PlayStation 2

The PlayStation 2 (PS2) (Japanese: プレイステーション2) is Sony's second video game console, after the PlayStation. Its development was announced in April 1999, and it was first released in Japan on March 4, 2000. The U.S. version was released on October 26, 2000. Following a slow first year due to a lack of units built and ready, the PlayStation 2 has grown to become a popular gaming console, with over 90 million units sold.

Technical specifications

The specifications of the PlayStation 2 console are as follows, with hardware revisions:

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• CPU: 128 bit "Emotion Engine" clocked at 294 MHz (later versions 299 MHz), 10.5 million transistors
• System Memory: 32 MB Direct Rambus or RDRAM (note that some computers use this type of RAM)
• Memory Bus Bandwidth: 3.2 GB per second
• Main processor: MIPS R5900 CPU core, 64 bit
• Co-Processor: FPU (Floating Point Multiply Accumulator × 1, Floating Point Divider × 1)
• Vector Units: VU0 and VU1 (Floating Point Multiply Accumulator × 9, Floating Point Divider × 1), 128 bit
• Floating Point Performance: 6.2 GFLOPS
• 3D CG Geometric Transformation: 66 million polygons per second (1)
• Compressed Image Decoder: MPEG-2
• I/O Processor interconnection: Remote Procedure Call over a serial link, DMA controller for bulk transfer
• Cache Memory: Instruction: 16KB, Data: 8KB + 16 KB (ScrP)
• Graphics: "Graphics Synthesizer" clocked at 147 MHz
• DRAM Bus bandwidth: 47.0GB per second
• DRAM Bus width: 2560-bit
• Pixel Configuration: RGB:Alpha:Z Buffer (24:8, 15:1 for RGB, 16, 24, or 32-bit Z buffer)
• Maximum Polygon Rate: 75 million polygons per second (1)
• Dedicated connection to: Main CPU and VU1
• Sound: "SPU1+SPU2"
• Number of voices: 48 hardware channels of ADPCM on SPU2 plus software-mixed channels
• Sampling Frequency: 44.1 kHz or 48 kHz (selectable)
• I/O Processor
• CPU Core: Original PlayStation CPU (MIPS R3000A clocked at 33.8 MHz or 37.5 MHz)
• Sub Bus: 32 Bit
• Connection to: SPU and CD/DVD controller.
• Interface Types: 2 proprietary PlayStation controller ports, 2 proprietary Memory Card slots using MagicGate encryption, Expansion Bay (DEV9 or PCMCIA on early models) port for Network Adaptor, Modem and Hard Disk Drive, IEEE 1394 (2), Infrared remote control port (2), and 2 USB 1.1 ports with an OHCI-compatible controller.
• Disc Media: DVD-ROM (CD-ROM compatible) with copy protection. 4.7GB capacity, a few are DVD-9 (8.5 GB)

(1) Polygons per second under ideal circumstances (e.g. no texturing, lighting, or vertex colors applied). Some criticize these figures for being unrealistic, and not indicative of real-world performance. The true polygons per second figure with full textures, effects etc. is around 13 million.

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(2) IEEE 1394 removed in SCPH-50000 and later hardware versions, and Infrared remote port added.

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