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- Hardware Specifications
- Thus dids't the Playstation come forth from the dark alleys of Tokyo... This
- is one serious gaming machine. SNES, Megadrive, 32X, Jaguar and 3DO all pale
- besides this monster. The PSX has 5 processors running concurrently, similar
- to the Atari Jaguar. Then main processor is the powerful LSI R3000A 32 bit
- RISC processor, running at 33.8 Mhz. In addition to it, there is a 66 MIPS
- High-speed Matrix Processor for calculating 3D polygons, there is a graphics
- processor for displaying sprites (2D) at 60 frames a second, a sound
- processor for doing CD quality sound and a 80 MIPS Data Expansion Engine
- for decompressing graphics and sound data from the CD-ROM.
- What does it all mean? Well, this machine is built for 3D! And since that
- is where the games are going, we're all set. (In all fairness it should be
- mentioned that the Sega Saturn is on par with, if not better than, the PSX
- on 2D scrolling games, note 2D only. However, this is not a problem since
- these machines are lightyears ahead of the competition anyways!)
- CPU
- · R3000A 32bit RISC chip @ 33.8mhz - Manufactured by LSI Logic Corp.
- · Clearing capacity: 30 MIPS
- · Bus bandwidth: 132 Mb/sec
- As stated above, a very kuel CPU, slamming the 68000 in the Jaguar and the
- ARM 60 in the 3DO, even the Hitachis in the Saturn! A high bus bandwith is
- important when using lots of colors in fast moving animations! (Like
- Tohshinden)
- 3D Geometry Engine
- · High speed matrix calculator
- · Clearing capacity: 66 MIPS
- · 1.5 million flat-shaded polygons/sec
- · 500,000 texture-mapped and light-sourced polygons/sec
- Ahhh, the key to the ultimate 3D performance. Note, however that the above
- specs are rather optimistic. There is a slight difference between displaying
- random polygons on screen and calculating whether or not a polygon will be
- visible or not as the arm is lifted in defense, then shown according to the
- position it is in. Toshinden achieves 80.000 of the latter polygons, a very
- impressive number for such an early game. Expect this to increase as the
- programmers really get to know the hardware. Luckily the Playstation
- development setup is hailed as being among the best in the industry.
- Data Engine (MDEC)
- · Clearing capacity: 80 MIPS
- · CPU, direct bus connection
- · Also compatible with JPEG, MPEG1, H.261 files
- A very important player. It even helps cutting down load time, since the
- data can be loaded from the CD in compressed form, then uncompressed on the
- fly by this baby! Note the support for industry formats, not just
- proprietary.
- Sound
- · ADPCM, 24 channels
- · Sampling frequency: 44.1 Khz
- CD quality sound! What more could you ask for... Well, since you ask, it
- would have been nice if it had a little bit better sound support. By all
- means, it is great for using sound of the CD, but more or less incapable
- of producing sound on its own. Oh well, you won't notice it!
- Graphics
- · 16.7 million colors
- · Resolution: 256x224 - 740x480
- · Sprite/BG drawing
- · Adjustable frame buffer
- · No line restriction
- · Unlimited CLUTs (Color Look-Up Tables)
- · 4,000 8x8 pixel sprites with individual scaling and rotation
- · Simultaneous backgrounds (Parallax scrolling)
- · 360,000 polygons/sec
- Why do people question these specs? OK, so the Saturn might be a bit
- better on 2D, but read the specs again. Parodius has some slowdown, NOT
- because of lacking hardware, but due to programmers not used to the system
- . Raiden has less slowdown, i.e. more experienced programmers. So in
- 6-9 months we should see no more slowdowns in 2D scrolling games. Relax,
- the hardware CAN handle it!
- Memory
- · Main RAM: 2 Megabytes
- · VRAM: 1 Megabyte
- · Sound RAM: 512 K
- · CD-ROM buffer: 256K
- · Operating System ROM: 512K
- · RAM cards for data save: 128K EEprom
- Hey, it's more RAM than any others console out there! Stuff can be stored
- in RAM in compressed form, then uncompressed on the fly in game. So don't
- expect that this will limit its performance. (You just can't compare how
- much RAM the PSX has vs. a PC. It is a totally different concept!)
- CD-ROM
- · Double speed
- · XA compliant
- It's faster than any of ther other CD systems out there! And they sometimes
- even let you play games while you are waiting. (We're talking 6-7
- seconds.....)
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