PlayStation 3

Xbox 360

CPU Comparison

• 3.2GHz Cell Processor
• PowerPC-base Core
• VMX vector unit
• 512KiB L2 cache
• 7 x SPE @3.2GHz
• 7 x 128b 128 SIMD GPRs
• 7 x 256KB SRAM for SPE
• 218 GFLOPS of total floating point performance:

*Each chip includes 8 SPEs, but one is disabled to improve yields and reduce costs

Custom IBM Power-PC Based CPU Comparison

• Three symmetrical cores running at 3.2 GHz each
• Two hardware threads per core; six hardware threads total
• VMX-128 vector unit per core; three total
• 128 VMX-128 registers per hardware thread
• 1 MB L2 cache

Graphics Comparison

Custom "RSX" or "Reality Synthesizer" design co-developed by NVIDIA and Sony:

• Clocked at 550 MHz
• 1.8 TFLOPS floating point performance, 356 GFLOPS programmable
• Full high definition output (up to 1080p) x 2 channel
• Multi-way programmable parallel floating point shader pipelines
• 300.4 million transistors
• 280 shader operations per cycle
• 154 billion shader operations per second
• 51 billion dot products per second (When combined with CPU power.)
• 128-bit pixel precision (for rendering scenes with high dynamic range imaging)
• Vertices Performance: 1.1 billion vertices per second
• Texture bandwidth: 47.5 GB/sec        

CPU Game Math Performance Comparison

• 9 billion dot product operations per second

Custom ATI Graphics Processor Comparison

• 500MHz processor
• 10 MB of embedded DRAM
• 48-way parallel floating-point dynamically scheduled shader pipelines
• Unified shader architecture

Polygon Performance Comparison

• 500 million triangles per second

Pixel Fill Rate Comparison

• 16 gigasamples per second fill rate using 4x MSAA

Shader Performance Comparison

• 48 billion shader operations per second

Memory Comparison

• 256MB XDR Main RAM (3.2GHz) 
• 256MB GDDR3 VRAM (700MHz)

• 512 MB of GDDR3 RAM
• 700 MHz of DDR
• Unified memory architecture

Sound Comparison

• Dolby 5.1ch, DTS, LPCM, etc. (Cell- base processing)

• Multi-channel surround sound output
• Supports 48KHz 16-bit audio
• 320 independent decompression channels
• 32-bit audio processing
• Over 256 audio channels

System Bandwidth Comparison

• Main XDR DRAM 64 bits × 3.2 GHz = 25.6GB/s
• GDDR-3 VRAM: 128 bits × 700 MHz × 2 accesses per clock cycle (one per edge) = 22.4 GB/s
• RSX 20GB/s (write) + 15GB/s (read)
• System Bus 2.5GB/s

• 22.4 GB/s memory interface bus bandwidth
• 256 GB/s memory bandwidth to EDRAM
• 21.6 GB/s front-side bus

IO Comparison

• USB Front x 4, Rear x 2 (USB2.0)
• Memory Stick standard/Duo, PRO x 1
• SD standard/mini x 1
• CompactFlash (Type I, II) x 1
•  

• Support for up to four wireless game controllers
• Three USB 2.0 ports
• Two memory unit slots

Communications Comparison

• Ethernet (10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, 1000BASE-T) x 3 (input x 1 + output x 2)
• Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11 b/g
• Bluetooth 2.0 (EDR)
• USB 2.0 (four front and two rear ports)
•  

• Instant, out-of-the-box access to Xbox Live features with broadband service, including Xbox Live Marketplace for downloadable content, gamer profile for digital identity, and voice chat to talk to friends while playing games, watching movies, or listening to music
• Built-in Ethernet port
• Wi-Fi ready: 802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g
• Video camera ready

Audio/Video Output and Media Support Comparison

• Screen size: 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p
• 2 HDMI outputs
• Analog: AV MULTI OUT x 1
• Digital audio: DIGITAL OUT (OPTICAL) x 1
• Blu-ray Disc: PlayStation 3 BD-ROM, BD-Video, BD-ROM, BD-R, BD-RE
• CD: PlayStation CD-ROM, PlayStation 2 CD-ROM, CD-DA, CD-DA (ROM), CD-R, CD-RW, SACD, SACD Hybrid (CD layer), SACD HD, DualDisc, DualDisc (audio side), DualDisc (DVD side)
• DVD: PlayStation 2 DVD-ROM, PlayStation 3 DVD-ROM, DVD-Video, DVD-ROM, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW
• Memory Stick standard/Duo and standard/mini slots
• CompactFlash Type I and II slot
• SD slot
• Slot for detachable 2.5" hard drive (drive likely sold separately)

• Support for DVD-Video, DVD-ROM, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW, CD-DA, CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, WMA CD, MP3 CD, JPEG Photo CD
• Ability to stream media from portable music devices, digital cameras and Windows XP-based PCs
• Ability to rip music to the Xbox 360 hard drive
• Custom playlists in every game
• Built-in Media Centre Extender for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005
• Interactive, full-screen 3-D visualizers
• All games supported at 16:9, 720p, and 1080i, anti-aliasing
• Standard-definition and high-definition video output supported
• Detachable and upgradeable 20GB hard drive
• 12x dual-layer DVD-ROM
• Memory Unit support starting at 64 MB

Controllers Comparison

• Bluetooth (up to 7 controllers)

• Support for up to four wireless game controllers

Price Comparison

Approx £450

From £200