by bwana
SONY PLAYSTATION 3
Without a doubt,the most hit console in the gen of gaming console was the Sony's flagship ,the amazing Sony PS3. The previous versions of the Sony's gaming console namely the Ps1 and the PS2 were already a profit while Sony had to release something new as Microsoft planned to release its Xbox 360.The Sony gave an awesome reply to Microsoft.
And what a reply it was! Sony came out with what it regularly touted as a mini-supercomputer and its foray into the ‘convergence box’ – a central multimedia
and computing device to replace all others in a household. The PlayStation 3 was first
launched in Japan on November 11, 2006, and sold 81,639 systems within 24
hours, according to Media Crate and was a huge profit .
HARDWARE
Cell Processor
The awesome thing about the Sony and for which it was well know was its processor dubbed as "cell processor"The story goes that after launching the PS2, Sony executives wanted their next
console to have the capability of outperforming the ever-increasing hardware of
computers around it. The processor
was narrowed down as the one aspect
to concentrate on and make it
unbeatable.
The company then approached
IBM,then the world’s leading makers
and innovators of chips, to build
a processor that would be two
generations ahead of the PC
processors prevalent at the time.
IBM was glad to oblige, but
asked for a little help. In 2000,
an alliance called STI was formed
between IBM, Sony Computer
Entertainment and Toshiba, who
together worked on the design
of the Cell Broadband Engine
Architecture (CBEA), commonly known as the Cell microprocessor. The first chip
was tested in the STI Design Centre at Austin, Texas. And the first real application,
of course, was in the PlayStation 3.Getting into the technical aspects of the Cell Processor would entail a lesson
in microprocessor technology, with phrases like ‘Power Processor Element’ and
‘Synergistic Processing Elements’ being thrown about every couple of sentences.
In layman’s terms, the Cell Processor is an eight-core processor, which means
that it can compute eight different processes at the same time – a fantastic
achievement to improve the speed of computing. Each of these eight ‘cores’ is also
fitted with 256 KB of memory for local storage when processing an instruction.
The biggest problem for IBM with building such a chip was in figuring out how
to use each core to the fullest. The introduction of a ‘Resource Allocation’ algorithm
solved this problem by ensuring that the PS3 is smart enough to determine which
cores are being used at a time and allot new operations accordingly.
In the end, the 64-bit architecture, coupled with the 3.2 GHz core clock speed
and the 256x8KB of storage, translates to some awe-inspiring computational
speeds.
The Cell Processor, in theory, can be over-clocked to 4 GHz quite easily, but
since the PS3 runs at 3.2 GHz, that is the most commonly cited clock speed for it.
A worrying factor for such a high-powered processor is over-heating. In the
PS3, Sony managed to make room for a high-quality heat-sink that enables the Cell
Processor to run smoothly at temperatures as high as 85 degrees Celsius.
Now, with these kinds of speeds, the amount of reliance on other factors of
computing, such as the RAM or the graphics card, is substantially reduced. Not that
it stopped Sony from coming out with a jaw-dropping graphics chipset…
RSX Reality Synthesizer
Similarly like Sony for help went to the best chip making company IBM so it did for its powerful GPU , it went to the leaders of the graphics processing unit
(manufacturers for the PS3’s graphics card. Nvidia was glad to help out in building
the powerful GPU and best of that time what Sony dubbed it as‘Reality Synthesizer RSX’
graphics unit.
At that time, Nvidia was
busy preparing for its own
7000-series of graphics
card and had already come
out with the G70 base
architecture for its premium
model, the GeForce
7800GT. Sony liked what
it saw and went with
that – not a future-proof
graphics card, for sure, but
the company didn’t feel the need to do that because of the Cell Processor taking on a large amount of the
graphics processing responsibilities.
The GPU was made, running at a core clock of 550 MHz and utilising
256 MB of video memory. Nvidia and Sony often touted the power of the RSX
by saying it was more powerful than two GeForce 6800 Ultra graphics cards
combined.
The RSX can easily output resolutions of up to 1080p; but an important feature
is its upscaling ability. When someone puts in a regular DVD or VCD, the PS3 uses the
incoming video data to send to the RSX, which increases the image
quality when playing it back and thus make it more clear and better. For multimedia lovers and especially fans of old
movies, this was godsend!
With the 256 MB of memory here and the 256 MB of dedicated memory on
board the PS3, what only low is its ram otherwise it is still the best console out there.
Blu-Ray ROM
( This file is licensed under Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic by ITurtle at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:PS3_Blu-ray_Drive.jpg)The PlayStation 3 was also
to introduce Sony’s newformat for optical disks,
dubbed Blu-Ray. By now,
the war between Sony’s Blu-Ray and Toshiba’s HD-DVD
is long over with the former
emerging triumphant, but at
the time of the PS3’s launch,
it was a big deal indeed!
Sony was touting these
disks as the future of
multimedia, and gaming in
particular, with a single Blu-Ray disk being able to store over 30 GB of data.
The next-generation optical disk promised games at a more rapid pace and with
loads of extra content.
Why would a Blu-Ray ROM affect release dates of games? Well, a large portion
of developing a video game is in figuring out how to fit millions of lines of
programming into the tiny 4.5-9 GB DVDs that are currently available. If a disk
allowed programmers to not go through the shrinkage process, the ability to release
a game becomes that much faster.
Hard Disk
The PS3 comes with different-sized hard disks, ranging from 20 GB right up to 80
(licensed under GB. . This means that as long as you find a model that is compatible with the PS3,you could easily replace the
current hard disk with a
larger-capacity offering.
Now, be advised that
doing so might void your
warranty, and so you should
only be taking on the task
if you know what you are
doing. Refer to a few online
tutorials and videos before
you decide to go in for
bigger storage!
Connectivity
For connecting to a television, a monitor or
a projector, the user can use either an HDMI port or connect with the old television using a
component cable.
For the internet, a PS3 can be connected to a
standard Gigabit Ethernet cable via a port at its
back, or use its built-in WiFi chip to latch on to
a signal.
The PS3 also sports Bluetooth with the version 2.0 with the well known A2DP technology, which is used to connect to
the controllers or any other accessories wirelessly.
At any one time 7 users can play this console.
In case a user wants to transfer data from an
external hard disk or a USB drive, the two USB
ports at the front will come in handy. This provides
an easy way to back-up your saved games and other
data, although the need for it is greatly reduced by
the large hard disks.
Some versions of the PS3, such as the 60 GB
and the 80 GB units, also come with a 5-in-1
memory card reader. This supports most of Sony’s
proprietary formats and SD cards, but you will need an adapter to connect a microSD card...
..So after writing this hard article all i want is your precious replies. And also there will be a review on the upcoming console like PS4 and Xbox 720
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