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Cell Hits 45nm, PS3 Price Drop Likely to Follow

Posted by Zonk on from the tiny-bit-smaller-makes-a-big-difference dept.

Septimus writes "At this weeks ISSCC, IBM announced that the Cell CPU used in the PlayStation 3 will soon make the transition to IBM's next-gen 45nm high-k process. 'The 45nm Cell will use about 40 percent less power than its 65nm predecessor, and its die area will be reduced by 34 percent. The greatly reduced power budget will cut down on the amount of active cooling required by the console, which in turn will make it cheaper to produce and more reliable (this means fewer warrantied returns). Also affecting Sony's per-unit cost is the reduction in overall die size. A smaller die means a smaller, cheaper package; it also means that yields will be better and that each chip will cost less overall.'"

8 of 298 comments (clear)

  1. The Little and the Big by cthulu_mt · · Score: 5, Funny

    I don't know what it is about measuring things in nanometers and terabytes that gives me such a hardon.

    Thank you IBM.

    PS: Please don't put Skynet online.

    --
    Virginia is for lovers. EVE is for griefers.
    1. Re:The Little and the Big by Goblez · · Score: 5, Funny

      This same comment in a few years will sound perverted if updated to use larger scales of magnitude.

      "I don't know what it is about measuring things in picometers and petabytes that gives me such a hardon".

      --
      - Kal`Goblez
    2. Re:The Little and the Big by adpowers · · Score: 2, Funny

      The only thing I can think of after reading your comment is Europe's Large Hardon Collider.

  2. Effect on cost by noidentity · · Score: 5, Funny

    Cell Hits 45nm, PS3 Price Drop Likely to Follow

    "[...] The greatly reduced power budget will cut down on the amount of active cooling required by the console, which in turn will make it cheaper to produce and more reliable (this means fewer warrantied returns). Also affecting Sony's per-unit cost is the reduction in overall die size. A smaller die means a smaller, cheaper package; it also means that yields will be better and that each chip will cost less overall.'"

    My only question is, will this reduce the cost?

    1. Re:Effect on cost by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

      No. It will still require 3.4 units of your eternal soul to acquire one.

    2. Re:Effect on cost by hamburger+lady · · Score: 4, Funny

      Imagine a macbook powered by something like this, 45nm, 8 cores, low power usage, cheap... it'd outstrip every laptop known to man.


      or a group of them! a "cluster", if you will. maybe, for a lark, you could name this cluster after some mythical hero of old. that would be awesome.

      imagine a gilgamesh cluster of those!

      --

      ---
      Is this the MPAA? Is this the RIAA? Is this the DMCA? I thought it was the USA!
    3. Re:Effect on cost by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      Well it IS a mac...

  3. Re:oh, hum. What else is happening? by bonkeydcow · · Score: 5, Funny

    Moore's law is dead. Atoms aren't getting any smaller. With 5 atoms thick, when you try and go to 2.5 atoms thick, let me know and I'll get far away.