heinrich4]

New model ps3 is coming?

http://vgchartz.com/news/news.php?id=957

New PlayStation 3 SKU Is Confirmed

(I'm pretty sure this is the MGS4 model that comes with a rumble sixaxis controller btw)
apparently the FCC let slip a file proclaiming the testing for AK8CBEH1101, a new model of the PS3. What this could mean is a discount for the 40 or 80 gig models among other things.

konangrit, over on the PS3 forums, has compiled a list of features in the report that represent minimums of what will be in the AK8CBEH1101 as well as the old CECHG01 versions of the PS3.

* 1 x HDMI Port
* 1 x AV Port
* 1 x LAN Port
* 2 x USB Ports
* Bluetooth Ver. 2.0+EDR
* WLAN 802.11b/g

Other differences from the existing PS3s found in the report:
(I know nothing of wireless Tech, so this is like french to me)

* This version of the PS3 draws less current: 3A down from the previous 3.2A
* Bluetooth has better Antenna gain. Antenna1 is up from 0.21dBi (max) in the original 60Gb, to 3.83dBi (max) in the new SKU. Antenna2 is up from 4.13dBi (max) to 4,92 dBi (max).
* WLAN is still 802.11b/g, however, Antenna gain has increased here too. ANT0 is .69dBi up from 0.10dBi, and ANT1 is now -0.26dBi from 0.91dBi.

These wireless changes are supposedly to fix things like wonky setups for games like Rockband and cut down on interference.
-------------------------------------------------------------
update:
according to this website (which has scans of the reports) the above features found in the 40 gig will be present along with the new bluetooth quality and new controller. If this is true it will be an 80 gig machine...so in a nutshell it's the 40 gigs updated specs on an 80 gig platform...

[JPT]

Somebody should stick in the SKU # of all the PS3 and see whether they ever listed info on the CPU + GPU, if not this could be a new SKU with 65nm RSX in addition to the 65nm Cell which I believe is in the 40GB.

Didn't 65nm RSX go into mass production in November 2007?