The PlayStation 3 technical specifications describe the various components of the

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on November 11, 2006, in Japan, November ...

(PS3) video game console.

Central processing unit

The PS3 uses the

Cell microprocessor Cell is a multi-core microprocessor microarchitecture that combines a general-purpose PowerPC core of modest performance with streamlined coprocessing elements which greatly accelerate multimedia and vector processing applications, as well as m ...

, which is made up of one 3.2

GHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one he ...

PowerPC-based "

Power Processing Element The Power Processing Element (PPE) comprises a Power Processing Unit (PPU) and a 512 KB L2 cache. In most instances the PPU is used in a PPE. The PPU is a 64-bit dual-threaded in-order PowerPC 2.02 microprocessor core designed by IBM for us ...

" (PPE) and six accessible Synergistic Processing Elements (SPEs). A seventh runs in a special mode and is dedicated to aspects of the OS and security, and an eighth is a spare to improve production yields. PlayStation 3's Cell CPU achieves a theoretical maximum of 179.2

GFLOPS In computing, floating point operations per second (FLOPS, flops or flop/s) is a measure of computer performance, useful in fields of scientific computations that require floating-point calculations. For such cases, it is a more accurate meas ...

single precision Single-precision floating-point format (sometimes called FP32 or float32) is a computer number format, usually occupying 32 bits in computer memory; it represents a wide dynamic range of numeric values by using a floating radix point. A floatin ...

floating point In computing, floating-point arithmetic (FP) is arithmetic that represents real numbers approximately, using an integer with a fixed precision, called the significand, scaled by an integer exponent of a fixed base. For example, 12.345 can b ...

operations and up to 15 GFLOPS

double precision Double-precision floating-point format (sometimes called FP64 or float64) is a floating-point number format, usually occupying 64 bits in computer memory; it represents a wide dynamic range of numeric values by using a floating radix point. Flo ...

. The PS3 has 256 MB () of

Rambus Rambus Incorporated, founded in 1990, is an American technology company that designs, develops and licenses chip interface technologies and architectures that are used in digital electronics products. The company is well known for inventing ...

XDR DRAM XDR DRAM (extreme data rate dynamic random-access memory) is a high-performance dynamic random-access memory interface. It is based on and succeeds RDRAM. Competing technologies include DDR2 and GDDR4. Overview XDR was designed to be effecti ...

, clocked at CPU die speed. The PPE has 64 KB () L1 cache and 512 KB L2 cache, while the SPEs have 2 MB local memory (256 KB per SPE), connected by the Element Interconnect Bus (EIB) with up to 307.2 Gbit/s bandwidth.

Graphics processing unit

According to Nvidia, the RSX — the

graphics processing unit A graphics processing unit (GPU) is a specialized electronic circuit designed to manipulate and alter memory to accelerate the creation of images in a frame buffer intended for output to a display device. GPUs are used in embedded systems, m ...

(GPU) — is based on the

NVIDIA Nvidia CorporationOfficially written as NVIDIA and stylized in its logo as VIDIA with the lowercase "n" the same height as the uppercase "VIDIA"; formerly stylized as VIDIA with a large italicized lowercase "n" on products from the mid 1990s to ...

G70 (previously known as NV47) architecture. The GPU is clocked at 500

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one he ...

and makes use of 256 MB

GDDR3 GDDR3 SDRAM (Graphics Double Data Rate 3 SDRAM) is a type of DDR SDRAM specialized for graphics processing units (GPUs) offering less access latency and greater device bandwidths. Its specification was developed by ATI Technologies in collabor ...

RAM Ram, ram, or RAM may refer to: Animals * A male sheep * Ram cichlid, a freshwater tropical fish People * Ram (given name) * Ram (surname) * Ram (director) (Ramsubramaniam), an Indian Tamil film director * RAM (musician) (born 1974), Dutch * ...

clocked at 650 MHz with an effective transmission rate of 1.3 GHz. The RSX has a floating-point performance of 192

Configurations

PS3 NTSC COK-001 motherboard (60GB version)

The PS3 received several component revisions which served to reduce power consumption. This in turn resulted in production savings, lower heat production, lower cooling requirements and quieter operation. Since launch, the Cell processor shrank from

90 nm The 90 nm process refers to the level of MOSFET (CMOS) fabrication process technology that was commercialized by the 2003–2005 timeframe, by leading semiconductor companies like Toshiba, Sony, Samsung, IBM, Intel, Fujitsu, TSMC, Elpid ...

45 nm Per the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors, the 45 nm process is a MOSFET technology node referring to the average half-pitch of a memory cell manufactured at around the 2007–2008 time frame. Matsushita and Intel started mass ...

. The RSX GPU also saw reduction in size over periodic revisions of the PS3. Major improvements were introduced with the PS3 Slim. It utilizes a 45 nm Cell which results in a 34% reduction in power consumption over the previous 65 nm Cell model; the last Slim model further decreases power consumption with the move to a 40 nm RSX and later 28 nm on the CECH-43xx models.

Model numbers

On all models of the PS3, the last seven characters of the serial number make up the console's model number. This begins with "CECH", followed by a letter indicating what model the system is. The last two characters of the model number indicate what region the system is from.

Region codes

Connectivity

In terms of audio, the PS3 supports a number of formats, including 7.1 digital audio,

Dolby TrueHD Dolby TrueHD is a lossless, multi-channel audio codec developed by Dolby Laboratories for home video, used principally in Blu-ray Disc and compatible hardware. Dolby TrueHD, along with Dolby Digital Plus (E-AC-3) and Dolby AC-4, is one of the i ...

DTS-HD Master Audio DTS-HD Master Audio (DTS-HD MA; known as DTS++ before 2004) is a multi-channel, lossless audio codec developed by DTS as an extension of the lossy DTS Coherent Acoustics codec (DTS CA; usually itself referred to as just DTS). Rather than being ...

and others; audio output is possible over stereo RCA cables (analog), optical digital cables, or HDMI. The PS3 slim features an upgraded HDMI chip that allows

bitstream A bitstream (or bit stream), also known as binary sequence, is a sequence of bits. A bytestream is a sequence of bytes. Typically, each byte is an 8-bit quantity, and so the term octet stream is sometimes used interchangeably. An octet may ...

ing of lossless

audio codec An audio codec is a device or computer program capable of encoding or decoding a digital data stream (a codec) that encodes or decodes audio. In software, an audio codec is a computer program implementing an algorithm that compresses and decompres ...

s to an external receiver (earlier versions had to decode the signal internally before outputting it via

LPCM Pulse-code modulation (PCM) is a method used to digitally represent sampled analog signals. It is the standard form of digital audio in computers, compact discs, digital telephony and other digital audio applications. In a PCM stream, the am ...

). In the early 60 GB (1 GB = 1 billion bytes) and 80 GB configurations, flash memory can also be used, either

Memory Stick The Memory Stick is a removable flash memory card format, originally launched by Sony in late 1998. In addition to the original Memory Stick, this family includes the Memory Stick PRO, a revision that allows greater maximum storage capacity an ...

CompactFlash CompactFlash (CF) is a flash memory mass storage device used mainly in portable electronic devices. The format was specified and the devices were first manufactured by SanDisk in 1994. CompactFlash became one of the most successful of the e ...

cards; or SD/ MMC cards. All models support USB memory devices; flash drives and external hard drives are both automatically recognized. However, they must be formatted with the

FAT32 File Allocation Table (FAT) is a file system developed for personal computers. Originally developed in 1977 for use on floppy disks, it was adapted for use on hard disks and other devices. It is often supported for compatibility reasons by ...

file system. Earlier systems supported up to four

USB 2.0 Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard that establishes specifications for cables, connectors and protocols for connection, communication and power supply (interfacing) between computers, peripherals and other computers. A broad ...

ports at the front (20 and 60 GB models, as well as the NTSC 80 GB), but the 40 GB and 80 GB PAL models only have two USB ports. All models released after August 2008 have been reduced to two USB ports at the front, as well as dropping CompactFlash and SD card support. For networking, all models provide one

Gigabit Ethernet In computer networking, Gigabit Ethernet (GbE or 1 GigE) is the term applied to transmitting Ethernet frames at a rate of a gigabit per second. The most popular variant, 1000BASE-T, is defined by the IEEE 802.3ab standard. It came into use ...

(10/100/1000) RJ45 port.

Bluetooth Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology standard that is used for exchanging data between fixed and mobile devices over short distances and building personal area networks (PANs). In the most widely used mode, transmission power is limi ...

2.0 support, and built-in 802.11b/g

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio wav ...

(except CECHBxx).

Physical appearance

The original PlayStation 3's case was designed by Teiyu Goto of Sony, and uses the same typeface as the marketing materials for the film '' Spider-Man 3''. It has a glossy piano-black finish, and the power and eject buttons are touch-sensitive. The PlayStation 3 Slim is quieter and more compact than its predecessor. The engraved logo is an update of the PS2's with curved edges. The PlayStation 3 Super Slim weighs at least 25% less than the Slim due in part to the slot-loading

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...

drive being replaced with a top-load disc reader similar to the original PlayStation's, but with a sliding cover.

Power consumption

The power consumption of the initial PlayStation 3 units, based on 90 nm Cell CPU, ranges from 170–200 W during normal use, despite having a 380 W power supply. The power consumption of newer 40 GB PlayStation 3 units (65 nm process Cell/90 nm RSX), ranges from 120-140 W during normal use. The power consumption of "slim" PlayStation 3 (45 nm process Cell/40 nm RSX) ranges from 65 to 84 W during normal use.

Universal power supply

The power supply can operate on both 60 Hz and 50 Hz power grids. It uses a standard IEC 60320 C14 ( IEC 60320 C8 for the PS3 slim) connector and a C13 ( C7 for the PS3 slim) power cord appropriate for the region it is being used in. The power supply on the "fat" model is 380 W. This was reduced to 250 W in the 120 GB "Slim" model. PS3 Slim models have labels indicating localized input requirements for power (120 V 60 Hz for North American and Japanese models and 220-240 V 50 Hz for European and Australian models), however teardowns have revealed the Slim power supplies are still universal.

Disc drive

The PlayStation 3 disc drive is an all-in-one type allowing the use of different formats.

BD

disc read speed maximum is 2× (72

Mbit/s In telecommunications, data-transfer rate is the average number of bits ( bitrate), characters or symbols ( baudrate), or data blocks per unit time passing through a communication link in a data-transmission system. Common data rate units are mu ...

.58 MB/s (1 Mbit = 1 million bits), region coded type allowing the use of: *

BD-ROM ( Blu-Ray region matched) * BD-ROM ( Blu-ray region matched) * BD-R * BD-RE (not compatible with BD-RE version 1.0)

DVD

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

disc read speed maximum is 8× (86.40 Mbit/s 0.3 MB/s, region coded type allowing the use of: * PlayStation 2 DVD-ROM (PlayStation region matched, i.e.,

NTSC-J NTSC-J is the informal designation for the analogue television standard used in Japan. The system is based on the US NTSC (NTSC-M) standard with minor differences. While NTSC-M is an official CCIR and FCCNational Television System Committee ( ...

, NTSC-U/C,

PAL Phase Alternating Line (PAL) is a colour encoding system for analogue television. It was one of three major analogue colour television standards, the others being NTSC and SECAM. In most countries it was broadcast at 625 lines, 50 fields (25 ...

NTSC-C NTSC-C is a regional lockout created in 2003 by Sony Computer Entertainment for the official launch of its PlayStation 2 gaming system into the mainland Chinese market. Mainland Chinese market The system's original model, then called PlayStation ...

; 20 GB, 60 GB, and 80 GB models only) *

DVD-ROM The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

* DVD-Video ( DVD region matched, i.e., Zone 1, Zone 2, etc., and All) *

DVD-Audio DVD-Audio (commonly abbreviated as DVD-A) is a digital format for delivering high-fidelity audio content on a DVD. DVD-Audio uses most of the storage on the disc for high-quality audio and is not intended to be a video delivery format. The st ...

(DVD-Video content only) * DVD+R *

DVD+RW DVD recordable and DVD rewritable are optical disc recording technologies. Both terms describe DVD optical discs that can be written to by a DVD recorder, whereas only 'rewritable' discs are able to erase and rewrite data. Data is written ('burn ...

* DVD-R *

DVD-RW DVD recordable and DVD rewritable are optical disc recording technologies. Both terms describe DVD optical discs that can be written to by a DVD recorder, whereas only 'rewritable' discs are able to erase and rewrite data. Data is written ('bur ...

AVCHD AVCHD (Advanced Video Coding High Definition) is a file-based format for the digital recording and playback of high-definition video. It is H.264 and Dolby AC-3 packaged into the MPEG transport stream, with a set of constraints designed around t ...

* DSD Disc *

DualDisc The DualDisc is a type of double-sided optical disc product developed by a group of record companies including Michael Jackson, MJJ Productions Inc., EMI, EMI Music, Universal Music Group, Sony BMG, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group, ...

Super Audio CD Super Audio CD (SACD) is an optical disc format for audio storage introduced in 1999. It was developed jointly by Sony and Philips Electronics and intended to be the successor to the Compact Disc (CD) format. The SACD format allows multiple a ...

(20 GB, 60 GB and 80 GB models only)

CD

Compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then released in Oc ...

read speed maximum is 24× (29.49 Mbit/s .51 MB/s, region coded type allowing the use of: * PlayStation 2 CD-ROM (PlayStation region matched, i.e., NTSC-J, NTSC-U/C, PAL or NTSC-C; 20 GB, 60 GB and 80 GB models only) * PlayStation CD-ROM (PlayStation region matched, i.e., NTSC-J, NTSC-U or PAL) * CD-ROM *

CD-R CD-R (Compact disc-recordable) is a digital optical disc storage format. A CD-R disc is a compact disc that can be written once and read arbitrarily many times. CD-R discs (CD-Rs) are readable by most CD readers manufactured prior to the i ...

CD-RW CD-RW (Compact Disc-Rewritable) is a digital optical disc storage format introduced in 1997. A CD-RW compact disc (CD-RWs) can be written, read, erased, and re-written. CD-RWs, as opposed to CDs, require specialized readers that have sensi ...

CD-DA Compact Disc Digital Audio (CDDA or CD-DA), also known as Digital Audio Compact Disc or simply as Audio CD, is the standard format for audio compact discs. The standard is defined in the ''Red Book'', one of a series of Rainbow Books (named ...

* MP3 CD (

MP3 MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany, with support from other digital scientists in the United States and elsewhere. Origin ...

, WMA, ATRAC)

Official accessories

The PlayStation 3

Sixaxis The Sixaxis (trademarked SIXAXIS) is a wireless gamepad produced by Sony for their PlayStation 3 video game console. It was introduced alongside the PlayStation 3 in 2006 and remained the console's official controller until 2008. The Sixaxis was ...

is a controller that is very similar in appearance to that of its predecessors, the

DualShock The DualShock (originally Dual Shock; trademarked as DUALSHOCK or DUAL SHOCK; with the PlayStation 5 version named DualSense) is a line of gamepads with vibration-feedback and analog controls developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the Pla ...

and

DualShock 2 The DualShock (originally Dual Shock; trademarked as DUALSHOCK or DUAL SHOCK; with the PlayStation 5 version named DualSense) is a line of gamepads with Haptic technology, vibration-feedback and analog controls developed by Sony Interactive Enterta ...

. The SIXAXIS features finer analog sensitivity; more trigger-like R2 and L2 buttons; a PS ("home") button; and a

USB Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard that establishes specifications for cables, connectors and protocols for connection, communication and power supply (interfacing) between computers, peripherals and other computers. A broad ...

mini-B port for charging the internal battery and for wired play. The PlayStation 3 supports up to 7 simultaneous controllers over Bluetooth. The Sixaxis is named for its ability to detect motion in the full six degrees. The Sixaxis controller also has no vibration feature. At its press conference at the 2007

Tokyo Game Show , commonly known as TGS, is a video game expo / convention held annually in September in the Makuhari Messe, in Chiba, Japan. It is presented by the Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association (CESA) and Nikkei Business Publications, Inc. ...

, Sony announced the

DualShock 3 The DualShock (originally Dual Shock; trademarked as DUALSHOCK or DUAL SHOCK; with the PlayStation 5 version named DualSense) is a line of gamepads with vibration-feedback and analog controls developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the Pla ...

(trademarked DUALSHOCK 3), a PlayStation 3 controller with the same function and design as the Sixaxis, but with vibration capability. Hands-on accounts describe the controller as being slightly heavier than the standard Sixaxis controller, and capable of vibration forces comparable to the DualShock 2. The PlayStation 3 Memory Card Adaptor is a device that allows data to be transferred from PlayStation and PlayStation 2 memory cards to the PlayStation 3's hard disk. The device has a cable that connects to the PS3's USB port on one end, and features a legacy PS2 memory card port on the other end. Using Bluetooth, the PlayStation 3 BD Remote allows users to control videos and music on Blu-ray Disc and DVD. In Japan, the device was available starting December 7, 2006. The PS3 will accept signals only via its Bluetooth Remote, as the console does not have an

infrared Infrared (IR), sometimes called infrared light, is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than those of visible light. It is therefore invisible to the human eye. IR is generally understood to encompass wavelengths from around ...

receiver; this prevents the use of

universal remote A universal remote is a remote control that can be programmed to operate various brands of one or more types of consumer electronics devices. Low-end universal remotes can only control a set number of devices determined by their manufacturer, whi ...

s with the system. The Blu-ray Disc movie '' Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby'' was included with the initial 400,000 release copies of the PS3 in North America, while the first 500,000 European PlayStation Network activations after launch received a free copy of the Blu-ray release of '' Casino Royale''. On April 25, 2007, Sony announced the

PlayStation Eye The PlayStation Eye (trademarked PLAYSTATION Eye) is a digital camera device, similar to a webcam, for the PlayStation 3. The technology uses computer vision and gesture recognition to process images taken by the camera. This allows players to i ...

. This is an updated version of the PlayStation 2 peripheral, the

EyeToy The EyeToy is a color webcam for use with the PlayStation 2. Supported games use computer vision and gesture recognition to process images taken by the EyeToy. This allows players to interact with the games using motion, color detection, and a ...

. The camera is capable of capturing 60

frames per second A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent. Frame and FRAME may also refer to: Physical objects In building construction *Framing (con ...

video at 640×480 resolution and 120 frame/s video at 320×240 resolution. The four-channel microphone on the Eye can block out background noise. The camera supports live video chat and voice chat without a headset, and was launched in the United States on October 23, 2007, for US$39.99, and in Australia on November 8, 2007, for A$79.95. It was also bundled with the card game ''

The Eye of Judgment ''The Eye of Judgment'' is a turn-based card battle video game for the PlayStation 3 platform, which utilizes the PlayStation Eye camera peripheral. It is the first game to use the peripheral, with which it was available in a bundle in Japan, Eur ...

'' released in the United States on the same day as the camera itself for US$69.99, and in Japan and Australia on October 25, 2007, for JP¥9,980 and A$159.95, respectively. Official PlayStation 3 HDMI and Component AV cables are also available for retail.

Backward compatibility

The PlayStation 3 does not include interfaces for legacy PlayStation peripherals, though IGN.com tested a legacy controller using a PS2-to-USB adapter, finding that it is compatible, though most other devices (such as the ''

Guitar Hero ''Guitar Hero'' is a series of music rhythm game video games first released in November 2005, in which players use a guitar-shaped game controller to simulate playing primarily lead, bass guitar, and rhythm guitar across numerous songs ...

'' controller) may not be compatible. However, with the release of firmware 1.70 for the PlayStation 3, Sony has added support for previous Guitar Hero controllers with generic PS2-to-USB adapters (although the whammy bar is not functional).

Nyko Nyko is an American manufacturer of third-party accessories for various gaming consoles. Notable products Air Flo In 2002, Nyko introduced its Air Flo line of anti-sweat gaming controllers, which feature built-in fans to prevent sweaty palms. ...

started production on the "Play Adaptor", a PS2-to-USB adapter allowing for guitars and other PlayStation 2 peripherals to be used on the PlayStation 3 and was scheduled for release in Q2/2007, but Nyko stated at the end of March that the production of this device had been postponed due to compatibility problems with the PS3. The PS3 supports both the USB

camera/webcam and SOCOM Headset for video and voice chat. A memory card adapter is available so users can copy their old PS/PS2 game saves to a virtual memory card on the PS3's hard drive. The PlayStation 3 can also use Memory Sticks to store and save data for PlayStation and PlayStation 2 software. New PlayStation 3 systems no longer support PS2 playback (whether through use of the

Emotion Engine The Emotion Engine is a central processing unit developed and manufactured by Sony Computer Entertainment and Toshiba for use in the PlayStation 2 video game console. It was also used in early PlayStation 3 models sold in Japan and North Americ ...

and Graphics Synthesizer hardware or through the Graphics Synthesizer and software emulation of the

using the Cell Broadband Engine).

References

Technical specifications A specification often refers to a set of documented requirements to be satisfied by a material, design, product, or service. A specification is often a type of technical standard. There are different types of technical or engineering specificati ...

PowerPC-based video game consoles Video game hardware