Emotion Engine

Overview

Also known as "EE", the Emotion Engine used in the Playstation 2 gaming console's hardware is a central processing unit developed and manufactured by Sony Computer Entertainment and Toshiba. It runs at the Clock speed of 294.912 MHz. It was also used in early PlayStation 3 models sold in Japan and North America (Model Numbers CECHAxx & CECHBxx) (as part of EE+GS) to provide PlayStation 2 game backward compatibility. Mass production of the Emotion Engine began in 1999 and ended in early 2013 with the discontinuation of the PlayStation 2. The first revision released in retail consoles, CXD9542GB, is known to have been manufactured using a 250nm process, contain 13.5 million transistors and consume 18 W of power.

There have been die-shrinks and optimizations over the years.

Revisions

• Press Release
  • 250 nm process, 240 mm² die size, 10.5 million transistors
  • 15 W power consumption
  • Announced at ISSCC 99, not used in any final/consumer consoles
• 1.4: CXD9542GB
  • 250 nm process, 226 mm² die size, 13.5 million transistors
  • 18 W power consumption
  • Copyright date: 1999
  • Used on motherboards: GH-001, GH-003
• 2.0: CXD9615GB
  • 180 nm process, 110 mm² die size
  • Copyright date: 2000
  • Used on motherboards: GH-004 - GH-016, GH-015 might contain either CXD9615GB or CXD9708GB
  • 
• 3.0 / 3.1: CXD9708GB
  • 150 nm process, 73 mm² die size (guesswork! proper measurements are highly welcome)
  • Copyright date: 2001
  • Used on motherboards: GH-015 - GH-032-11 (at least), GH-015 might contain either CXD9615GB or CXD9708GB
• 3.0 / 3.1: CXD9832GB
  • process node? die size?
  • Copyright date: 2001
  • Used on motherboards: ? - GH-032-54 - GH-041
• 4.3: CXD2976GB
  • process node?
  • 104 mm² + 78 mm² die size
    • Actually contains 2 dies piggybacked together
    • One of these dies likely contains all the DRAM for the various components included in this package (or at least the RDRAM); this needs confirmation
  • Copyright date: 2007 or 2008
  • plastic case with metal circle on top, also includes the RDRAM and IOP with IOP's RAM and SPU2 with SPU2's RAM
  • Used on motherboards: GH-061-12 - GH-072-42, thus used in every 790xx and 900xx slim PS2

Interfaces

Emotion Engine has a 1.8 V (2.0 V on CXD9542GB) serial interface with hardware flow control (RXD, TXD, RTS, CTS) as well as a JTAG port. Both do also still exist on EE+GS.