| CPU: 128 Bit "Emotion Engine" System Clock: 300 MHz System Memory: 32 MB Direct Rambus Memory Bus Bandwidth: 3.2 GB per second Co-Processor: FPU (Floating Point Multiply Accumulator x 1, Floating Point Divider x 1) Vector Units: VU0 and VU1 (Floating Point Multiply Accumulator x 9, Floating Point Divider x 1) Floating Point Performance: 6.2 GFLOPS 3D CG Geometric Transformation: 66 million Polygons Per Second Compressed Image Decoder: MPEG2 Graphics: Sound I/O Processor a |
| So what does all of that mean? Since a 3D object is constructed of pieces (known as polygons), the number of polygons per second a system can process indicates how detailed the 3D graphics can be, and how smoothly they can animate. Officially, the maximum number the system can process is 75 million polygons per second. But this number doesn´t take into account texture maps (images wrapped onto the polygon set), filtering (making the textures look clean, natural, and unpixelated), and lighting (giving the object a more 3D look with realistic shadows and light effects). With all this into place, the PlayStation 2 can process 20 million polygons per second. Again, this number will be affected by in-game physics, character artificial intelligence, audio, and other processor-intensive effects. We´ll take a conservative estimate and saying initial games will push around eight to ten million polygons per second - and believe us when we say that this number is still no slouch. The system will be capable of mip-mapping, bi-linear filtering, anti-aliasing, texture-correction, and Z-buffering (check the Lexicon in our features section for definitions). Sony has also touted that the system will handle Bezier surfacing, a technique that decides how many polygons are needed to make an object have smoother surfacing. Bezier surfacing also assists in telling the object to use as many or as few polygons as the system can handle at that processing moment. Developers can easily insert Bezier-surfaced CG models into the PlayStation 2 and the system will be able to render the object in real-time. The PlayStation2 will also have techniques to create flowing hair and cloth for added realism. |
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