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Forums - Sony - How much does the cell processor and RSX cost now?

McDonaldsGuy on 02 January 2014

In 2006, the Cell and RSX chips cost $90 and $130 respectively. In 2009, this decreased dramatically and the Cell and RSX chips cost $37 and $43 respectively.

After that I can't find any new info. Does anyone have an idea how much the Cell and RSX cost now? Maybe $15 for the Cell and $20 for the RSX? Thanks.



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Nintentacle on 02 January 2014

Why do you want to know?



Captain_Tom on 02 January 2014

Idk it's an interesting question. Does anyone know how much Sony is profiting off of every PS3 right now?



Soleron on 02 January 2014

2006 Cell = 90nm
2009 Cell = 45nm

There hasn't been further shrinking of the Cell so the price will not have come down much.

As to whether it's profitable, consider the effective slight price increase on the HDD model in 2012, and the lack of expected drop on the model in 2013.



disolitude on 02 January 2014

Regardless of what it is, it's a shame they couldn't throw the Cell/RSX in to a PS4, charge 100 bucks more for the console and provide backwards compatibility.

Could have released 2 models...

PS4 basic - $399 - current PS4
PS4 awesome - $499 - PS4 with RSX/Cell

Same goes for Xbox One.



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McDonaldsGuy on 02 January 2014
disolitude said:
Regardless of what it is, it's a shame they couldn't throw the Cell/RSX in to a PS4, charge 100 bucks more for the console and provide backwards compatibility.

Could have released 2 models...

PS4 basic - $399 - current PS4
PS4 awesome - $499 - PS4 with RSX/Cell

Same goes for Xbox One.


This is why I want to know actually. There would be an add-on module with an embedded Cell/RSX graphics chip that would connect to the back of the PS4 via an external PCI bus adapter so it can have access to the PS4's I/O and AV-Out subsystems.

The x86 architecture is fast enough to handle the subsystems necessary to emulate the PS3 properly, due to having 512MB of the memory it needs.



Soleron on 02 January 2014
disolitude said:
Regardless of what it is, it's a shame they couldn't throw the Cell/RSX in to a PS4, charge 100 bucks more for the console and provide backwards compatibility.

There was a plan for a 32nm Cell+RSX single chip, but it was cancelled because no one except Intel could make 32nm work at the time.



disolitude on 02 January 2014
Soleron said:
disolitude said:
Regardless of what it is, it's a shame they couldn't throw the Cell/RSX in to a PS4, charge 100 bucks more for the console and provide backwards compatibility.

There was a plan for a 32nm Cell+RSX single chip, but it was cancelled because no one except Intel could make 32nm work at the time.


Interesting... So what's Microsofts excuse? They have CPU/GPU on the same die.



Soleron on 02 January 2014
disolitude said:
Soleron said:
disolitude said:
Regardless of what it is, it's a shame they couldn't throw the Cell/RSX in to a PS4, charge 100 bucks more for the console and provide backwards compatibility.

There was a plan for a 32nm Cell+RSX single chip, but it was cancelled because no one except Intel could make 32nm work at the time.


Interesting... So what's Microsofts excuse? They have CPU/GPU on the same die.

Same thing I think. Too expensive to develop the 32nm shrink, and it precludes digital resale/upgrade payments of those games.



disolitude on 02 January 2014
McDonaldsGuy said:
disolitude said:
Regardless of what it is, it's a shame they couldn't throw the Cell/RSX in to a PS4, charge 100 bucks more for the console and provide backwards compatibility.

Could have released 2 models...

PS4 basic - $399 - current PS4
PS4 awesome - $499 - PS4 with RSX/Cell

Same goes for Xbox One.


This is why I want to know actually. There would be an add-on module with an embedded Cell/RSX graphics chip that would connect to the back of the PS4 via an external PCI bus adapter so it can have access to the PS4's I/O and AV-Out subsystems.

The x86 architecture is fast enough to handle the subsystems necessary to emulate the PS3 properly, due to having 512MB of the memory it needs.

Do PS4 or Xbox One have somesort of add-on slots or ports that could be utilized for this purpose? Even if they do its doubtful... Only company that would have the balls to do this would be 1990s Sega lol. The only possibility I see here is a new hardware SKU that has BC coming out in a few years when PS3 is on its last legs hardware wise.