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zenodaddy · Joined: 01 Jan 1970 Posts: 786 Location: Mesquite, Tx

Anyone heard about the Playstation 3 from Sony? This thing is going to be a monster! Woohoo.

Preliminary specs of the machine have it running at 1 teraflop, with an average of 6-10 Billion polygons a second, running at around 3-6ghz for the cpu speed (mhz, ghz has really nothing to do with the overal performance of a machine, trust me).

How are they going to do this since the best computer is nowhere near that complex? It is called a "Cell Processor".

Basically, they invented (with IBM and Toshiba at roughly 4 billion dollars I believe) a supercomputer on a chip. Somehow (don't know all the technical aspects of it yet, they are being quite mum at the moment), for each "platter", they can attach up too 4 chips (4-cpu's). So let's take your home computer as an example. If a cell processor would take the place of your Athlon or PIII-PIV chip slot, you would actually have 4 PIII-PIV's instead of 1 in the very same spot.

Anyway, here are the specs I have found for it, and these are not the "Official" specs, but these are the specs that have been released to the developers for the games which are already in developement.

"Playstation 3"

Main Processor: code-named “Cell” produced by IBM on 0.10-micron SOI process.
Clock Speed: 3 GHz
Floating-Point Performance: 196 GFLOPS
Operations per Second: 2 Trillion
3D Geometric Transformations: 2-10 Billion Polygons per Second
New processor design specifically for broadband communication generation.

System Memory: 512MB
System Memory Bandwidth: 24 GB/sec

Secondary Processor: Emotion Engine on 0.13-micron process (backward compatible with PS2)
Clock Speed: 300 MHz or 375 MHz (selectable)

GS3 (Graphics Synthesizer 3)
Clock Speed: 750 MHz
Embedded DRAM: 32MB
Screen Resolution: variable from 320x224 to 1920x1080
Fillrate: 24 Billion Pixels per Second

Sound: SPU3 + CPU
Number of Voices: 256 ADPCM channels + software

DVD-ROM
Built-in Broadband Ethernet Port
120GB Hard Disk Drive

Japanese Release Date: Q4 2004
US Release Date: Q3 2005

It also has been confirmed in the past 3 weeks that the Playstation 3 will in fact be backwards compatible with both the PS2 and the PS1.

A monster, and only 1 1/2 more years..
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Z

Every branch of knowledge if traced up to its source and final principles vanishes into mystery. - Authur Machen

NetGear · Joined: 01 Jan 1970 Posts: 7066 Location: TEXAS

Looks awesome! You might like this site, Z.

http://www.ps3insider.com/
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zenodaddy · Joined: 01 Jan 1970 Posts: 786 Location: Mesquite, Tx

Wow. I guess we are on the same page lol.

I have been to that site many a times, but never posted yet. I find some of the rantings on it quite funny though.

From what I understand we should see the first actual footage of the tech demo's next April or May, whenever the next Expo is.

But my question is how can Microsoft or Nintendo come even close to those specs without inventing their own chip?
_________________
Z

Every branch of knowledge if traced up to its source and final principles vanishes into mystery. - Authur Machen

NetGear · Joined: 01 Jan 1970 Posts: 7066 Location: TEXAS

Good question ~ Microsoft will have to do better than this:

http://www.piczonline.com/client/interprises/ps3_cell.tif

I think that "cell" technology is the wave of the future for a number of household/consumer related products. Notice that DTV matrix?
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mphare · Joined: 01 Jan 1970 Posts: 1323 Location: Texas

I noticed the Diskdrive. I wonder if it will also have TiVo functionality?

The X-Box is supposed to be replacing UltimateTV at some point in the future.
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NetGear · Joined: 01 Jan 1970 Posts: 7066 Location: TEXAS

That's what they're saying, MP -- a PVR-type function. Killer App.
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zenodaddy · Joined: 01 Jan 1970 Posts: 786 Location: Mesquite, Tx

Hey net, you aren't a moderater on that ps3 message board are you? Just curious..
_________________
Z

Every branch of knowledge if traced up to its source and final principles vanishes into mystery. - Authur Machen

NetGear · Joined: 01 Jan 1970 Posts: 7066 Location: TEXAS

Nope, not a mod there, Z.
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Gopher · Posted: Sun Oct 05, 2003 1:55 am Post subject:

Any hint of cost? Sounds like it's gonna have a killer price too.

Any suggestions for a game system now. My daughters birthday is next month and she's been hinting that's what she wants. Question

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mphare · Joined: 01 Jan 1970 Posts: 1323 Location: Texas

We have a PS2 and my daughter likes it. It has dropped considerably in price these days too.

X-Box was getting a lot of hype and maybe superior to the PS2, but Microsoft and hardware doesn't make me comfortable (ask me about my UltimateTV sometime.)

Game Qube, while less expensive is getting good reviews too. The games are different than for the PS2 and the X-Box.

I'd go with the PS2.
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joe · Posted: Thu Nov 16, 2006 3:57 pm Post subject:

I don't own any of these game systems as I purchase my games for a pc. Don't feel like buying games for two different systems.

Anyways, I think it is funny that the PS3 was just around the corner in 2003 and it's just now coming out.
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mphare · Joined: 01 Jan 1970 Posts: 1323 Location: Texas

No Kidding!

Man how time flies.
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Drew · Joined: 01 Jan 1970 Posts: 340

Just came from Target where there are a handfull of people who have pitched tents awaiting the store to open in the morning to get their hands on one of Eight systems in the store. Next door at Circuit City was the same thing. Circuit City only had Six of the 60gig units and none of the 20gig units. I have to laugh at someone who has enough time on their hands to camp out in front of a store to pay full retail for something like that. to make it worse, a good number of the units sold the first day will end up on eBay at upwards of $2000.00. That is even more pathetic. Why is it that these people can't wait a few months and simply walk into the store and pull one off the shelf and pay retail just like you can now with the Xbox 360 that was going for $1200.00 or more on ebay just a few short months ago.

nagash · Joined: 01 Jan 1970 Posts: 1285

Do not buy them off of ebay! Not only are you paying 3 - 4 times more than what it's worth, you're not even getting a package deal!

Their are two versions of the PS3 coming to market. There's a $399 and $599 package. The difference between the two is simple:

one doesn't have the DVD drive and only 256MB of memory.

I have to do some comparing to the Xbox 360 to put this in perspective. The 360 also came out in two versions. You got a much better deal if you bought the $399 version as it came with about $100 worth of equipment for free.
However, if you did buy just the base 360, you could, at your leisure, buy each and every item available for that system as time went on. This is because Microsoft, very smartly in my opinion, designed all of their equipment to be attached to the 360.
So, if you didn't buy the memory unit for it on day 1, you could come back later and purchase it as it attaches to the top of the system.

The PS3 does not have this option (nor does the Wii for that matter). The memory and HD drive are built in, so if you buy the cheap version, you will not be able to upgrade it later.

Also, PS3 will not work on anything less than an HDTV. It does have the best graphics and best technology, but as a result, you can only play it on an HDTV. If you want to spend the money on one just to play the PS3, that's up to you, but personally, I am not planning on spending an extra $800 on a television just to play a video game.

Also, as I'm sure you've all heard on the news, it has become apparent that that the initial version of the system will not be able to play some old games. No one, however, is saying which games you won't be able to play.

If you are planning on buying the PS3, pay the money and get the $599 version. Also allow extra for memory cards, controllers, and the games for the PS3 are said to be going for $70 - $90.
Personally, I think the PS3 is going to fail miserably within the next year or so, all thanks to the DVD player. We just don't know who's going to win that war. Sony is banking heavily on the fact that, if you have their new system, you don't need to go out and buy the DVD player. If the HD DVD format wins, though, then Sony's PS3 is nothing more than a video game system, which, sadly, is not enough to sell the system these days.
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nagash · Joined: 01 Jan 1970 Posts: 1285

Sorry for the double post. I didn't think of this until after I posted my thoughts on playing a Wii game yesterday.
Have any of you seen the PS3 set up in a store to play? I was at a Gamestop yesterday and they had a 360 and a Wii set up to use in the store.
The Wii doesn't officially come out until Saturday night. The PS3 comes out in 24 hours. I find it odd that no stores seem to have it on display.
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As I am, so shall ye be.