PlayStation 3 Cell Production problems - 80 - 90% FAILURE rate!

[Sonikku]

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/sony/ps3-...let-186937.php

Wow...just wow. :oh: I very nearly start to feel bad for Sony. Is the media overhyping Sony's PS3 problems or can it really be that bad??:confused:

[Radiac]

Hmm,if this is true it would mean huge shortages at launch. Sony could never live with that :rolleyes:

As financially devastating as this sounds, ultimately it could help push systems. Imagine it. A $600 console that is presold out at launch due to "chip shortages". Crazy prices on ebay, people getting robbed of their PS3s after camping out for two days to get them. Tremendous hype. Advertising you can't buy.

With all the doom and gloom flying around I still can't see Sony losing. Not that I'll be buying one mind you.

[Jasonkhowell]

Yeah, but how many cell processors were even produced? If it was a small ammount, then Sony will have a even smaller ammount for launch. Even then, you know there would still be idiots who would buy it with zero games (I didn't even get a PS2 until it was $200 and FFX was out)

[Radiac]

Even then, you know there would still be idiots who would buy it with zero games (I didn't even get a PS2 until it was $200 and FFX was out)

Trust me, if they get this thing out before Christmas people will be falling all over themselves to pay $1200+ for it.

[Jasonkhowell]

Yeah, I know. We had several asshats try to steal empty 360 display boxes at our store when it was released. Its one thing if the system had something like the 360 (For me, it was Kameo, PGR3, and PDZ), or Wii will have. Granted, I know many people also buy the system just for ebay as well...

[Taucias]

Sounds like reactionary BS to me and the story is sourced from the Inquirer, so enough said already. If Sony were having such big yield issues then they wouldn't have made such high predictions about units available in November. The Cell has been in production since May, after the final dev kits shipped so they must have known then if yield rates were an issue.

Source: http://www.ps3blog.net/2006/04/13/ph...n-interview-2/ (copy of the May 2006 Edge interview).

[zappenduster]

its not even one year after production start i would estimate so wheres the problem
i work in a smaller chipproduction fab mostly analog/digital mixed signal stuff and from time to time you get a hitch in the system and for some days the yield goes down the toilet, production gets on hold cause is searched, found and fixed and production goes on
this doesnt have to be a design problem there could have been easily just a layer defected cause a machine wasnt working correctly and the problem wasnt found by normal inspections this happens all the time its very costly and should be a avoided by proper controling methods but chipproduction is so young its still learning by doing

ps. which technology is used for the cell 65nanometers ?

[Taucias]

Silicon-on-Insulator technology, I believe.

[karsten]

CELL is a product by IBM, so sony can blame them and ask for discounts or loss money :D

by the way id on't think it is so otherwise IBM would have dropped such a risky processor

[madhatter256]

Trust me, if they get this thing out before Christmas people will be falling all over themselves to pay $1200+ for it.

Which is why I hope it comes out before then. That way I can jump on the 'sell it at twice its value' bandwagon on ebay. Make a tidy profit.

Anyway. I wonder what the yield rate was when they started making the chips for the dev kits.... I'm assuming the retail will be of a smaller die than the devkits as well as a slower clock speed so as not to produce a lot of heat. I'm thinking the same problem 360 owners had/have when they bought their 360 will occur for those who own PS3s. I'm sure more problems will pop up down the road from the early machines. Typical Quality Control from Sony... just rush the thing out the door and fix it up later.

[g_sepp]

hahahaha riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiidddddd ddddddddddddggggggggggggggeeeeeeeeee Racccccccccceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrr....... Wait you can only use "i" 2 of the "D" and a "R". that will be 1500 bucks

[Dot50Cal]

Sounds like reactionary BS to me and the story is sourced from the Inquirer, so enough said already. If Sony were having such big yield issues then they wouldn't have made such high predictions about units available in November. The Cell has been in production since May, after the final dev kits shipped so they must have known then if yield rates were an issue.

Source: http://www.ps3blog.net/2006/04/13/ph...n-interview-2/ (copy of the May 2006 Edge interview).

Oh lord, I was going to actually read the article until I read who it was from :lol:

Nothing to see here but FUD, heaping moutains of FUD! :evil:

[Sienar]

Actually, it's the inquirer reporting on a story by Reed-Electronics that can be found here http://www.reed-electronics.com/elec...dustryid=21365

Overall it's an interesting read. And with the PS3 only using 7 out of the 8 core's, it's more like a 20-40% yeild-still horrible, but not as bad.

[Taucias]

They also add a disclaimer at the bottom of the article:

Clarification
Tom Reeves, IBM’s VP of semiconductor and technology services, said he was not making any specific references to past or current Cell yields in an executive insight interview that ran last week. He was, instead, referring to large die yield challenges in general and the successful leverage provided by logic redundancy strategies. IBM does not release product specific yield information. This clarification was made on July 14, 2006.