Playstation 3 Specs Revealed

I love the specs of the new PS3 and XBOX 360, now lets just see how far we can take these peice of hardware with mods and other 3rd party add-ons.

On a side note I hate the look of the new PS3, it looks too industrial, not to mention the XBOX is the same color.

--SSX--

might as well attach a keyboard to it and call it your pc. i wonder if there will be a performance hit with the backward compatibility?

Stop publishing unrelated to broadband category news!

Why mod it? Whats the purpose? Why buy it if you got to mod it?
If the system is not to a player's liking, then get a souped up PC you can mod till it flies to the moon.

then skip to the next news article .. some of us like it ..

But Cell processor speeds they list, its like comparing a celeron vs a p4 at same speeds.

Lots of stuff other than just what they mention that effects real performance.

Looks like a glorified media player other than a console

Look at one of the 8 threads in the console forums and see that it will be available in silver, white, and black. the MS console will only be white with a detachable faceplate.

I like the design for the PS3 for the most part, I hate the design of the Xbox 360.

sounds nice....9 cores.....the assembly of 9.....lol..i should be getting a front projector in xga around end of the year...i hope ps3 comes out then and not later.:)

and everything in 1080p

Easy. Broadband adapter.

Everyone has their own opinion. Mine is Nintendo Rev design > PS3 design > Dell Optiplex GX150 Xbox 360 design. But all these designs can and probably will change before they are actually released.

^That is what Microsoft and Sony are shooting for.^

I saw the Revolution today, and was very impressed with the design. It is very small, and much smaller compared to those huge other things(360 at least, how big is the PS3?), it it looks incredible.

Why does the new Sony Playstation look like a Bose Lifestyle DVD player?

its already been reported that YES both the PS3 and XBOX 360 will be backward compatable with all older games

XBOX 360 - XBOX
PS3 - PS2 & PS games

the downside to the XBOX 360 is all the games have a MINIMUM of 720p resolution so i dont know WTF they are thinking, you cant play 720P on a regular TV you cant even play that on may LCD pc monitors. luckily my Dell 2005FPW does support 720p

Microsoft just f@#$%ed themselves by doing that. 98% of the buyers of that console will only have a regular tv.

Actually Microsoft "hasn't decided" yet it Xbox 360 would be backward compatible. Something that could really bite them if they decide it won't be. Did you see them confirm it would be?

Both the PS3 and Xbox 360 will play perfectly fine on standard def tvs. The Xbox 360 does not have a minimum resolution of 720p. It will support 480i, 480p, 720p, and 1080i, just like the current console does, it's just that MS wants all game developers to make sure every games is capable of HD resolutions instead of only a small amount like they are now.

You hit the nail on the head. I've been trying to decide what the PS3 reminds me of, and that's it!

What does everyone think of the Spiderman font on the Playstation label as well? I'm not sure why they wanted that look on there. I liked the PS2 style better on the label. (I know...minor details, but as long as we are commenting on the design choices!)

The Cell processor will not act as a good PC. For over all gaming and PC usage, an AMD 64 will proabbly be better...
Cell is a different type of processor...
Here are some quick notes from a presentation I gave...

Joint venture between IBM, Sony Group and Toshiba Corporation
Design and development started in 2001
Target is the PlayStation 3 gaming and home entertainment console
Variable configurations allow for different designs for targeted markets
Able to support multiple, concurrent operating systems
4GHz attainable at 1.2 volts with an approximated 80W
Current production 90nm SOI; 65nm in one year (smaller, cooler)
234 million transistor on a 221mm die; AMD Athlon 64 Clawhammer 105.9 million transistors on a 193mm2 die
Able to decode 48 simultaneous MPEG-2 video streams
Highly parallel processing capabilities; Applications in cryptography, graphics, physics, FFTs, matrix mathematics, vector processing
Theoretical max of 256 gigaFLOPS (floating point operations per second) 500th fastest supercomputer currently runs at 850.6 gigaFLOPS(1)
Four Cell processor on a single PCI card would rival some of the top supercomputers today in FLOPS

PowerPC Processing Element
64-bit, simultaneous multithreading (SMT) PowerPC core
64K total L1 cache; 32K instruction and 32K data
512K L2 cache
Dual Issue Core; Two instructions per clock provides for a simpler and smaller processor, reducing transistor count. (AMD 64 processor is a three issue core, Itantium is an eight)
Based on the PowerPC, provides an industry known development target
Acts as the system controller, distributing workload, hosting OS and handling I/O
This is a cripled Power PC

Synergetic Processing Element
2^3 (or 8) SPEs per Cell microprocessor; a power of eight for aesthetic(1) reasons only
Up to 16 way implementations per Cell microprocessor
128, 128-bit registers
256K Bytes local memory, not cache. Reduced processor complexity in limiting caching strategies. PPE has full access to each SPE memory block
Memory accessed at 25.6 GB/sec; Completely predictable access times
Max 32 gigaFLOPS single-precision; not a fully compliant IEEE 754; increased simplicity and speed
Max 3.2 gigaFLOPS double-precision; fully IEEE 754 compliant
Actual performance most likely closer to about 80% to 85% of theoretical maximum
Primary number crunching devices; The system workhorse

The SPEs are very good at number crunching, physics calculations, floating point, vector processing, and other graphic implementations but as a desktop, this current processor probably would not suffice.

If you would like to see the full power point presentation, I have a hacked HTML version avail here »friendsglobal.com/cell.htm
Thanks

There's a Forbes article out today about it. Most sites like TeamXbox and GameSpot have links to it. MS has announce backwards compatability with top-selling games. I guess that means they'll support games like Halo and KOTOR while leaving games like Bruce Lee out in the cold.

The Cell processor is supposed to be specifically geared for gaming, which means it will have an advantage in that comparison. Look the current PS2 processor. It's something like 233Mhz, but it's built for multimedia. The X-Box uses at 700+ Intel processor made for general computing. When you put the two together the PS2 still compares closely to the X-Box in graphics and performance. Most of the X-Boxes advantages only come from the shading and lighting effects that come from the nVidia graphics core and not the CPU.

Why? Look at those specs. They are amazing. Even high end desktops and workstations can't post HALF those specs.

Just as a desktop computer this thing would be awesome. Both this and the Xbox are posting numbers that desktops now cannot even come close to. I would like to have one of these modded from being a gaming console and use it as a linux desktop or server... it would kick ass.

That's why.

I've heard the same as you - Microsoft is undecided.

Personally, since I own neither an X-Box or PS2, backwards compatibility is a major issue. I like the idea of buying a PS, PS2 and PS3 with one purchase. Think of all the dirt cheap games I can get then.

»media.ps3.ign.com/articl ··· s_1.html
Now that thing is UGLY. I want to keep my PS2 controller.
Hopefully, there will be a way to use it with new unit.
Now all I need is Linux on it and nice TV/Sound system.

So how do they decide which games will be compatible? Sounds strange if you ask me. Sony is making the smarter move by making ALL of their PS and PS2 games compatible.

no it has been decided they are backwards compatible and a MINIMUM res of 720p
read the article gentlemen
here is the webcast of the show
»www.xbox.com/media/games ··· 1-Hi.asx

Here are the Highlights of the event:
* No exact launch date and price yet, but it will be launched this year (holiday season 2005) and simultaneously in US, Europe, and Asia.
* Between 25 and 40 games for the system launch (within first ~90 days) and +160 in development.
* The Xbox 360 will be backward-compatible with top-selling Xbox games. Forbes.com kinda broke that story already - see previous news item. It's unknown yet which Xbox games will or will not be compatible.
* Square Enix, a longtime partner with Microsoft rivals Nintendo and Sony, will be bringing Final Fantasy XI to the Xbox 360 and Xbox Live. (another story broken by forbes a few hours ago).
* More Xbox 360 games from Square-Enix are expected in the future! They showed footage of what seemed to be an unnamed Xbox 360 game.
* Xbox 360 users will be able to play Square-Enix Live-enabled games against PC players.
* Electronic Arts will have the largest commitment of games at launch in console history. At least 6 will be out this year: Need For Speed: Most Wanted, The Godfather, Fifa 2006, NBA Live 2006, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06 and Madden NFL 2006. They have +25 games in development for Xbox 360, with more to come.
* Exclusive titles for the Xbox 360 currently include the likes of Dead or Alive 4, Call of Duty 2, Gears of War, Perfect Dark Zero, Kameo: Elements of Power, Project Gotham Racing 3, and Lost Odyssey.
* Every game will have a minimum of 720p resolution (some will have 1080i), 16:9 aspect ratio and 5.1 surround sound.
* Microsoft will have 2 million Xbox Live Subscribers by the end of this fiscal (June).
* Xbox Live memberships will transfer seamlessly from Xbox to Xbox 360 when the new system launches.
* The free Xbox Live 'Silver' level will include Xbox Live Marketplace to download demos and trailers along with new game levels, maps, weapons, vehicles, skins, classic arcade games, card and board games, community-created content, and more to the detachable Xbox 360 hard drive. Players can also voice chat with friends as well as send and receive text and voice messages.
* The paid Xbox Live 'Gold' subscription will add online multiplayer gaming, online tournaments, Spectator Mode (example: watch a PGR3 race) and exclusive, original programming.
* P. Moore proposed a PGR3 tournament where thousands of gamers could pay $10 to compete in a race tournament for the chance to win $million.
* All Xbox360 owners will get 1 month of Xbox Live 'Gold' for free.
* Microsoft expects to connect half of all Xbox 360 consoles to Xbox Live.
* Xbox Live Arcade (with 'old school' games for casual gamers) will still be there (free?).
* iPod and PSP integration! Unknown yet what exactly you will be able to do.
* Xbox 360 is "digital entertainment amplifier" for other devices. You will be able to connect many digicams and music players to transfer/stream your pictures and music to your Xbox360. The console will also interact with Windows Media Center-equipped PCs. (Stream HD music/video, ...)
* J. Allard: "Xbox 360 is also the product that's going to push gaming back into the mainstream"
* Microsoft premiered footage for the anticipated 3D fighter Dead or Alive 4 (Xbox 360 exclusive), it 'wowed' the audiences with crisp, clean visuals running at 60 frames per second. Read More
* They talked about and showed several Xbox360 games, xbox.com has a short overview of each game and TeamXbox.com has High-Res trailers of some games.
* The original Xbox will get 200 new titles this year, with hundreds more in 2006 and later.

Read More on: Engadget.com, TeamXbox.com(1), TeamXbox.com(2), TeamXbox.com(3), IGN.com(1), IGN.com(2), GameSpot.com and xbox.com.
Discuss the Xbox 360 E3 event on forums.xbox-scene.com!

Keep in mind it's a multimedia processor and won't do the same data crunching as a PC processor. Sure games, video and music will run great but it will be lacking in most other applications like office productivity (Word, Excel), software compiling, and maybe even web browsing. Compare the Cell to an Intel or AMD processor on those grounds and I bet the Cell gets its butt kicked from processors half its speed.

I could be wrong, but until someone hacks/mods one and runs benchmarks you never know.

I believe what they mean there is that the game designers will include at least 720p or better for those that can take advantage of it. I think that it will still include others to make it playable on a standard TV set.

im pretty sure thats what they meant also but they should reword it.

as in something like it will have a minimum hires definition of 720p

im watching the webcast right now

btw at 11:55 sec is when they announce its backward compatable.

Wish they would start talking price for these new consoles. My guess is at least $400, if not more.

Good, I hope that's accurate. First announcement I've seen of that. Litte concerned about the wording though. Only top selling titles are backwards compatible?