nightsurge on 21 May 2010
| czecherychestnut said: Everyone seems to be forgetting the GlobalFoundries will have a 32nm SOI process up and running by the end of this year. Only 32nm bulk was cancelled, and Cell is made on SOI, so that would be an obvious fit. Having said that, one limiting factor for Sony in regards to cutting the cost of the console is that all PS3's have hard drives. Thats a cost that doesn't really go down as it has a fairly fixed material cost. Sure, they keep getting bigger, but that doesn't make the smallest ones any cheaper. I can't ever see the PS3 getting down to $99 - $149 region like the PS2 for instance, no matter how small they make the chips. I predict that the PS3 will plateau at $199, which is a good price for a console anyway. And it'll end up with a 22nm Cell, and a 28nm RSX. Given that RSX is on bulk silicon and Cell is SOI, I doubt we will ever see a combined Cell/RSX chip like we did with EE+GS on PS2, as a redesign of RSX to work with Bulk (or vice versa) is a fairly major undertaking. |
I agree with everything you just said. I have tried explaining many times in the past why the PS3 will be unlikely to ever go below $200, but no one would really care to understand or listen. Depending on the bundling of Move, they may not even go below $249.
