The History of PS3 Motherboards

[user friendly]

I put this together in another forum and thought it would be good for here as well and maybe it would interest some people to know that Sony is constantly improving their mobo design with every model.


Since launch back in 06, the PS3 mobo has changed quite a bit in a years time. It seems Sony is still working on a design that they can be happy with, both production and cost wise.

They are now on their 5th motherboard layout and some will be surprised by the fact that the 40GB white (JPN) and the 40GB black (NA) models are actually completely different.

The history is as follows:


20GB:



North American 60GB:


Not much different than the 20GB but there is a slight difference

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European 60GB / North American 80GB:


This is where you start to really see the differences in layout. The most obvious is the Emotion Engine (EE) has been plucked out and is being emulated via software means. The motherboard also looks a lot cleaner on the left side.

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White 40GB / Black 40GB:


This is probably the most surprising out of all the redesigns. Both 40GB models are completely different. The white model (JPN) now has 2x128MB for XDR ram, instead of 4x64MB. Also, the Cell is now 65nm, the RSX is still 90nm though.

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The HDD is installed differently in the White model as well and the back of the unit is different than the Black SKU.




They are perfecting the mobo as much as they can, cutting costs very effectively imo. The cooling method is much different than it used to be on the 60GB model. (pics in the link below)

Click here for more info

I'll refine this if anyone catches any mistakes or has any additions.