Rumor: PSP2 GPU to be a quad core beast?

Wednesday, July 8th, 2009
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to feature a new type of Quad core GPU?

Another rumor has surfaced again in regards to the PSP’s successor the PSP2.  Eurogamer.es has reported from undisclosed insider sources that the PSP2, Sony is apparently working on will feature the newest PowerVR tech GPU. Some type of powered Quad core GPU. Which by the sounds of it would turn the PSP2 into a hand-held gaming beast. Single core version of PowerVR GPU’s have been proven to run Quake 3 Arena at 30fps. So you can image what a low powered quad core GPU could so for Sony’s next hand-held?

Remember it is just all rumors at this stage. Just like the sliding screen PSP-4000 was that turned out to be the PSP GO….

The chip itself appears to be very close indeed to the enhanced GPU experts say resides within the iPhone 3GS, providing a generational leap in performance over older PowerVR MBX processors found in the previous models. The same technology is also found in select netbooks such as the Dell Mini 12, as part of the new low power Poulsbo chipset. The single core version of the chip has been demonstrated at CES running Quake 3 Arena at 30FPS.

The obvious difference of course is that the SGX543MP is a multicore processor, available with anything up to 16 cores on tap. According to the original report, PSP2 opts for a quad configuration offering notional specs of 133 million polygons per second, and 4Gpixels/sec fillrate, assuming that Hydra operates at the chip’s low-end of 200MHz (higher speed variants are also available, presumably for desktop use). While specs like this are always subject to interpretation, these figures are a ballpark match for the original Xbox. However, PowerVR’s tech includes tile-based deferred rendering, which should provide a nice performance boost.

Also of interest is the fact that Imagination Technologies itself describes the chip as a GP-GPU, meaning it has the ability to operate as both CPU and graphics processor in one handy package, similar to projects being worked on by Intel and AMD. It may well be that PSP2 will centralise all of its processing into a single chip, thus saving power and providing other efficiency savings from a programming perspective (lightning fast interaction between game logic and graphics, for example).

Source: Eurogamer.net

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  • Makaveli2010

    First! lol

    And as for the rumor… I’ll wait till I see confirmed details.

  • PSP-2010

    hahaha. Sony what are you planning my friend?

  • donny101

    I’ll Just Wait For This To Be Really Confirmed

  • VoXeR

    Wow… Awesome xD
    I hope it’s true :D

  • Tom

    if this turns out to be true, then i cant wait what nintendos reaction will be to this. too bad that by time sony will have a large enough trial and error (progresively better hack prevention) that i assum that it will most likely be unhackable. but on the other hand if sony makes games using the full power of this thing, then people will buy it either way.

    • VGP12

      Nintendo has totally failed in the power and graphics capablility of their systems (as if thier not even trying), but they got innovative games and controlls and whatnot keeping them alive. If they want to compete in the future, they will have to step it up a notch. I own a Wii myself I’m not Sony biased.

      • Butsent

        nintemdo has crappy graphics systems the xbox and ps3 are much more graphicaly enhacned

  • PSP-2010

    ^ True

  • tbone1989

    if its true i’m gonna get one regardless of it being hacked

  • keith_j_snyder2

    Talking about rumors, what next – nVidia ion based PSP2?
    Well this ‘ll make it powerful enough but what about battery backup? They gonna need a laptop battery to run a quad core because so far we ain’t seen a low powered quad core.

  • joshd666

    that is awesome ima get one of those, actually ima make my own, and then ima sell it, hahahahahaha

    im evil

    • Butsent

      cen u mak 1 for me plz my parents will pay u

  • z0Rn

    BEASTY

  • blacksheepnyg

    ppl dont get to happy this isnt going to be out for a while… this isnt the go

  • VGP12

    i don’t care if this “PSP2″ is hackable or not, I WILL be getting one, whenever it comes out, how much it costs, and whatever form it is in…

  • Neil

    “…a GP-GPU, meaning it has the ability to operate as both CPU and graphics processor in one handy package…”
    lol. No.

  • Stradian

    I highly doubt that a quad core will make it to a hand held this quickly, for a number of reasons…

    1. Power – This, I can guarantee, will be too powerful in Sony’s eyes, and too early for the market. With the extra RAM to back up this processor (which I’ll grantee, it will have to have). , I can defensively say Windows xp and less likely even vista could have the possibility of running on it. This is of course… still hackable.

    2. Cost – A unit like this will be unappealing to it ‘s audience, because it will mostly be too costly for anyone to think to dish out the cash for it, a quad core, the battery, the supporting ram will gladly dish out an extra $100- $250 and add that to the go’s price tag of 250, and you got a $350+ unit.

    3. Battery life – Quad cores can add a taxing number to the number of power used in computers. Uping the demand for power like this, will require a significant battery. This will likely cover the whole back of the unit and add 4-6 mm to the units depth.

    4. Heat – This is what I consider to be nail in this. I feel that there will be no way to control a heat in a unit as complex as this. you will have a bigger battery, which will conduct heat like a iron skillet and will be to hot to handle. then you have quad core, which will overheat and costing you a fortune to repair. Every thing will probably overheat, unless they add some sort of cooling or some sort of expelling heat sink. Costing space and possibly noise in the unit.

    Conclusion. A unit like this will be neat to see, and will be neater if left “unlocked” or is hackable. But again I do doubt that something like this will be construed.

    On a side note, If the psp 2 has a touch screen feature and/or left unlocked, Sony can have my cash, but ill doubt they will do those things ether.

    • ARFarokhiSCSA2009

      Hey!!! Take it easy! If you hear the name of sony behind a console, you should mention that sony is the best in this industry. If you ask your father, It was impossible to have a 333MHZ CPU on a handheld console like PSP 10 years (or maybe more years) ago. But now sony has done it. So it’s not impossible to make a console like this with this power. I Don’t think when it comes out I’ll have that much money (even if it’s 400$) to buy one, but I love to see SONY pass microsoft and nintendo & any other gaming console producer company!!!

  • philke

    lol …….. yea japan rules man

  • weeweeisme

    all of this doesnt sound that unbelievable.

    susposedly in the zune hd it will come with an nvidea based chip called tegra apx 2600 (i think) which is a low power chip with 8 cores. there are some youtube videos of some other mobile devices that have the chip. That can run quake 3 arena with full aa.

    but lol i wish the psp2 could be upgraded. for example being able to upgrage the cpu or the graphics chip so the device would never end up becoming obscelete. now that would be kick ass. ( lol basically i want a tower pc inside of the psp; but then again i wish i was a millionaire)

    but still i feel like they are going to try to really compete with the iphone so they will definitely dish out something good. i mean if you think about it the ipodtouch ui is soo much sleeker, and i can run the same shit on it. (onece jailbrocken that is) so i mean why not buy this instead? so i think sony will make something good to take away thatquestion.

    ~wee

    • Vinkun007

      “Neil
      July 9, 2009 at 5:12 pm

      “…a GP-GPU, meaning it has the ability to operate as both CPU and graphics processor in one handy package…”
      lol. No.”

      What has been failed to be seen is the fact that software CAN be (and has been) created to make each “core” run independently of the others and therefore be both CPU/GPU in one…because of this, the complexities of trying to hack it are near impossible unless you already have multi-core/kernel programming skills (props to PC g33kz).

      So, lol, YES.

      Making components upgradable would be ideal. But then, if that were what Sony intended to do, it would most likely be in a laptop/notebook/netbook. Proprietary systems will always be proprietary (HP/Dell/Gateway…etc) and tinkerers will always tinker.
      I made a monster (i mean ugly) PC in my early days during college. It was a HP case with pieces from several different makers including HP/Dell/GW. It was a nightmare to run, and only Win98SE could use it effectively, but it worked. It was a bet, and I won. Funny thing is, I’m a software geek (not g33k), and not a hardware tech, but tech runs thru my blood, and a tinkerer I shall always be. Who knows, maybe one day someone will be silly enough to bet me on modding a PSP or an iPhone…and I’ll give it a good ol’ wallop with a 4lb. sledge! :D jk
      ~Vinny

      • Neil

        …except GP-GPUs are stream processors, not CPUs.

  • Jtotheb1

    if this is actually released say good bye to the DsiXL cause this hand held will overpower Nintendo’s crappy graphics dont get me wrong i love Nintendo but i think they need to step up… alot also wheres Xbox in this scene they need to make a hand held even though im not a fan of Microsoft maybe having them bring a hand held will push Nintendo to make better graphics on their systems