Posted on Saturday, May 03 2008 @ 1:16 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
DailyTech
writes the PS3 console will get a lighter, more efficient cooling system:
Besides just simplifying or removing circuitry, Sony quickly shifted from a 90nm manufacture process for its Cell Broadband Engine processor to a cooler running and more economical 65nm chip size. This in turn made the system demand less power, which in turn generates less heat and lowers the cooling requirements.
Now according to Japan publication Tech-On, the Furukawa Electric company showcased at the Techno-Frontier 2008 exhibition its third-generation work on the PlayStation 3’s fan and heatsink system.
The first two iterations of PS3 cooling had a massive heatsink cool both the RSX graphics chip and Cell CPU, but the latest model offers separate cooling for each chip. The heatpipes used in the original models have also been completely eliminated without endangering the operation of the PS3.
These changes actually simplify the design, allowing for a noticeable weight savings – the latest cooling apparatus weighs 350g, or half of the original launch cooler.
The PlayStation 3 has only been on the market for about 1.5 years but has already received four hardware revisions. The revisions are one of the reasons why Sony has been able to cut the production price of the PS3 console in half since November 2006.
