What happens after Sony brings out its big guns? Nothing short of unreal. PS3 CPU: Cell Processor
- Cell Processor - PowerPC-base Core @ 3.2GHz - 1 VMX vector unit per core - 512KB L2 cache - 7 x SPE @ 3.2GHz - 7 x 128b 128 SIMD GPRs - 7 x 256KB SRAM for SPE - 1 of 8 SPEs reserved for redundancy - total floating point performance: 218 GFLOPS
PS3 GPU (Graphics Processing Unit):
- RSX @ 550MHz - 1.8 TFLOPS floating point performance - Full HD (up to 1080p) x 2 channels - Multi-way programmable parallel floating point shader pipelines
Bandwidth:
- Main RAM 25.6GB per second - VRAM 22.4GB per second - RSX 20GB per second (write) +15GB per second (read) - SB< 2.5GB per second (write) + 2.5GB per second (read)
PS3 Sound:
- Dolby 5.1ch, DTS, LPC. All is cell based processing allow for unique sounds.
PS3 Memory:
- 256MB XDR Main RAM @ 3.2GHz - 256MB GDDR3 VRAM @ 700MHz
Audio Video Output:
- Screen size: 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, and 1080p - HDMI: HDMI out x 2 - Analog: AV multi out - Digital audio: Digital Out (OPTICAL)
Disc Media (CD) Specs:
- PlayStation CD-ROM PlayStation 2 CD-ROM - CD-DA, CD-DA (ROM), CD-R, CD-RW - SACD, SACD Hybrid (CD layer), SACD HD - DualDisc, DualDisc (audio side), DualDisc (DVD side)
Disc Media (DVD) Specs:
- PlayStation 2 DVD-ROM - PlayStation 3 DVD-ROM - DVD-Video, DVD-ROM, DVD-R - DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW
Disc Media (Blu-ray) Specs:
- PlayStation 3 BD-ROM - BD-Video - BD-ROM - BD-R - BD-RE
Other Info of PS3
- Product name: PlayStation 3 - Nickname: PS3 - System Floating Point Performance: 2 TFLOPS - Storage: Detachable 2.5" HDD slot
I/O:
- USB Front x 4, Rear x 2 (USB2.0) - Memory Stick standard/Duo or PRO - SD standard and mini - CompactFlash (Type I, II)1
Communications:
- Ethernet (10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, 1000BASE-T) x 3 (input x 1 + output x 2) - Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11 b/g - Bluetooth 2.0 (EDR)
Controls:
- Bluetooth, allowing up to 7 players at once - USB 2.0, which is wired - Wi-Fi allowing connectivety between PS3 and PSP. - Network and networking over IP.
I'm biased towards the PS3 because of the games I want to play have been announced for it. I'm even more biased, because I just heard the much hyped Gears of War is actually coming for PC as well (but might not look as good - but how many hardcore gamers tell you graphics is key? Remember Doom 3). To me, it won't truly matter whether the PS3 has worse graphics or not, whether it has Killzone or not. We know the actual console wars are never actually between the consoles - but the games they have. I'm not going to resign that the Playstation 3 already has better games - I see that the Xbox 360 has a future - but probably not that same media device future that Sony is now trying to push (as seen with the PSP).
It appears to accept CDs, DVDs, and even BDs. In fact, the PS3 might actually cause BD to win support - we've seen how oddly well the UMD is doing right now - and it's highly likely BDs might follow just to see how well the format does when gamers + general public start buying PS3 (like the PSP). The Xbox 360 is not relevant in this argument because it lacks blue laser disc support. Looking from the number of USB ports on the PS3 - it's likely Sony doesn't want to follow the steps of Microsoft - and will likely allow USB keyboards and mice and maybe Bluetooth devices to be used as gaming devices. The most interesting part of the specifications that truly denote the fact that the PS3 is being aimed at a larger audience than just gamers (like the PSP) is that is has Memory Stick standard/Duo or PRO, SD standard and mini, CompactFlash (Type I, II) slots. This covers nearly every standard camera used formats, but ignores MMC, RS-MMC, xD and a few others.
Let's get back down to the true nature of the original Playstation - gaming. To be honest, I believe the Xbox 360 platform is a more attractive platform for developers. It's simple and sweet - 3 PowerPC cores, 48 unified pipelines, XNA, shared 512MB memory. There - very simple. The PS3? Confusing for me to understand at the very least, but if it is really more powerful, then whatever confusion will be offset but the sheer simplicity of strength - 1 + 7 SPEs, RSX (the truly simple part - since it's err... a normal GPU), 256MB XDR RAM, 256MB VRAM.
I have no idea how 1 + 7 vs. 3 will ever make a proper comparison until developers actually get the actual hardware and toy with it. Only the developers will know which one is more powerful for gaming purposes - and for the continuing ATi vs. nVidia debate - unified shaders aren't going to be on PCs yet - so ignore the GPUs for now - only thing that we do know is that our GPUs can achieve higher FLOPS per second that any general purpose processor ever known - and that the Cell SPEs are also capable of doing some shader balancing (*from some forums the name I have forgotten) by performing some shader operations also.
I don't want to argue out this debate any longer - so to games we go! :D
Devil May Cry 4 and Metal Gear Solid 4 are some titles that aren't going anywhere off my games list ever. Note: no multiplayer - probably. Simple things like Killzone 2 are trivial to me, at best. What I'm truly hoping for PS3 is not really anything really cool - but I want more stuff like those from Nippon Ichi software - Disgaea and La Pucelle. This are the types of games I will play to the end - another examples of such games would be those of the Final Fantasy series. Am I biased towards RPGs? As for third person shooters and slash and kill, there are many in that respect (they generally feel more like they have a storyline besides killing. Half-Life 2 took the cake for one of the few FPSs I finished and Doom 3 took the cake for the FPS I played the shortest. KoTOR was something I never quite took to liking - I didn't like the battle system, I didn't like the movement system - that makes.... pretty much most of the game. I knew it would appeal to most people (I think) but somehow, it didn't appeal to me. Comparing a game like that to the likes of Disgaea, I'd picked the one who is more attuned with evil and other bad deeds (Disgaea) as it's glued with more fun - whacking the Dark Assembly, shops which listen, and a budding young demon who wants to regain control over his father's empire.
The end - next topic: PS3 vs. Xbox 360 - when enough information comes to light - I still dislike the fact that people are comparing Xbox 360 to PS3 without enough information - and using 10MB eDRAM to back up a memory bandwidth claim.