Sony slips two new PS3 Slim models through the FCC (RSX now 40nm)

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Our favorite pseudonym company out there, Sand Dollar Enterprise, is back with a pair of new filings with the FCC pointing to a refresh of the PlayStation 3 Slim hardware. We don't know specifically what has been overhauled inside, though the two new SKUs, CECH-2101A and CECH-2101B, mimic the coding scheme of the current hardware, which is CECH-2001A and B. The alphabetical differentiation relates to different hard drive sizes inside, with 120GB and 250GB options available today and likely to be replicated in the forthcoming consoles. Looking at the FCC's radio testing, we find the same 802.11b/g and Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR transceivers as are in the current Slim, leading us to believe the changes are elsewhere or, as PS3 News suggests, maybe Sony has just found new manufacturers for the same chips and had to run them through the validation committee again. It's just that the latter is far less exciting than the idea of Sony starting up an upgrades war with some tasty springtime spec bump.

Source: http://www.engadget....hrough-the-fcc/

45nm GPU: http://pocketnews.co.../post-eed3.html

Slim that came out last fall was CPU 45nm/GPU 65nm, new revisions are now 45nm/45nm. No physical differences.

Power consumption between both Slim models

Here's a power consumption comparison between the two models:

Model name: CECH-2000A CECH-2100A

XMB Menu (Still wallpapers) 76W 67W

XMB Menu (Main Theme) 83-86W 71W

FFXIII game event scene 96-107W 78-83W

FFXIII game menu 83-84W 74W

BD playback 88-91W 77-78W

Power Off (Stand-by) 9W 9W

This is also the reason behind shortages, change in manufacturer for these models.

Also FYI,

First fat PS3 motherboard

Newest slim PS3 motherboard

Some pretty hefty changes!

[Draken]

oh well I still have my fatty one, and I don't think my dad want it so I can have a slim :laugh:

[c3ntury]

Hmm.. perhaps if it as small as a Wii then i would buy it ;)

[hjf288]

They need to bring backward compat back with a shiny case :(

[The Teej]

Hmm.. perhaps if it as small as a Wii then i would buy it ;)

So we'll be seeing you on the PSN in about 5-10 years then? :p

[D. S. Veteran]

An updated blu-ray reader (faster than 2x), Wireless-N and SATA 2.0 (or even 3.0) support would be nice additions. But SONY won't make such drastic hardware revisions that's for sure.

Guess we'll have to wait for the PS4 :p

[Bhav]

Awesome! Hopefully I'll get one of these when I buy a slim in June.

Why is the date on the engadget article feb 22nd? :s This is actually quite old news...thanks for posting it though, didn't know about it.

Edit: Ohhh...those older articles didn't know what the differences were. lol, thanks.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Awesome! Hopefully I'll get one of these when I buy a slim in June.

Why is the date on the engadget article feb 22nd? :s This is actually quite old news...thanks for posting it though, didn't know about it.

Edit: Ohhh...those older articles didn't know what the differences were. lol, thanks.

Yeah they were filed a while ago, but they've started showing up in the retail chain. Someone else explained pretty well what probably happened

I think we can explain the supply problems with this, given it's now clear there are likely reasonable cost savings built into this unit.

They had a budget for production of the original slim model that gave them x units.

X units were expected to last until a certain point in the new year, when this new cheaper model would take over.

That did not happen, demand was higher than they expected over Xmas. But they couldn't just go and manufacture some more of the 'old' unit because it wasn't in the budget to have any more units at the old unit's price, and they'd already committed to transitioning to this new cheaper unit. But it wasn't scheduled to come on stream until now.

Hence your supply problem.

I guess they could have or should have forecast the extra demand, but even then, maybe the financials for the period didn't allow them to manufacture significantly more units at the 'old slim' price. That would have meant more loss and perhaps they simply couldn't afford that. So if that were the case there hands were sort of tied.

[dreamsINdigital]

Has anyone seen these new models in stores?

[Hedon]

I am glad I waited to upgrade to a slim. I wonder if I should wait any longer. Maybe 45 is the smallest they are going to go?

[Sethos]

I am glad I waited to upgrade to a slim. I wonder if I should wait any longer. Maybe 45 is the smallest they are going to go?

45nm is definitely near the limit of downsizing, I mean it could go lower but I think cost-wise and all that it's not feasible at this stage.

So I think it's a perfect time to upgrade (Y) ( When they are out, of course )

[Hedon]

45nm is definitely near the limit of downsizing, I mean it could go lower but I think cost-wise and all that it's not feasible at this stage.

So I think it's a perfect time to upgrade ( When they are out, of course )

That settles that then. Looks like I might be upgrading my PS3 this year then (and my 360 if a slim comes out). Just don't tell my wife

[Sethos]

I've been debating with myself whether to get a slim or not, I like getting the latest and greatest despite not using it - Just for appearance sake :laugh:

[AbandonedTrolley]

I'm still debating on the slim too, my fat seems to be getting a bit noisy in it's old age. I do have extended warranty on it though and a 'replace for new' .... :shiftyninja:

[+Anarkii Subscriber²]

I'm still debating on the slim too, my fat seems to be getting a bit noisy in it's old age. I do have extended warranty on it though and a 'replace for new' .... :shiftyninja:

Mine is the same, for some games, like GoW3 and Uncharted 2, the fan seems to kick in about 20 mins into the game to keep things cool inside. Does anyone have that problem with the slim? It may be worth it for me to do a trade in and get the newer slim model.

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

It's a milestone folks: the PS3 hardware is finally ready to generate a profit. The loss-leading console once estimated to cost Sony more than $800 per (losing between $241 and $307 per console sold back in 2006) has likely turned a corner thanks to a reduction in manufacturing costs. While Sony isn't saying anything on the matter, PocketNews confirms that the latest PS3 SKU -- CECH-2100A spotted in the FCC back in February -- uses an improved RSX graphics chip based on smaller 40-nm processes similar to the PS3 Slim's new 45-nm Cell processor. The result is a 15 percent decrease in console power consumption when compared to the 120GB CECH-2000A PS3 Slim sporting a 65-nm RSX. The cooler running chip allows for a stealthier heat sink and power supply in addition to a smaller cooling unit. Those changes combined with fewer adjoining chips around the shrunken RSX should make the console cheaper to build which is good news to Sony's sagging bottom line.

Update: PocketNews has confirmed with Sony that the RSX graphics chip is built using 40-nm processes (not 45-nm). Post updated to reflect the change.

Source: http://www.engadget....chip-profits-a/

So my other topic was wrong, as written above it's 40nm, not 45nm.

[Sethos]

Sagging bottom line :laugh: I got some dirty images in my head ...

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

Threads Merged

[Master Shake]

I still like the look of my fatty compared to those plastic looking slims.

[Sikh]

First FAT mobo has suppose for BC built. Slim has none at all. Of course theres hefty changes.

[AbandonedTrolley]

First fat PS3 motherboard

First FAT mobo has suppose for BC built. Slim has none at all. Of course theres hefty changes.

Although not knowing what else would have been involved, the main part of the BC is the large chip to the left of the motherboard with the EE (Emotion Engine) +GS (Graphics Synthesizer) markings, so yeah that's quite a big void to lose :)