Sony Details PSP Chip Specs. 664 million pixels, 35 millio..

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http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,1639233,00.asp?kc=ETRSS02129TX1K0000532
_______________________________________________________________________________
Sony Details PSP Chip Specs

By Mark Hachman
Discuss this now (1 posts)
STANFORD, CALIF. -- Sony Electronics cracked open the chip powering
the forthcoming PlayStation Portable game player in a presentation
here Tuesday, providing substantive details of the chip's design.


The chipset's designer did not comment, however, on the reasons for
the PSP's delay. Sony has already said that the PSP will not ship in
the U.S. until early 2005, and reports have surfaced that software
makers don't believe the handheld will be released here until June
2005. Sony will ship the PSP in Japan later this year.

Not only will the PSP signal a new round in the console wars by
challenging the established Nintendo Game Boy and new Nintendo DS, but
the player will also begin the introduction of 3D-dedicated game into
the handheld space.


The PSP will be based around four key blocks: the main CPU core, the
media engine, the dedicated graphics processor, and the "Virtual
Mobile engine," a reconfigurable assistant chip that will also be used
in Sony's Walkman portable music player to conserve battery life. At
press time, it wasn't clear whether each block would be integrated or
broken out into a separate chip.

Some of the basic capabilities of the PSP player have already been
disclosed. The game player will include a 4.3-inch widescreen TFT LCD,
will contain a lithium-ion battery, and process AAC and MP3 music and
AVC/@MP for pictures and movies. Games and other content will be
stored on a 1.8-Gbyte UMD optical disc. The PSP is said to measure
70mm x 74mm x 23mm, and weigh 260 grams.


In a presentation at the Hot Chips conference here Tuesday, designer
Masanobu Okabe described further details of the PSP chipset, which the
company concealed with the non-specific title: "A 90-nm embedded DRAM
single-chip LSI with a 3D graphics H.264 codec engine and a
reconfigurable processor".


Sony Computer Entertainment executives said in May that the PSP would
be powered by a MIPS R4000 embedded CPU. Okabe said Tuesday that the
CPU will run at speeds up to 333-MHz, with a bus that can run at
speeds up to 166-MHz, depending upon the application load. In low-load
situations, Okabe said, the chip will power down unused blocks. The
entire chip will total 6 million gates and an undisclosed amount of
transistors. Sony will fabricate the chip in a 7-layer,
copper-enhanced 90-nanometer process.


To save power, the chip core's voltage will range between 0.8 and 1.2
volts. Okabe declined to disclose the average power consumption of the
chip or the 3D engine, claiming that the power will vary depending on
the application.

The host CPU block will also contain a security sub-block designed to
protect data and help prevent hacking the PSP, its games, or the
stored data.

Okabe's presentation of the I/O also contained some unexpected
surprises. Early disclosures of the PSP indicated that the player
would be capable of communicating via 802.11b WiFi. The only I/O
functions Okabe described were USB 2.0 and Memory Stick, Sony's
small-form-factor flash memory format.


The PSP's graphics engine will feature a 512-bit interface, Okabe
said, pushing 664 million pixels or 35 million polygons per second.
Freed from the need to conform to any other graphics API besides its
own, Sony decided to support some basic graphics primitives as well as
directional lighting, clipping, environment projection and texture
mapping, fogging, alpha blending, depth and stencil tests, and
dithering, all using either 16- or 32-bit color. The 166-MHz graphics
core will include 2-Mbytes of embedded graphics memory.


Sony apparently will support a graphics model based on surfaces,
rather than polygons. Okabe displayed an illustration of a cartoon
character that looked more realistic than a polygon-based model, which
he said contained the same amount of data. The graphics block will
also be capable of vertex blending, a morphing technology that can
interpolate changes made between objects.


"Small data size is advantageous to mobile data software," Okabe said.

Unfortunately, the purpose of the VME still remains a bit of a
mystery. The reconfigurable logic will run at 166-MHz, and apparently
reconfigure its internal 24-bit datapath in a single clock cycle, into
configurations suited for H.264, a video algorithm based on MPEG-4, as
well as game sounds and sound effects. Since the VME must be
reconfigured for each operation, attendees here said they assumed that
the PSP will not be able to combine video with external sound effects.
However, Okabe said that the decoder would be the fastest found in any
consumer-electronics device at the time of the PSP's launch.
_______________________________________________________________________________
 
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Tech specs from Sony, something that even Sega was more honest with.

--

"I am deeply troubled by my own increasing certainty that I have in fact
presided over 60,000 deaths. There is no longer serious doubt in my mind
that human life exists from the very onset of pregnancy"
--Dr. Bernard Nathanson, "Deeper Into Abortion" New England Journal of
Medicine Nov 1974
 
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On 8/25/04 12:58 PM, in article Xq4Xc.6301$0J6.1299@fe1.columbus.rr.com,
"Grand Inquisitor" <zork@columbus.rr.com> wrote:

> Tech specs from Sony, something that even Sega was more honest with.

Unlike their longevity, huh.
 
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"Rick Berry" <rberry883@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:BD533ACB.10B5%rberry883@comcast.net...
>
>
>
> On 8/25/04 12:58 PM, in article Xq4Xc.6301$0J6.1299@fe1.columbus.rr.com,
> "Grand Inquisitor" <zork@columbus.rr.com> wrote:
>
>> Tech specs from Sony, something that even Sega was more honest with.
>
> Unlike their longevity, huh.
>

Yes, their longevity was very long indeed. Matter of fact Sega is still
going strong in the 3rd Party market.


--
:.:>:::>>>**
>>> This Universe is MINE!
:.;>:::>>>>>>***
:::Webmaster @ Boston Freelancer server [http://www.earendilsplace.net]
>>::***
 
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"Omega X" <.SPAM.lh_bennett@isp.com> wrote in message
news:cgm6o9$5fv$1@news.chatlink.com...
>
>
> "Rick Berry" <rberry883@comcast.net> wrote in message
> news:BD533ACB.10B5%rberry883@comcast.net...
> >
> >
> >
> > On 8/25/04 12:58 PM, in article Xq4Xc.6301$0J6.1299@fe1.columbus.rr.com,
> > "Grand Inquisitor" <zork@columbus.rr.com> wrote:
> >
> >> Tech specs from Sony, something that even Sega was more honest with.
> >
> > Unlike their longevity, huh.
> >
>
> Yes, their longevity was very long indeed. Matter of fact Sega is still
> going strong in the 3rd Party market.


Unfortunately we aren't talking about 3rd Party.
>
>
> --
> :.:>:::>>>**
> >>> This Universe is MINE!
> :.;>:::>>>>>>***
> :::Webmaster @ Boston Freelancer server [http://www.earendilsplace.net]
> >>::***
>
>
 
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"Omega X" <.SPAM.lh_bennett@isp.com> wrote in message news:<cgm6o9$5fv$1@news.chatlink.com>...
> "Rick Berry" <rberry883@comcast.net> wrote in message
> news:BD533ACB.10B5%rberry883@comcast.net...
> >
> >
> >
> > On 8/25/04 12:58 PM, in article Xq4Xc.6301$0J6.1299@fe1.columbus.rr.com,
> > "Grand Inquisitor" <zork@columbus.rr.com> wrote:
> >
> >> Tech specs from Sony, something that even Sega was more honest with.
> >
> > Unlike their longevity, huh.
> >
>
> Yes, their longevity was very long indeed. Matter of fact Sega is still
> going strong in the 3rd Party market.

Oops, Rick got his wee-wee spanked.
 
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And Sega knew how to make a better console as well, shame Sony had to dirty
the industry with its pathetic PS1 and the overrated PS2.

"Mattinglyfan" <Estoscacahuates@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:2amdnUSKBvd8sbLcRVn-tQ@comcast.com...
>
> "Omega X" <.SPAM.lh_bennett@isp.com> wrote in message
> news:cgm6o9$5fv$1@news.chatlink.com...
> >
> >
> > "Rick Berry" <rberry883@comcast.net> wrote in message
> > news:BD533ACB.10B5%rberry883@comcast.net...
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > On 8/25/04 12:58 PM, in article
Xq4Xc.6301$0J6.1299@fe1.columbus.rr.com,
> > > "Grand Inquisitor" <zork@columbus.rr.com> wrote:
> > >
> > >> Tech specs from Sony, something that even Sega was more honest with.
> > >
> > > Unlike their longevity, huh.
> > >
> >
> > Yes, their longevity was very long indeed. Matter of fact Sega is still
> > going strong in the 3rd Party market.
>
>
> Unfortunately we aren't talking about 3rd Party.
> >
> >
> > --
> > :.:>:::>>>**
> > >>> This Universe is MINE!
> > :.;>:::>>>>>>***
> > :::Webmaster @ Boston Freelancer server [http://www.earendilsplace.net]
> > >>::***
> >
> >
>
>
 
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"Ice Wipe Inc." <birdworm12@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:qBYXc.10882$D7.885@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
> And Sega knew how to make a better console as well, shame Sony had to
dirty
> the industry with its pathetic PS1 and the overrated PS2.
>

Give it up. Dirty the industry or create an enviorment where Nintendo had
to step up their game and Microsoft made the best console to date? Survival
of the fittest, not the weakest. The meek inherit the earth in the Bible
but in the video game industry, they just go away.
> "Mattinglyfan" <Estoscacahuates@comcast.net> wrote in message
> news:2amdnUSKBvd8sbLcRVn-tQ@comcast.com...
> >
> > "Omega X" <.SPAM.lh_bennett@isp.com> wrote in message
> > news:cgm6o9$5fv$1@news.chatlink.com...
> > >
> > >
> > > "Rick Berry" <rberry883@comcast.net> wrote in message
> > > news:BD533ACB.10B5%rberry883@comcast.net...
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > On 8/25/04 12:58 PM, in article
> Xq4Xc.6301$0J6.1299@fe1.columbus.rr.com,
> > > > "Grand Inquisitor" <zork@columbus.rr.com> wrote:
> > > >
> > > >> Tech specs from Sony, something that even Sega was more honest
with.
> > > >
> > > > Unlike their longevity, huh.
> > > >
> > >
> > > Yes, their longevity was very long indeed. Matter of fact Sega is
still
> > > going strong in the 3rd Party market.
> >
> >
> > Unfortunately we aren't talking about 3rd Party.
> > >
> > >
> > > --
> > > :.:>:::>>>**
> > > >>> This Universe is MINE!
> > > :.;>:::>>>>>>***
> > > :::Webmaster @ Boston Freelancer server
[http://www.earendilsplace.net]
> > > >>::***
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
>
>
 
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On Wed, 25 Aug 2004 17:58:15 GMT, Grand Inquisitor
<zork@columbus.rr.com> thought hard and said:

>Tech specs from Sony, something that even Sega was more honest with.

Heh.
I do not give a damn about specs.
--
-Daniel "Mr. Brevity" Kolle; 16 A.A. #2035
Koji Kondo, Yo-Yo Ma, Gustav Mahler, Krzysztof Penderecki, and Geirr Tveitt are my Gods.
Head of EAC Denial Department and Madly Insane Scientist.