Rip it up! PS3 taken completely apart
by Nick Doerr 
{ Nov 13th 2006 at 1:30PM }
A while back, we did an article about someone tearing up their SIXAXIS controller to peek inside and it was, well, interesting? Now, why don't we take the same concept and apply it to the Playstation 3 itself? Someone did! Check out the pictures of the parted out system and giggle in glee at the sexy circuits and revealing undergarments. Personally, I've no idea what half of the things are I'm looking at, but I'm pretty sure one of the pictures is of the cell processor. We've seen it before, but it's still kind of breathtaking to know you can pull it out and hold it yourself, thinking "oh, the power... if only one of these were implanted in each of my fingertips. I would be super-duper computational."Another set of pictures looks like the fan, or cooling system, whatever. Might be completely wrong. Regardless, this is cool stuff. The one thing that isn't made completely clear is the actual size of each chip, board, walrus, croissant, apple cider... what? Oh, sorry, wandered off there. But still -- they should have used some sort of object as a frame of reference, like a ruler or a dollar bill. What do you guys make of these revealing, candid photos of the PS3 baring all? Hardware guru, step forward and educate us! Give us your two cents!
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Andir2.0 @ Nov 13th 2006 2:03PM
I have to say, I watched the video of the disassembly and I'm impressed by the build of this machine. It makes the cost seem alot more relevant. It took a ton of engineering to get this to all work in that shell just on the size constraint alone.
Kudos to Sony on this machine.
DaftPunk78 @ Nov 13th 2006 2:23PM
First????
dendo @ Nov 13th 2006 4:47PM
now that's great engineering. beautiful stuff.
if sony went with the external power supply route like MS, then the ps3 would be a lot smaller than the 360. but i'm glad they didn't.
jet242 @ Nov 14th 2006 7:54AM
god, the cooling fan is a beast
Nitz @ Nov 14th 2006 8:32AM
In the bottom left corner you can see the darker grey chip with the big EE-GS on it. That's the Emotion Engine and Graphic Synthesizer chip from the PS2. There's your magic "emulation" solution.
I would not be surprised to see later model PS3s eliminate this chip and accomplish PS2 gameplay via complete software emulation - which would reduce board size, circuit complexity, power drain, and overall production cost. Not only would this be cheaper for sony to make, but they could render existing 3d games at higher resolutions. Something to look forward to?