Consoul Games is reporting that the PSP is actually being udnerclocked at the software level by Sony. The PSP's CPU clockspeeds are software-configurable, and are reported to be currently maxing out at 222MHz, with the capability to actually run at 333MHz. The primary reasons for this are probably to control battery consumption and have the initial games focus on optimizing their code rather than rely on bumping the clockspeeds, which would make life easier for programmers at the expense of ruining the image of the Sony.
What if I told you that PSP was different? What if I told you that as well as enjoying the benefits of steadily improving software development, the PSP would, at some stage in the future (and without any modification), become capable of a hardware performance increase of fifty percent? That would be somewhat more surprising, wouldn't it?
The hardware specifications of the PSP were released last year. Since then it's been known that the PSP CPU's top clockspeed is 333MHz and the bus and GPU's top speed is 166MHz. See what's going on? Sony have deliberately locked the PSP's operating speed at exactly two-thirds of it's actual potential. They have an extra fifty percent of it's current performance ability simply waiting in reserve to be unleashed at a later date.
As I pointed out in my PSP Lowdown back in January, the graphical performance exhibited in PSP's launch titles looks like it's somewhere between PSone and PS2 standard. Now I understand why. The PS2's Emotion Engine (CPU) runs at 294.912MHz and it's Graphics Synthesizer (GPU) runs at 147.456MHz. While the PSP is clearly a more powerful device on paper, it's currently being restricted to a sub-PS2 standard of performance.
I think you will all be unpleasantly surprised, but it is doubtful that you will ever see that "EXTRA" power. In addition to the obvious power consumption problem, the other issue that they fix by lowering the clockspeed is HEAT. PS2, as well as most CPU's these days, have a fan and heat sink to help keep them cool. The PSP being too small for that, and being held in the warm hands of a person, would mean the machine would run awfully hot at times. The only way to keep that chip from popping is to run it underclocked. Radeon X800 and AMD overclockers will back me up on this.
trsut me on this, heat is not a problem with the r4000 core, its 333mhz, modern phones run at that and some PPC's are well above it, heck, even the Gizmondo runs at 400mhz
battery life is the reason they have done it, but as developers start to utilise the battery better Sony can/and will open up the extra processor power (and no doubt Sony themselves will improve battery tech over the coming years). The clock speed on the PSP is entirely programmable meaning menus can use only a couple of mhz, and the game itself can then run at full whack ensuring that battery consumption is as efficiant as possible.
hmm... i think this is one reason that GT4 mobile got delayed. Polyphony is probably waiting for Sony to release the new dev kit that will allow the game to use full power. i mean since Polyphony got criticized that GT2 is not a complete game and was pushed to release. i'd say Polyphony is going to wait to use PSP's real power, because they are all about quality now.
i don't remember where i read it, probably here, but SONY made a comment in the patent in the cell for allowing the PSP to use the cell technology to increase psp performance.
so imagine this. you buy a ps3 and all of a sudden your psp has the effective power of a super computer in the palm of your hand.
Some things of note: PSP uses a clock controllable MIPS processor - _specifically_ for battery comsumption control. That is why it is at 222 Mhz.. and yes, it can happily go to 333Mhz.. right now, with no real problems - except for a fairly short battery life. Some new batteries are due out in the next few months (Toshiba & Sony recently annouced a new battery theyve developed) which double the perf of the batteries, so you may see the clock increased to the full 333 Mhz as soon as they are released.
On the Cell - the Cell is slated to go into the PSP next year :-) .. with a much smaller die and manufacturing process (60nm or 90nm), alot less heat and power consumption, and alot more processing capabilities.. it will be a small supercomputer in your hand :-) I dont think the Cell will run at the 4->5GHz the PS3 or the 16 cell Workstations will run at, mainly due to heat and power - but I would imagine that a 500Mhz-1GHz would be doable, giving about 50-100 Gflops.. of cpu processing to play with (fastest PC at mo gets around 20Gflops). If you read the Cell patent it talks quite a bit about 'portable Cell devices', which clearly refer to the PSP and mobile phone like devices... theres quite alot of detailed info about the plans for the Cell and that was written 5+ yrs ago!.
dude no way they are going to start popping a far better processor into a new batch of PSPs. Everyone would be hella pissed! I think that is a possibility for a PSP2 or PSPslim or somesuch, but things being as they are I doubt that it would decrease the interior volume significantly enough for a redesign.
and btw wtf are you talking about the psp using cell tech through a PS3? Do you think that buying a new home console will somehow affect this handheld or are you seriously thinking you will play the PSP as a controller similar to a GBA on the nintendo??
Vlad:- the Cell processor is due to be in pretty much every Sony entertainment device within the next 5-10yrs.. TV's, DVD players, mobile phones.. PSP's, PS3's, Workstations (yes, PC like desktops and more acedeminc ones).. The PSP _WILL_ get a Cell.. and it is currently slated for end of next year..
The sheer dimensions of the chips are substantially different - in the PSP the 2 MIPS + a GS (like) chip take up a very large amount of surface area.. a single GPU Cell (this is a 4 core processor + a GPU core) can replace all three. And the Cell die is smaller than a single MIPS R4000 die!! In fact this will produce all sorts of extra space savings in many devices - mobile phones for instance will benefit hugely. Remember these chips are all not necessarily running at same clock (due to heat requirements and power consumption requirements) and the Cell has at least two _physically_ different variants - normal 8 core CPU and a second 4 core CPU + GPU core. BTW an example of size changes - the PS2Slim contains a special 'single die' MIPS EE and GS on a single chip, and was the main reason the whole thing could be made alot smaller. Also with the smaller chip fab process used, this made the whole thing smaller overall. The Cell when at 60nm fab will be _tiny_ in size and also be very good on heat dissipation for clock speed.. there are many good articles about this, and how IBMs fab process is already working well with SOI at 90nm.. and 60nm testing has been underway and working well with decent yeilds.
Not sure what you mean about PSP being a controller of PS3? never said anything like that? PSP will be Cell based though - it wont be as powerful as PS3, since the PS3 is supposed to be a 4xCell variant. Whereas IBM Cell desktop solutions will be 8xCell and 16xCell variants (with higher combos coming later). The PS3 has always been said to have 1 teraflop of processing power - this fits in with the 4xCell variant shown in the Cell patent, since the current 4Ghz Cell's do > 256Gflops.. So just to reiterate - I mentioned it may be possible to have a single Cell running less than a quarter the speed of a PS3 Cell - so thats why my guess was the 50-100 Gflop range, whether this is allowed to be used by Sony.. and is capped initally.. who knows.. but there will definitely some nice processing caps available to them.
Some things you need to realise about the whole Cell architecture - its an entire single chip and multi-chip solution for various _levels_ of processing capabilities. Sony have annouced TV's with Cell's (these will be very similar to the PSP ones).. the point is, wont it be nice, to buy a TV that can play all your PSP games out of the box anyway?(Im not saying that the first bacth of TV's will do this.. but thats the _potential_..) Thats the beauty of it all.. common hardware platforms.. The MIPS solution is simply an interim design .. mainly because most manufacturing will be based on getting the PS3 launched happily.. along with some of their electronics with Cell technology. Once costs come down on Cell production (they have been making them for the last 4 months already at their Nagasaki Fab1 plant) then they will get pushed into all sorts of Sony, IBM and Toshiba devices..
Finally, I wouldnt get too attached to a handheld device.. just because a GBA can last 5+yrs in the market place with little or no changes in development, dont think everything else will - you dont see people complaining about how fast mobile phones are advancing? And the handheld maket will likely take on a similar regime.. to stand still too long.. will mean having a dead product.. with no consumers.. NGage - nice example..
Grover, the only slight flaw in your otherwise perfect (and quite correct for the most part) plan is that Sony themselves said they expect the current PSP to have a 5 yr lifespan, I think they'd be cutting their own throats and have a HUGE backlash of complaints if they modify the PSP in any way within that time. However, if you mean they will produce a Cell based PSP with EXACTLY the same performance then maybe they could do this (even if it is in a smaller/lighter device), it wont upset current PSP owners.
Of course, if the market changes then Sony will have the advantage of a hugely powerfull chip that can easily be put in a mobile device (lets see Microsoft do that with its PowerPC chips). So, IF Nintendo and MS come out with next gen handhelds to better the PSP then Sony will be ready and waiting, but currently I really dont think Sony have any plans to change the PSP (performance wise most definitely not, except to allow developers to the extra 111mhz at some stage, and as i mentioned, I believe the PSP is already capable of 333mhz without any updates).
so some are saying they think that the psp will be defunct in under a year in favor of newer technology, others are saying that the psp is here to stay. anyone have any links or such to something more official concerning this? personally i would think being the most capable handheld (by far better than the GBA and the DS) and also appearing to be selling quite well (i know one person with a DS, and probably over 10 who own or plan to buy very soon a PSP) that sony would opt to support the psp. looking back at games developed and launched early on on systems like xbox and ps2, as the developers learned more about the systems they pushed boundries and made more intense/better looking games, i would think the psp should be headed for this direction. in my experience the psp is amazing so far and i am more than impressed, in fact i no longer own a ps2 or an xbox in favor of handheld gaming (and the fact that i am just not into consoles like i once was) so what im trying to say is logically sony has an amazing handheld at their hands, that is selling on several different levels, why would they change anything and attempt to persuade people to buy the next big thing? i understand a couple years from now, but the psp was just released, i think that as a coorporation with lots of people paid to plan out how to sell this kind of , that the best conclusion they have arrived at would be to support their current system and release upgrades to integrate it into the ps3, etc. and as far as your comparison to cell phones, this is completely different from a cell phone. a cell phone is going to sell, its proven by experience, a new console right after so many have just shelled out 250+50 a game for one? i dont think so, sony wouldnt have made the psp so updateable if they planned to make it useless quickly. so gimme some links!
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