[misterdogman]

Originally Posted by KillerBug First, there are no extra slots or ports inside any PS3 model. Second, the CELL isn't on a socket; it is soldered right to the board. Some companies had made specialized workstations and servers using these processors, but they were all low volume so they cost a fortune. Because of the extreme low volume, IBM was doing poorly on these chips. Their only major customer was Sony, and at the time, the PS3 was not selling very well. They ran into an issue after a while because they needed to shrink the die to continue to compete in this ultra-high-end market...and their 65nm fab was already running at full capacity. Sony and IBM seem to have come to an agreement...IBM would continue to produce the chips if Sony would contribute about $325 million to the costs of the new fab. Sony just had one major demand...they demanded to be the only people who got these chips. IBM agreed, and this was effectively the end of CELL workstations and servers, with the exception of the PS3. Remember, at this time the PS3 had OtherOS...so IBM considered the PS3 to be a full-fledged CELL workstation ideal for the uses once reserved for the $10,000+ CELL workstations. They knew they could make more money and sell more units with this agreement, and they were willing to give up all other distributors for this reason. Originally this was an open source platform that anyone could build, with IBM providing all the information needed...but their agreement with Sony changed that. While the information is still available, the formerly free licensing is no longer available at all...and the chips cannot even be purchased by themselves anymore. When OtherOS was removed from the PS3, this was the final nail in the CELL coffin. It was no longer possible to buy a PS3 with firmware 3.15 or lower, so everything quickly fell apart. Sony still makes development workstations, but they are very closed and very expensive...used just for PS3 development and nothing else. So, that is the story of how Sony made IBM a fortune on the CELL processor while destroying IBM's dream of one day competing with Intel and AMD in the desktop/laptop/server market. Hope you enjoyed it. BTW...you can still get older models (pre 3.55) in box and unopened for a lot less than the cost of a replacement mainboard for one of those old 90nm workstations...you can actually get an unopened 60GB PS3 for less than the cost of a used CELL mainboard.

HAHA I actually did enjoy it. It put all the info right in my head and made me understand what I was already thinking is indeed true. SONY is a bunch of proprietary bastards just like MS or Apple. They sold a machine capable of fantastic things and dumbed it down for the sake of greediness. So long as nobody does cool things with it and uses it to its fullest extent they will be happy, I guess. Man that sucks. I guess the only way to do what I speak of here is to get a pre 3.55 console or use one of the downgraders like Progskeet or Teensy or E3 or something huh? What is the best and most commonly used flash downgrader lately anyway? I been out of the loop regarding that stuff. Also thanks for your insight and time everyone. It has been nice to get help from those in the know.