My tech logic isn't the greatest and so I was hoping someone could help. I intend on getting a PS3 at launch. However all this yield issue has raised some concerns about the system. Is the console intended to a have a CPU with the full specs intacted i.e 1 PPE and 8 SPEs? If not what implications does this hold? Is it worth investing in the system at launch?
Is the PS3 on track to deliver full specs?
- Thread starter Rash'
- Start date
I think you're a bit confused/uneducated on the matter from the start on the matte.
The Cell chip is a 1 PPE/8 SPE chip by design, it's true - but the Cell inside of the PS3 will have only 7 SPEs active. They are taking one away in order to increase the yields of useable system chips. As far as whether the Cell will meet the prior announced seven functional SPEs on chip - then yes Sony is on track for that.
There are no implications, and no later PS3's will have the eighth SPE enabled. If you were to hold off on buying a PS3, Blu-ray drive concerns would IMO be the *only* concern. Now those might very well be valid though...
The Cell chip is a 1 PPE/8 SPE chip by design, it's true - but the Cell inside of the PS3 will have only 7 SPEs active. They are taking one away in order to increase the yields of useable system chips. As far as whether the Cell will meet the prior announced seven functional SPEs on chip - then yes Sony is on track for that.
There are no implications, and no later PS3's will have the eighth SPE enabled. If you were to hold off on buying a PS3, Blu-ray drive concerns would IMO be the *only* concern. Now those might very well be valid though...
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Is it going to be able to read VC-1 or dual-layer disks? People keep going back and forth on this that I'm not sure.
Thanks, man. But what concerns are you talking about regarding Blu-ray?
For it to be complaint with the BD specs, it better. If not, it'll be relegated to a "BD Compatiable" device. I honestly would not worry about the PS3 being able to decode VC-1 movies.
Yeah, it'll be fine on that front, don't worry about it.
My Blu-ray 'concerns' - and I'm buying a launch unit myself by the way - stem mainly from the fact that it will be the first truly mass-produced BD playback device in an era when BD player development still hasn't been fully refined. It's bug issues in the ROM hardware and refinement issues in the early hardware revision that I feel may outflank SCE's best efforts; we all know afterall that Blu-ray has ramped slower than expected on the hardware side.
But again, I'm just stating the fact that *if* one is to be concerned about any single component, Cell, XDR, RSX, those are all going to be a-ok... BD is the sole risk IMO. And that said, well, again I'll be there on launch day.
(on the side though, I think BD itself is going to receive a *massive* boost this winter in mindshare/penetration after initial launch stumbles)
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Oh, I didn't get what people were arguing about before. might be interesting in a year.Yeah, it'll be fine on that front, don't worry about it.
My Blu-ray 'concerns' - and I'm buying a launch unit myself by the way - stem mainly from the fact that it will be the first truly mass-produced BD playback device in an era when BD player development still hasn't been fully refined. It's bug issues in the ROM hardware and refinement issues in the early hardware revision that I feel may outflank SCE's best efforts; we all know afterall that Blu-ray has ramped slower than expected on the hardware side.
But again, I'm just stating the fact that *if* one is to be concerned about any single component, Cell, XDR, RSX, those are all going to be a-ok... BD is the sole risk IMO. And that said, well, again I'll be there on launch day.
(on the side though, I think BD itself is going to receive a *massive* boost this winter in mindshare/penetration after initial launch stumbles)
Megadrive1988
Veteran
ok to answer the title of your thread; well, it depends on what you concider
to be "full specs". the PS3 has gone through almost countless spec changes. If you are going by the specs given at E3 2005, then, still, the answer is no.
the CELL Processor in the final PS3 will have 1 PPE and 8 SPEs but only upto 7 of them will be working. hopefully there will be 7 working/active/functional SPEs, as announced at E3 2005.
as for the 3.2 GHz clockspeed of CELL and the 550 MHz clockspeed of RSX, it looks like those have been lowered significantly.
however, those spec changes should not impact your decision to get a PS3. that decision should be based on the games coming out this year, and early 2007, while the price is still 500/600 USD, and while the first batch of possibly unreilable PS3s are out in the field. (same thing with any console).
me, I will be waiting for the price to fall by 1/4 to 1/3, for a more refined PS3 model to come out with 65nm chips, any other issues ironed out, and for the games to that I'm interested to be released, which will not be for at least a year after launch.
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scooby_dooby
Legend
Yes, I would definately pick up a 2 year extended warrantee if buying a launch PS3 mainly because of the BR drive.
Unconfirmed chirping I assume?
Heh. Exactly.
The rumbles and whispers have been out there since pre-E3, but I haven't heard anybody step up and credibly say in public it's going to happen and here's the new specs (well, 2.8ghz for Cell and 500mhz for RSX have been rumored, but then so has "RSX is really G80! ZOMG!") It's getting late in the day tho. They're going to be going to production here pretty quick, and that will almost certainly nail these issues down credibly in public one way or the other once production boxes start moving off the line. It'd certainly not be in Sony's interest to leave any "bad news" on this front to be discovered on launch (tho it's probably not even possible for them to keep something like that under wraps until then anyway).I think with the disables SPE they can get enough yields at 3.2GHz. And the RSX might even clock higher than 550 since the current shipping G70s are so much faster than that, assuming it's a similar ship. With the delays I suspect, as many have speculated, that the chip will have at least some G80 tech.
That would be the conventional wisdom, but I am hearing there may be a chance of the opposite. But nothing is set in stone yet, so we will have to continue waiting for Sony confirmation.
Are we sure yields would be the driver for such a decision tho? Seems to me that they've been fighting power/heat vs formfactor issues as much as anything. Having said that, I hope they can stick to their specs guns --they don't need any more moaning over the price, and that would be two nanoseconds behind any announcement of spec downgrades.
If you're going to be an early adoptor, please do yourself a favor and get an extended warranty. We're talking about a lot of parts and a lot of new concepts being turned into a product. Don't put too much faith in CE devices.
I said the same about 360's (not on this board) but no one listened and I got ridicule for it
I said the same about 360's (not on this board) but no one listened and I got ridicule for it
I had thought that the CELL in PS3 has already been in production and IBM made a comment stating that yields were getting better than what they were previously. And there should be no reason for the RSX not have been in production for a while now. Sony is probably just waiting on the production of the BD drive and the finalizaion of it. The chips themselves are probably ready to go for at least a couple hundred thousand units. But what do I know? This is all speculation from information that is vague in my mind from previous months.
I suppose they may still be waiting on some XDR chips, that's always a possibility.
I suppose they may still be waiting on some XDR chips, that's always a possibility.
Blu Ray OPU's, HDMI 1.3 hardware and just trying to figure out how to piece it all together likely took a while and caused some delays.
I'm really curious how the audio will be handled. Whether the PS3 will decode the mandatory only specs and require a 1.3 receiver on the other end to decode the optional specs or what? lots of questions there!
I'm really curious how the audio will be handled. Whether the PS3 will decode the mandatory only specs and require a 1.3 receiver on the other end to decode the optional specs or what? lots of questions there!
Mefisutoferesu
Regular
I really don't think heat dissipation is going to be the controlling factor in the PS3's components...
A 7900 GTX running at 650/1.6 eats up roughly 84 Watts, while a 7900GT at 450/1.3 eats up just under 50 Watts, and a 7600GT at 560/1.4 eats up about 35 Watts.
Now, considering whatever Sony is using is probably tweaked and undervolted as much as possible and in a closed box I seriously doubt the RSX would eat more than 60Watts (I'm thinking under 50, personally).
By my estimates, you've got CELL running somewhere around 100 Watts, RSX at around 50 Watts, the BDRD at (totally guessing here) 30 Watts, the 2.5 HDD at around 10 Watts, and another 10-20 Watts for the various other devices (BT2, card reader, etc) all probably with at LEAST an 80% efficiency PSU, so we're talking about a what 240-250 AC draw, so an additional 40 Watts heat to cool... ... ... ... ... >.> <.< >.> on the other hand that's quite a bit ain't it? Well, this is based on PC standards and some large guessing on my part, numbers outside of RSX don't really consider undervolting and various or actual efficiencies...
Anyway, I can fit a similar thermal characteristic PC into an ARIA SFF (8x10x13) and have no troubles, though it is a tad warm (quiet though), and that's with the air flow path for the case being total junk. Meh, don't mind me... I'm just mumbling my thoughts out loud...
A 7900 GTX running at 650/1.6 eats up roughly 84 Watts, while a 7900GT at 450/1.3 eats up just under 50 Watts, and a 7600GT at 560/1.4 eats up about 35 Watts.
Now, considering whatever Sony is using is probably tweaked and undervolted as much as possible and in a closed box I seriously doubt the RSX would eat more than 60Watts (I'm thinking under 50, personally).
By my estimates, you've got CELL running somewhere around 100 Watts, RSX at around 50 Watts, the BDRD at (totally guessing here) 30 Watts, the 2.5 HDD at around 10 Watts, and another 10-20 Watts for the various other devices (BT2, card reader, etc) all probably with at LEAST an 80% efficiency PSU, so we're talking about a what 240-250 AC draw, so an additional 40 Watts heat to cool... ... ... ... ... >.> <.< >.> on the other hand that's quite a bit ain't it? Well, this is based on PC standards and some large guessing on my part, numbers outside of RSX don't really consider undervolting and various or actual efficiencies...
Anyway, I can fit a similar thermal characteristic PC into an ARIA SFF (8x10x13) and have no troubles, though it is a tad warm (quiet though), and that's with the air flow path for the case being total junk. Meh, don't mind me... I'm just mumbling my thoughts out loud...
inefficient
Veteran
I wonder if anyone will risk saying what the clocks are on the final dev hardware.
