Memory
PlayStation 3 video memory (GDDR3)
256 MiB of GDDR3 belonging to the RSX, external to it rather than embedded as the PlayStation 2's was.
- Manufacturer
- NVIDIA (interface) / Sony Computer Entertainment (system)
- Capacity
- 512 MiB
- Type
- GDDR3
- Record status
- approved
Figures
provisional A figure marked provisional is recorded but not accepted: its evidence is unsettled. It may rely on one source, an unconfirmed announcement, or a digit read from a damaged scan. The reason appears under the figure. The catalog shows the figure but never uses it in a multiplier. How records are judged.
| Metric | Value | Evidence | Basis | Method | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Memory capacity memory | 256 MiB | Confirmed | Vendor-rated | Design capacity Stated by the vendor Video memory attached to the RSX, in the console Sony launched. Both releases write "256MB", meaning 256 MiB. External to the RSX rather than embedded in it, unlike the PlayStation 2's graphics memory. A third Sony document states the same two capacities, and it is the first written for a buyer holding the machine rather than for the press: the specification table in the CECHA01 instruction manual. | |
| Memory bandwidth memory provisional | 22.4 GB/s | Confirmed | Vendor-rated | Theoretical peak Stated by the vendor, before the hardware shipped "System Bandwidth — VRAM", per the announcement of May 2005. A bus figure from a pre-launch table. Worth reading beside the PlayStation 2's graphics memory, which was sixty-four times smaller and twice this fast, although the multiplier is refused: this figure is provisional, having been announced before the console shipped and never restated afterwards. Reviewed again against the instruction manual printed for the console that shipped (CECHA01, 2006): its specification table names the Cell and the RSX without a frequency for either and both memories without a transfer rate, so no post-launch Sony document corroborates this figure and it stays provisional. |
Fitted to
Editorial notes
The PlayStation 2 put four mebibytes of graphics memory on the graphics die and paid for the bandwidth with capacity. The PlayStation 3 reverses the trade: sixty-four times the capacity, off-chip, at a fraction of the per-byte bandwidth. Neither pool is addressable as the other, so the console's 512 MiB is never one number.