PS2 Comparing - The Gaming Heaven

Everything about the PS2

How does the PS2's specs compare with the rivals:

Before we compare the PlayStation2 to the other machines on the market, as well as a few on their way, you'll need to know the PlayStation2's official specs. So, here they are, in all their technical glory!
And below them, you can see just how powerful Sony's PS2 really is...

HOW BIG IS THE MACHINE?

The dimensions are:

301mm (width) x 178mm (depth) x 78mm (height)

Or in inches:

12"x7"x3"

And it weighs 2.1kg / 4lb, and 10oz

WHAT CAN IT PLAY?

Obviously the PlayStation2 CD-ROMs (Blue in colour),

PlayStation CD-ROMs (Black),

DVD-ROMs, audio CDs, and DVD videos. (All are silver in colour)

SO WHAT ARE THE PS2'S OFFICIAL SPECS?

CPU:	128 Bit Emotion Engine
Main Memory:	Direct RDRAM
Memory Size:	32Mb
System Clock Frequency:	294.912Mhz

Graphics:	Graphic Synthesizer
Clock Frequency:	147.456Mhz
Embedded Cache VRAM:	4Mb

IOP:	I/O Processor
Clock Frequency:	33.8688Mhz or 36.864 (switchable)
CPU Core:	PlayStation CPU+
IOP Memory:	2Mb

Sound:	SPU2 + CPU
Number of Voices:	48ch + Software
Sound Memory:	2Mb

WHAT SORT OF POLYGON PUSHING POWER ARE WE TALKING ABOUT?

PS2 can handle 25 million polygons per second (PPS)

With texture mapping, Z-buffering, mip-mapping and light sourcing.

What this means, is that it will be dead smooth!

Now you've seen Sony's official specs for the PlayStation2, you'll be able to see just about where it stands power wise in the world of next-gen gaming.

Bring it on...

HOW DOES THE PS2'S PPS COMPARE WITH THE RIVALS?

Nintendo 64:	Around 150,000 PPS
PlayStation:	Around 360,000 PPS
Dreamcast:	Around 3 million PPS
Gamecube:	Approx 6-12 million PPS (Nintendo reackon this figure is closer to the actual in-game performace than the other machines)
PlayStation2:	Around 25 million PPS
Xbox:	Claimed to be 100 million PPS (!!!)

IS THE PS2 FASTER THAN THE OTHER MACHINES?

PlayStation:	33.86Mhz
Nintendo 64:	93.75Mhz
Dreamcast:	200Mhz
PlayStation2:	294.91Mhz
Gamecube:	400Mhz
Xbox:	733Mhz

HOW DOES IT'S MEMORY COMPARE WITH THE REST?

PlayStation:	2Mb (plus 1Mb Video RAM, 512Kb Sound RAM)
Nintendo 64:	4Mb (+ parity) Rambus D-RAM (expandable to 8Mb)
Dreamcast:	16Mb (plus 8Mb Video RAM, 2Mb Sound RAM)
Gamecube:	24Mb of 1T-SRAM (main), 16Mb of 100MHz DRAM (main), and 3Mb of embedded 1T-SRAM in the graphics chip
PlayStation2:	32Mb Direct Rambus RAM (main), 4Mb embedded DRAM on the graphics chip
Xbox:	64Mb of RAM (unified memory architecture)

CONCLUSION:

The PlayStation2 doesn't look too great when it's being compared to the newer machines, does it? Well, we still say that the PlayStation2 will certainly do really well on the gaming market. It doesn't really matter too much about how great it's specs are, if it hasn't got any decent games, it will fail...and the PS2 has plenty of eye-ball bursting games on their way!! Just as well then!

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