PS3 to get smaller Cell and/or RSX chips in August?

Nikko Citigroup upgraded its rating on Sony this morning in anticipation of it breaking even on PS3 costs earlier than expected. At the moment, Sony sells the PS3 at a loss. The respected group of analysts is now earmarking August as the milestone month. Sony's CFO recently suggested that the move would occur in the second half of year -- a date analysts then pegged at November. No details behind the new upbeat expectations were provided by Nikko CG. However, it's safe to assume that the PS3's break-even event will be realized by a switch to a sub-65nm cell processor, sub-90nm RSX graphics chip, or both, since the smaller chips are less-costly to manufacturer.

[SUP3R]

All signs point to price-cut.
I'm thinking the 299-349 range for the holidays.

[sonarus]

They are about to break even, they will probably hold out for as long as they can but price cut this yr is very probable

[yanikins111]

Take these numbers for an example

Current ps3 manufacturing cost = 450
Current sale price = 400

New manufacturing cost = 350
New sale price can = 350 and still break even.

These numbers are made up off the top of my head but they are just to show a point. I think you will see a price cut to the ps3 and BR Players around the same time the new chips are implemented.

1) Sony need to stay at a competitive price point to compete with the 360. Yes the ps3 is much much better value (imo) but sony wont want the 360 hitting that pricing sweet spot while they are still in the stratosphere.

2) Im sure sony would have dropped prices slightly already, but i have a feeling the BRA or what ever its called want to recoupe some of the R&D losses suffered creating bluray before the prices come down. If sony make the ps3 too cheap, other BR players become un-viable and im sure this would really p!ss off some of sonys business partners. I wouldnt be suprised if there is a contract regulating the price that sony can charge for the ps3 for a certain amount of time.

All pure speculation BTW.

EDIT @ the shark guy below: Yeah numbers were just made up to show a point. Im in $AU anyway so to hell with the conversions....

EDIT2 : Cos its a slow news day.... disagree-er person wanna post a reason they disagreed? Im bored....

[CrazzyMan]

Cool! =)

Pricecut?
Definitely! =]

p.s. @yanikins111, since january i believe, there was news, where Sony representative said that ps3 cost for them less then 400$ to manufacture by that time. =)

[Solid_Snake666]

nope never its already beating xbox so u they would be generous lowering it by even 50 dollars

[yanikins111]

Until it surpasses total sales.

[theKiller]

so most probably it will be this fall when i buy a ps3 and i want to buy it at 300$ which i believe that also will happened in fall and also there is a good chance to see ps3 slim by this fall!!

i am not a fanboy and i can live without playing for weeks or even months sometimes, i loved my ps1 and ps2 but i never bought them in the first years of launch, also i dont wanna spent a lot of money on a console so the best thing to do is patience with me!!

i am thinking to buy 4 games in fall, so any ideas on what to get?? i have in mind 3 games already
shooter= killzone 2
racing = motorstrom 2
action = metal gear solid 4
so what should i get for the forth one? GTA4 or resistance 2 or hmm.. i dont know!

[pharmd]

in all honesty, i would have GTA4 and Resistance 2 as sure things, if there were one i was questioning, and personally am questioning gettin its killzone 2.... i will get it down the line but not first day launch, i think R2 will be the best one to get at that time....

just my opinion tho

[fenderputty]

that they want the stand alone Blu-Ray players to hit 299 by the end of the year. The usually keep the PS3 inline with the lower end BD player. Using these new chips makes this more of a reality.

Hopefully we will see another price cut soon.

[theKiller]

thanks bro, bubble for u!

[ruibing]

Only thing stopping a price cut in the US is the poor value of the USD. A price cut everywhere else would be pretty easy.

[reccodog]

You may say that the PS3 hasn't beat the 360's sales, but the ps3 has sold more consoles than the 360 has on its first year.
Get my drift?

[yanikins111]

But what im saying is, I assume devs look at install bases. Sure the ps3 might be seeling better, but the 360 does have a bigger instal base. Its just a fact of life for the moment.

Its like having a 2 car race, and your car stalls on the start line. You get it started after 2 minutes but the other guy laps you as you pull away from the start line. Now you have an 07 Skyline GTR (anyone with prologue, buy this beast), and he just has a Mini, so while you are catching him, and its a 50 lap race, you still are not winning until you pass your opposition. Add to this analogy, that the other car is overheating and belching smoke cos the guy pushed to hard on the first lap, and i really think it fits the situation.

[R Kelly]

Perfect for the Ps3,I am!

[shine1396]

ironically you sound like a star wars character coming via soul calibur to the 360..he he!!

[yanikins111]

Is that gonna be cross platform multi player? that would be wickid. Yoda Vs DV. I want it.

[Bathyj]

Ummm didn't they announce the cost of making a PS3 had dropped from $800 to $400 about 3 or 4 months ago? They said it had halved I remember distinctly.

I believe Sony could cut price any time they want and I think they should do it on the 28th of April, giving M$ just one day to panic and follow suit less the console war be decided in the next 10 weeks.

[Lumbo]

the original $800 was already made up by some random "analyst" , so you can guess the half number isn't any better in terms of reality. Sony has not so far released ANY figure about the manufacturing costs of the PS3 system. And it is unlikely they ever will .. such information is normally strictly confident.

[marichuu]

The PS3 shouldn't cost what it does to begin with... The numbers of consoles being sold now only tell me (note: I said ME, meaning it's not a fact, just MY opinion) that it would outsell the 360 if they had the same price.

[yanikins111]

I have no idea of the figures sony has to work with, nor their production capacity, but I wonder if it would be worth them undercutting or matching the Standard 360 price (i dont know what sku's and prices they have now). They would undoubtedly lose alot of money on hardware sales, but God.... the war would be over tomorrow imo. Of course i doubt they could keep up with production, and as of yet, while there are great games out, I dont think there are enough to make back the losses made on hardware. But the Charts would look cool. Hell they should match the Wii Price for a month and see what happens.

[shine1396]

yeh...I heard that as well...and also they sold a cell making factory to toshiba...so this article could probably be a little misinformed...

Edit: been looking on the internet, and found this to be true...sony could be moving to even smaller chips, as in below 65, and that could mean the ps3 being even cheaper...I reckon this is around LBP time, to get in the families, leading up to chrismas...it might just be the must have item for chrismas...

[rawg]

Sony selling the Cell manufacturing plant to Toshiba is not that big a deal. Cell has always been a joint venture between Toshiba, Sony and IBM. The sale is part of Sony's strategy to move away from manufacturing to focus more on chip design.

That said, smaller chips would definitely reduce costs, not just in making the chips but all of the other components that would be impacted, i.e. less cooling, smaller power supply, consolidating other components, etc.

Add to that the fact that Blu-ray drives are going to be manufactured in higher volumes since the BR win, the overall cost of the PS3 could come down by a lot. Like you said, probably just in time for the holidays.

[Iamback]

didnt sony confirm last fall that they are already breaking even?
I said before, during E3 new 100$ price cut on SKUs. Price cut will happen world wide, because it is needed, especially in Japan, were PS3 sold in record low last week according to Famitsu. Only 8.5k

[Kleptic]

I heard the exact same thing...in fact this entire article is kind of off...~90nm chips perform no better at the calculations that what is already in there...they just use less power, and therefor create less heat...it is an advantage, but not in terms of what it can render...

and yeah, I heard the average production cost of each PS3 sku has been slightly under $400 USD since January...making every PS3 SKU profitable currently...there are article all over this site about it...

[BrianC6234]

Yes, at least someone reported that. When that news came out people were saying Sony needs to drop the price of the PS3 again. I don't know where these people get their information. Maybe their data was a year old when they wrote this story.

[SickNick85]

new price cut is coming...

[LinuxGuru]

My PS3 with 90nm cell runs cooler and quieter than any system I've had in 8 years.

Of course before that....consoles didn't really have fans, right?

lol

[yanikins111]

Cooling systems are the new big thing. They are even putting them in controllers now :|

[xboxftw]

Well my atari 2600 was much quieter and cooler and had better graphics and games.

[Solid_Snake666]

yes but its less than 50

[SickNick85]

last cut from 90mn to 65mn comport a 200€ price cut...there is also a BD cost reduction

for me it's a 100€ cut at least

the production cost will be reduced 100€ only for BD

[xboxftw]

and even smaller gaming library.

Edit: Nothing new, since all sony droids have had smaller d!cks since begining.

[yanikins111]

Just like his sh!tty console.

[Sir Ken Kutaragi 1]

I'd rather have a smaller Chip than the ones in the xBox 360 that overheat and burn down Me'Neighbour'Hood!!! ;-D

[heyheyhey]

do you like sounding retarded?

whatever- bubble elimination time and then what? oh right, its time to make a new account

[PopEmUp]

library is getting bigger as well as the rrod

[karma]

(Edit: Nothing new, since all sony droids have had smaller d!cks since begining.)

says the xflob who cant even see his own d1ck

Harharhar

[juuken]

And your d$ck is smaller than a toothpick.

[GVON]

Yeah I could part with my 60gb for one of those.

[xboxftw]

I'm ready to buy, give me one for $150.

[SL1M DADDY]

Current cost of production is 400 bucks and with the sizing down of the current chips you can bet Sony will take it to the market to rule this holiday season. At the moment, they are outselling the 360 worldwide and will kill the MS console if they were to indeed price drop. You can bet that Sony is looking to capitalize this winter and due to the cut in chip size, we will definitely see a price drop and a bundle that will likely include Motorstorm 2 or Resistance 2 by Christmas.

[hotshot127]

the ps3 is at a break even point RIGHT NOW. it cost 400 to manufacture the ps3. if people want proof, i'll go get the link but i'm just going to assume that everyones going to believe me................(turns to get the links)

EDIT:
http://www.geek.com/sony-cu...

[Ri0tSquad]

Thats what I thought.

[rawg]

Sony sells each PS3 for less than that to their retailers so Sony takes a loss on each one if the component costs are $400.

[aiphanes]

Then we will see a PS3 slim with 45nm cell and 65nm RSX for $299 in October or November 2008...with little big planet packed in...and 5 free bluray movies...

Its all over by then....

[mistertwoturbo]

The price drop would have been announced already if it was true. I don't think we'll see another price drop until Christmas. Even then, let's hope it's a significant price cut. A $299 PS3 will sell like hot cakes.

[rushbd]

a price cut is always welcome.

P.s. Just discovered i have 1 bubble more. :D thank you whoever gave me one :D

[feejo]

Xmass 2008

Wii 200$
PS3 300$ 40gb
PS3 80GB 375$

2009
PS3 40gb 200$
80gb 250$

I don't believe in a "slim" ps3, it will probaly maximum half size of the 60gb.

[Tonys Creed]

I was plannig to buy the MGS4 bundle in june...Don'T know if i can wait a couple other months...I don't care about the price cut but would like to have a smaller chip!!!

[JBaby343]

How much less power consumption will this mean? I'm assuming if you decrease the size of both CPU and GPU the difference in wattage shoulder be considerable. Anyone have any estimates because my 60 gig burns through a lot of power especially since when it's not running games and movies it's folding.

[iiprotocolii]

I hope MadCatz creates an Air Conditioner addon for the slim. I seriously wonder how cooling such a monster can occur on a smaller scale.

[lsujester]

hard to say for sure... it depends on what all changes they make. With a CPU and GPU shrink, smaller PSU, etc., I'd take a guess of about 30-40 watts if they do good. Newer PS3's are running at about 135W right now, down from the original's 200W. That came from the jump from 90nm to 65nm and some other improvements. But I don't see that drastic of a jump this time, but there should a pretty good improvement.

[lsujester]

@17.1:

Smaller processors = less heat. Less heat = less cooling needed. So if the heat generation is lowered enough, you could stick these parts into a smaller shell without too many problems. But if it'll be too hot like that, they won't change the shell. Sony doesn't want a PS3 version of the RRoD on their hands, for sure.

[xhairs]

I'm getting the feeling those of us who have our PS3's this means nothing to us? Is this going to be a sweet upgrade for those holding out on buying ps3's? Or does this just mean a price cut?