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Sony's Slim PS3 got new Cell processor

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Sony's Slim PS3 got new Cell processor
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By The Inquirer
Aug 21, 2009 | 21 Comments
Tags: Sony's | Slim | PS3 | new | Cell | processor | CPU

Shrunken process, same performance.

When Sony's Slim PS3 hits the shops next month it will come with the latest Cell chip.

The new, smaller gaming console will carry an upgraded version of the Cell microprocessor jointly developed by IBM, Sony and Toshiba.

According to Big Blue, it is fabbed using a 45nm manufacturing process. It will still use IBM's Power CPU architecture but will draw less power than earlier chips.

The earlier PS3 console carried a Cell processor manufactured using the 65nm process. Sadly IBM tells us that speed wise it will all be the same, but our power bills will be smaller.

The smaller chips cost less to produce, which contributed to Sony's decision to cut the console's price to $299. A Sony executive said the advanced manufacturing process was a factor in driving the console's price down.

Earlier consoles carried the RSX GPU developed jointly by Nvidia and Sony. The graphics core in the PS3 Slim has to be compatible with the RSX GPUs so existing games for the PS3 can run on the new console.

More details on the PS3 Slim are available here.

 

 

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21 Comments
Thoughts on this article? Add a comment below.
n00bz0r
Aug 21, 2009 10:58 AM
 $299 is the US price right? It would be awesome if that was the Aussie price but i don't see how sony would drop the base price from about 700 to about 300 in one day.... :) i can dream though....
TheFrunj
Aug 21, 2009 11:04 AM
 Ah, yes, it is US$299. Not sure how much it's supposed to be here exactly, but I've heard AU$499 being thrown around a bit.

-JR
n00bz0r
Aug 21, 2009 11:23 AM
 AU$499 is still a nice drop from $699. I may yet be getting a PSTriple :D Funny thing is i had my mother' of all people' trying to convince me yesterday that was going to cost only $299, and she read that in Mx amateur paper in Sydney. I wish there wasn't minor typos in editing in papers. But that's life.
ColonelSanders
Aug 21, 2009 11:44 AM
 JB is selling about $494
TheFrunj
Aug 21, 2009 11:49 AM
 n00bz0r, I'm not 100% sure but my best guess for Mx is that most of the content is licensed from other publications (much like our Inquirer feed), meaning that errors can slip through. It must be tricky to make a newspaper almost daily, funded only by a few ads!
omega
Aug 21, 2009 12:18 PM
 Ive seen it costed between $479-$499 depending on retailer.
phatbeat
Aug 21, 2009 1:05 PM
 I saw yesterday at EB they are taking pre-orders at $499
qwakqwak
Aug 21, 2009 1:47 PM
 on current exchange rate it should be $360-$370

shows how much more we get charged for tech in AUS
Doull
Aug 21, 2009 1:54 PM
 Am I missing something here? If it is going to retail in the US for $299 then why are companies here quoting $499AUD? As the current exchange rate makes the cost around $363AUD. $399 seems like a better price to me. Is there some region guff that makes the PS3 here worth $499?
nesquick
Aug 21, 2009 2:16 PM
 Because we are Australia and always bend over for the huge companies to do you know what to our behinds and most people have no choice but to support these companies that make us pay excessive amounts on the grounds of "transfer rates"
TheFrunj
Aug 21, 2009 2:20 PM
 Doull, it's endearingly described by nerds as the "Australia Tax" - the arbitrary extra amount we pay for all tech here ._.
ColonelSanders
Aug 21, 2009 4:46 PM
 Wonder how many people will buy it from the US and have it shipped here?
nesquick
Aug 21, 2009 5:54 PM
 but then all your games will have to come from the US cause of the region stuff.
gummybear
Aug 21, 2009 6:48 PM
 ps3 games are region free, but if you are going to use it for dvd/blu-ray then that stuff is not region free!!

the new ps3 slim also costs $299 EURO, convert THAT to AUD and see how it is.

Also, i would assume gaming market in america is much bigger.
AIMBOT
Aug 21, 2009 9:23 PM
 So none of you have ever heard of 'economy of scale' yeah? Because not only do you have to factor in exchange rate ($358.93AUD at the time of publish) but the fact that they will sell far less units in the Australian market, thus raising the cost per unit.

If you really want to get into it, they also have to generate enough net profit to cover the costs of supporting units sold in foreign markets, advertising, and partnerships and so on. $499 actually starts to seem like a much better deal.
nesquick
Aug 21, 2009 9:41 PM
 Maybe but Xbox and Wii are a more atractive option to people buying a console since they are cheaper and wii especially has some pretty cool games.
Elfarch
Aug 21, 2009 10:57 PM
 I think I might get 1.....in about a year to see if any problems crop up. :{)
fliptopia
Aug 21, 2009 11:58 PM
 AIMBOT: as far as economy of scale goes... well these are all being built in the same place with a slight adjustment for region. They cost the same to produce either way. There is the shipping but it's a single product to a global market. Sony like to tell you they are covering their arses in case the aussie dollar has a huge drop but it's just unnecessary and bastardry.
sicarius123
Aug 23, 2009 9:56 PM
 It's unfortunate that the PS3 slim looks like a crappy childrens toy. Glad I have the full size.
The_Psychonaut
Aug 24, 2009 10:04 AM
 fliptopia: The majority of the hardware costs the same, but the 'slight adjustment for region' is un-intuitively expensive because of the way volume pricing works.

PS3s produced for the Australian market require different manuals, power supplies, region settings and packaging. I wouldn't be surprised if this raised the production costs of these machines by as much as 5% compared to US machines.

And as AIMBOT points out, advertising and support costs also play a part.

I agree the Aussie tech tax exists, but it's not as high as most people make it out to be.
fliptopia
Aug 24, 2009 1:05 PM
 Power supply is the same. I believe the manual is the same too, with different instructions for different regions all in the one booklet, but I'm not 100% on that one. There is a little bit of different print on the packaging and some advertising... but none of it adds up. Sony dont even try to claim this. They have said in the past that they allow for fluctuations in economies and what not.
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