PlayStation 3 May Face Downgrades ,Sony May Lower Specs of PlayStation 3

[blackleopard92]

Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., the maker of PlayStation game consoles, may lower the performance of its PlayStation 3 compared to planned levels in order to ensure that the company can meet volume goals. The speed decreases may lower quality of games for the forthcoming game machines.
According to a source familiar with Sony PlayStation 3?s progress cited by Kotaku web-site, Sony may lower clock-speed of the Cell processor in the console to 2.80GHz (down from 3.50GHz expected initially) and may end-up using external 400W power supply, which is an indicator that there is not enough space inside the console for the pretty hot component. The processor clock-speed downgrade is conditioned by low-yields of the chips at higher clock-speeds.
?The current designs despite having vents all over the place apparently still can?t dissipate the heat to sufficient levels,? the anonymous source claimed.
The source, who was referred to as ?Phantom Insider? indicated that there are no problems with Nvidia RSX graphics processor, it is finished and ?has been finished for quite a few months now?.
Earlier it was reported that game developers used high-performance Pcs to showcase what the PlayStation 3 game consoles would be able to deliver to gamers. The game developers who did not run their demos on the pre-release Sony PlayStation 3 hardware, used high-performance personal computers, such as those featuring high-speed Nvidia GeForce 7900 graphics cards in SLI mode or even ATI?s Radeon X1900 in CrossFire mode.
It is typical for game console developers to tailor specifications of their machines till nearly the actual release. However, game developers are still worried about the fact that they still do not know any actual specifications of the PlayStation 3.
Sony PlayStation 3 console is based on the Cell processor developed by IBM, Sony and Toshiba, the RSX graphics chip by Nvidia Corp. and will be equipped with Blu-ray optical disk drive. According to Merrill Lynch research company, the most expensive component of the PlayStation 3 will be its Blu-ray disk drive, which will initially cost $350. The second most expensive part of the gaming machine will be the Cell processor which will cost Sony ?at least? $230 per unit to make. Nvidia?s RSX graphics processor will cost $70, while for 256MB of XDR memory as well as 256MB of GDDR3 memory Sony will have to pay $50, believes Merrily Lynch. In total, the price may reach $900 just to manufacture one PlayStation 3 console. The PS3 game consoles will cost $499 or $599 depending on the system configuration.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/multimedia/display/20060612160823.html

 

[duffarama]

This makes me a whole lot happier that I bought the XBox 360 which I now proudly own.

 

[blackleopard92]

This makes me a whole lot happier that I bought the XBox 360 which I now proudly own.

"proudly" is an understatement.

 

[duffarama]

"proudly" is an understatement.

Would it make you happier if I said "very proud?"

 

[sachin]

Well Sony has ruled any downgrades out and Described the claims as 'ridiculous(or something like that)'.

 

[jdbais]

This makes me a whole lot happier that I bought the XBox 360 which I now proudly own.

How's that working out for you? Have you had any problems with it so far?

 

[duffarama]

How's that working out for you? Have you had any problems with it so far?

I would advise you to take a look at the XBox 360 chat thread for that answer. And yes, it is chugging along nicely.

 

[IloveGilly]

Wow, you have to admit. Sony have really screwed up this time round. IMO, its quite hard to upgrade from the Ps2 and even stay in touch with Xbox 360 and Wii.

But I'm going to get a Wii Sony really haven't impressed me this time round. $350 for a Wii seems like a great deal and probably will be half the price of the Ps3 (AUD $).

 

[Ritwik]

This makes me a whole lot happier that I bought the XBox 360 which I now proudly own.

Well I think you are in a minority if your Xbox performance is as advertised. PC Magazine have listed a lot of complaints about the performance of the system, and there are not a lot of great games for it either! Compare that with sony, who at last count hold exclusive licenses to more than 100 developers.

And anyway, sony have apparently dismissed the allegations levelled by the "source". Sounds like tripe fed to the media by MS or nintendo.

 

[blackleopard92]

Well I think you are in a minority if your Xbox performance is as advertised. PC Magazine have listed a lot of complaints about the performance of the system, and there are not a lot of great games for it either! Compare that with sony, who at last count hold exclusive licenses to more than 100 developers.

And anyway, sony have apparently dismissed the allegations levelled by the "source". Sounds like tripe fed to the media by MS or nintendo.

all the more reason for Duff to be happy

 

[duffarama]

Well I think you are in a minority if your Xbox performance is as advertised. PC Magazine have listed a lot of complaints about the performance of the system, and there are not a lot of great games for it either! Compare that with sony, who at last count hold exclusive licenses to more than 100 developers.

And anyway, sony have apparently dismissed the allegations levelled by the "source". Sounds like tripe fed to the media by MS or nintendo.

Well Perfect Dark Zero which is exclusive to the XBox 360 was one of the reasons why I bought the console. Absolutely stunning game.
I've had no problems which is good, yes. However, I would say its a 'majority' that havn't had problems rather than a 'minority.' I've been looking at all the polls on GameSpot regarding people that own the XBox 360 and less than 1% have had problems.

 

[Skater]

I have an Xbox 360 too, and I love it. I have 2006 FIFA World Cup, Road to FIFA World Cup and Top Spin 2. Great games.

 

[IloveGilly]

Road to World Cup is quite disappointing IMO but the rest are pretty good games.

This will probably face some more delays. Hopefully Nintendo don't do this.

 

[Ritwik]

I have an Xbox 360 too, and I love it. I have 2006 FIFA World Cup, Road to FIFA World Cup and Top Spin 2. Great games.

How many "great" games are there for the Xbox 360 anyway ? Not many. And the ones that are in the pipeline are several months away.

And MS has been inundated with complaints about its reliability. There are reports of problems even after many months of release.

This is not to blindly defend Sony, what they're doing with the PS3 is seemingly quite stupid, however the Xbox 360 is not a very great console either.

 

[IloveGilly]

I don't see much wrong with the Xbox 360 at all. No one was expecting much of it at all but it's selling pretty well around the world.

Why is it always people comparing the 360 to Ps3? Surely the Wii will come on top of both consoles.