What's the EPA star rating?
Clicking on the link in bigtroyjon's cite of my post takes you to the below.
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=488843
Energy Star EPA sponsored Voluntary compliance standards Three tiers starting with tier 1 2010
Notice the third tier of Game Console Energy Star specs went into effect July 1 2012. FCC filing for the PS3 4000 chassis July 2012.
One of the arguments for a total redesign of both PS3 and Xbox 360 was low power modes being mandated by California within about 18 months. Either it's done at this refresh @ 32nm or the next @ 22nm. I just discovered that the EPA energy Star Voluntary compliance third tier was schedule for July 1 2012 and the PS3 4000 chassis FCC listing also occurred July 2012. That makes this refresh more likely for a total redesign.
Tier two requirement
auto power down requirement said:
After 1 hour of user inactivity** On resume, console returns to previous mode console was in. After an auto-wake event, must return to APD. When operating games published after Tier 2 eff date, console must save user’s place in game and return to that place upon resume from sleep.
A SSD drive might make Tier two support faster and more reliable (Hard Disk warning).
Tier 3 standards Game Console Energy Star Requirements
Auto power off
Standby power .5W
Active navigation menu 35W
Active streaming Media 45W
The PS3 3000 chassis consumes
Standby .5W
Active Navigation Menu 61 watts
Playing game 72-79 watts
Xbox 360S Valhalla
Standby
67 watts at the dashboard
80 watts while gaming.
Both Xbox 361 and PS3 4000 chassis would have to drop from about 60 watts to 35 watts for Active Navigation Menu. That is a dramatic drop that would require a total redesign with GPU Zero power (AMD's Zero power for GPU is 5 watts and only supported by a more modern GPU than in the Xbox 360S and for sure RSX) and a partial shutdown of some of the CPUs (Cell can't partially shutdown but individual 1PPU3SPU CPU packages could).
Since we are going to see the Xbox 361 and PS3 4000 chassis sold to casual gamers and XTV-IPTV users, Energy Star would be a sales necessity or rather not being Energy Star rated when WiiU complies would be a serious disadvantage.
Both Xbox and PS3 are getting a refresh in 2012, for the first time ever at the same time and Third tier EPA Goldstar specs went into effect this year.
There are three rumor cites stating a new Xbox is coming and my Linkedin cite of a IBM employee FINISHING the design of a Xbox 360 refresh @32nm. Oban from SimiAccurate is a 32nm SOI IBM-AMD joint venture build of a SoC for Microsoft that started tapeout at IBM Dec 2011 with 10,000 wafers and GloFlo8 producing the same SoC starting in March. Charlie at SimiAccurate states it's the Xbox 720 SoC and I disagree, it's the Xbox 360 refresh SoC.
OK Speculation time: A total redesign using modern hardware to comply with 35 watts at an active menu screen means both can no longer hardware emulate their old hardware, they will have to software emulate features and timing. Given faster - cheaper- more efficient hardware what would you do with it, how much would you fragment the console? Given only gameside has to emulate a PS3 or Xbox 360, I.E. the XMB can be running native with faster more efficient hardware with more memory. The reserved memory for the OS can be larger to support X game chat for instance only on newer PS3 4000 chassis and Vita...do you fragment the userbase by allowing features not possible on older consoles?
herod said:
Just about PS3 browser update schedule tied to NEW PSN launch supporting SVG. We will have to wait for other speculation to be proved.
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2012-09-19-sony-shocks-world-and-announces-ps3-super-duper-slim said:
PlayStation (CECH-4000 series)
Product name - PlayStation 3
Release date - UK: September 28th, 2012 (HDD 500GB), October 12th , 2012 (Flash Memory 12GB)
Product code - CECH-4000series (Charcoal Black / Classic White)
CPU - Cell Broadband Engine
GPU - RSX
Audio output - LPCM 7.1ch, Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTS, DTS-HD, AAC.
Memory - 256MB XDR Main RAM, 256MB GDDR3 VRAM
Storage size - CECH-4000A: Flash Memory 12GB, CECH-4000B: HDD 500GB1
Inputs/Outputs - USB 2.0
Networking - Ethernet (10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, 1000BASE-T) × 1, IEEE 802.11 b/g, Bluetooth® 2.0 (EDR)
Controller - Wireless Controller Bluetooth
AV output - Resolution: 1080p, 1080i, 720p, 480p, 480i (for PAL 576p, 576i)
HDMI OUT connector - 1
AV MULTI OUT connector - 1
Digital out (optical) connector - 1
BD/DVD/CD drive (read only)
Maximum read rate - BD × 2 (BD-ROM), DVD × 8 (DVD-ROM), CD × 24 (CD-ROM)
Power - AC 220 - 240, 50/60Hz
Power consumption - Approx. 190W
External dimensions - (excluding maximum projecting part ) Approx. 290 × 60 × 230 mm (width × height × length)
Mass - Approx. 2.1kg
Included - PlayStation 3 system × 1, Wireless Controller (DualShock 3) × 1, AC power cord × 1, AV cable × 1, USB cable × 1
This makes my speculation on a PS3 complete redesign @32nm at this refresh totally wrong. PS3 will not Voluntarily comply with the third tier Gold star rating. Next refresh at 22nm in two years they will have to as California will require Game Console power ratings. It also means BC for the PS4 is less likely, PS3 and Xbox 360 are not sharing the same core SoC.
Edit: Looking at the list I see "(Flash Memory 12GB)" which differs from the FCC listing from Sony. Is the above a Sony release or compiled by Eurogamer? If from Eurogamer there might be assumptions in the list.
This leaves the Xbox 360 with a massive advantage till the next refresh.
Technoblog pictures were accurate, Press release from Sony of the PS3 4K
http://www.engadget.com/photos/sony-playstation-3-2012-official-press-shots/#5297234 No HDMI pass-thru and no separate Depth camera input.
