Sony's PSP2 is powered by Nvidia's Tegra line
Unfortunately, Tegra also explains PSP2's delays
by Charlie Demerjian
July 14, 2010
THE ANNUAL RUNNING of the moles in Santa Clara yesterday had some surprising results, not just in the record number of IC engineers gored, but also the information leaked by those trying save their backsides. One of them even leaked some details about the upcoming PSP2's CPU, but it didn't save him.
Unfortunately for that engineer, he wasn't able to make it back to 2701 San Tomas for treatment, and succumbed to his wounds. While he was crawling back to the mothership begging for an 'ouchless' band-aid, he was babbling about how the new PSP2 hardware needed him, and that he was too young to die. Next of kin, not the next Kin, confirmed that the (now ex-) Nvidia engineer was indeed on the Tegra team, and that chip line will be powering the PSP2.
It is now set for a CES showing, but it will almost assuredly be released at a later date. This isn't due to the number of engineers mauled by moles yesterday, but because the Tegra 2 is massively over it's promised power budget. In a segment that finds 5% overages unacceptable, Tegra 2 is 20%+ over power budget. That explains why Nvidia PR suddenly changed the focus of the PSP2 screed to avoid the word 'phone', but, luckily for Sony, the PSP2 does not have phone capabilities.
The power 'whoopsie' means delays and possibly spec downgrades for the PSP2, but we will have to see where it ends up. Between that overage and several showstopper bugs, Sony is said to be very miffed at Nvidia right now. Even the moles could sense that before they pounced on engineer after engineer. The scene in the streets is almost as bad as the scenes in the Nvidia meeting rooms when the Sony people come around.
If the chip that Sony uses for the PSP2 is a vanilla Tegra 2, the design is in trouble. If they use a custom version of the part, there is a chance for things to work out in the end, but expect many delays as the silicon is respun and respun. For a device that has already been delayed because of it's CPU, that is not a good sign.
Unlike the other 20, 50, 70, or however many design wins Nvidia PR is promising this week, the PSP2 is actually going to come out. In fact, it will sell more than the other two Tegra flagship products, the Zune HD and the Kin(s) combined. So more than 20 units, one for the family of each gored engineer, plus or minus a few design wins.S|A
File under Microprocessors and Mobile and Graphics and Channel and Rumors and Humor and Efficiency and Gaming and Software and Finance
22 Comments
Periander July 14, 2010, 11:21 a.m.
Well the PSP has only racked up 60 million units sold so far, so I'm sure this won't amount to anything big for Nvidia.
Dahakon July 14, 2010, 12:04 p.m.
This is one of those "results from the past are no guarantee for the future" things really. That the original PSP sold quite decent does not mean that it's successor will do so too. In any case, nVidia can use a piece of hardware with Tegra in it selling in such quantities by now, as thus far, it hasn't been much of a success.
rich wargo July 14, 2010, 12:30 p.m.
Rhetorical question: How many times can you respin a chip until it gets dizzy and refuses to work at all?
Jonathan July 14, 2010, 1:31 p.m.
"Tegra 2 is 20%+ over power budget"
Sources please. This would be huge news but at this point this claim seems to be unsubstantiated.
dan July 14, 2010, 4:09 p.m.
Is 20% over power budget really a problem for Sony? After all, they released a firmware update for the original PSP that raised the CPU clock significantly.
-dan
ShinyShoes July 14, 2010, 4:30 p.m.
Jonathan, did you just ask Charlie to burn his sources inside nVidia? lol
Jonathan July 14, 2010, 6:36 p.m.
Sorry if my request was impertinent, but I was excited about the prospects of tegra phones supposedly being released this fall. The 20% number mentioned could mean big trouble. I suppose time will tell if this rumor is true.
NRS July 14, 2010, 7:38 p.m.
NVIDIA has no baseband... WHO in the hell will use Tegra 2 and play the hodge podge game Apple does with an app processor and a separate baseband. Apple can pull this off but not others - hence NO TEGRA2 customers in the mobile phone space. (or the ones that did show up like the Kin and long gone).
It's just NOT a compelling mobile phone platform; great for MID's, portable gaming or tablets - but NOT phones. It's a have assed platform you as an ODM need to pull together.
argh July 15, 2010, 1:17 a.m.
Charlie has no sources inside anything whatsoever lol.
He works off AMD checks, if you can call this "work".
Adam July 15, 2010, 8:33 a.m.
PSP2 is going to be Tegra-based? Ew... I now officially have no interest in it.
I returned my original PSP after 2 days of playing it and realizing that the games were mostly load screens (though I guess now that it's not UMD-based, it doesn't have that problem anymore).
Phenimation July 15, 2010, 6:15 p.m.
Jeez! What a terrible name. Far too long.
Bill July 15, 2010, 6:18 p.m.
Sony already has a relationship with nVidia due to the RSX in PS3, so I guess it makes sense that they paired again with PSP2.
PSP2 will undoubtelly be a download only portable, as the PSP Go, since the UMD failed miserably (hence Sony released PSP Go).
As Fermi also broke it's projected TDP through the roof, being designed by the same company, it's quite believable that Tegra2 also blew it's target. nVidia probably was counting with 32nm process, which didn't came to be, so it's target couldn't be met.
The original PSP never had enough battery life. If you play a demanding game, the juice runs out quite quickly. I guess we should expect the same thing from PSP2.
William of Occam July 16, 2010, 7:37 a.m.
So is this is the same Tegra that was "in" Nintendo's 3DS but then actually wasn't? I think I'll only believe that it's in PSP2 when it comes out and Sony actually confirms it.
Bill
KING July 16, 2010, 10:42 a.m.
GF104 , Now Tegra lol
jiy July 17, 2010, 2:11 a.m.
really?
GTPW July 17, 2010, 3:53 a.m.
Really??
Ken July 17, 2010, 4:18 a.m.
Great article,'except for the fact that PSP2 graphics will be powered by PowerVR SGX543MP graphics core licensed from Imagination Technologies about a year and a half ago.
Bad Charlie ...
Rowdy July 21, 2010, 2:46 p.m.
As usual the bull is deep within charlie's mind, must br nice to live in a surreal world.
sdf July 21, 2010, 11:32 p.m.
"Well the PSP has only racked up 60 million units sold so far, so I'm sure this won't amount to anything big for Nvidia."
only? are you nuts?
LOLPSP July 23, 2010, 12:30 p.m.
Lovely, more speculation about the PSP2 from nameless sources. Funny how I've heard time and time again about the "event where Sony will showcase it." Now, out of the 99999999 times this has happened how many times has the PSP2 actually been demonstrated? 0. Shut up and keep your speculation to yourself and stop trying to drive up hits with dubious claims. I'll believe it when I see it. ;-)
TareX July 25, 2010, 3:30 p.m.
By December 2010, if we don't have SOLID Tegra 2 Android 3.0 phones; sell your NVIDIA stock.
As for the PSP2, I don't think Tegra 2 is powerful enough for it.
Kazriko July 27, 2010, 6:08 p.m.
@dan:
That overclock they did for the PSP only applied to a few games, and to all PS1 games emulated on the system, and it really hurts battery life. More than 40% drop in battery life when it's active...
I hate to play PS1 games when I don't have my spare battery with me because of it.
Add your comment