Worklog PS3 R&D Thread

BadWDSD enables noWifi + no BT through qCFW. So it'll be a persistent softmod unlike HEN and won't require internet connectivity to enable or set the time.

In general on both HEN and (q)CFW, you need to relicense installed content using rap files to avoid the date/time sync error. MrMario2011 has some YouTube tutorials discussing how to do this with rap2bin.

I haven't touched PS3 in some time and won't get back to it for the foreseeable future because of the sheer power draw. @jose_Leo12's PS3 portable runs for just 2 hours from nine 5Ah 21700 cells (3S3P) which indicates the mobo draws 65W. Dropping the input voltage to the converters to gain efficiency means you have to deal with some insane currents-- many dozens of amps on the core rails-- which negates the efficiency gains. I'm not even sure the regs can be swapped out since iirc the system talks to them over SPMI or something. What Jose did is probably about as good as it gets.

To measure regulator currents, lift the output side of the inductors and insert a current sense resistor (1mΩ - 100mΩ). The resistor value must be selected to minimize power loss while still producing a measurable voltage drop (which will be proportional to the output current). P=I²R, so even a 1mΩ resistor in series with a 30A rail will burn an entire watt. Sometimes you can use the inductor itself as the current sense element, but this has its own set of issues because the inductor current is not constant. You can also use an inductive current probe (i.e. small clamp meter) on a wire loop, or run the core rail from a bench power supply with current monitoring.

Best of luck on your research, and please share anything you discover in this thread!
 
Thank you for the info I’ll take a look at his tutorials, and as soon as I get more work done on my super slim I’ll make sure to post here.
 
The Wii U, Xbox, and Xbox 360 have been trimmed. Will the PlayStation 3 be the next power hungry console on the chopping block?

View attachment 35870

The PS3 motherboard is wickedly complex. It makes the Wii U and Xbox 360 look downright basic, and trimming it will be no easy feat. Thankfully, the PS3 has a relatively robust homebrew scene, and there's already quite a bit of hardware documentation on psdevwiki.

Old revisions like the COK-001 and COK-002 are simply not gonna work for portablizing. Giant BGAs are spread out all over the board, including a partial PS2 chipset, and the ICs are on old process nodes that are super power hungry. There are also 4 RDRAM ICs and the motherboard is 6 (or 8?) layers.

View attachment 35869View attachment 35867

The general consensus on the BB Discord is that only the final PS3 Super Slim revisions will achieve decent thermals and battery life in a compact form factor. These diagrams give a general overview of the Super Slim motherboard's anatomy.

View attachment 35872
View attachment 35873

It's highly optimized compared to the older models, but multiple daughterboards and insane trace rewiring will still be necessary.

Here's a short info dump of what I've learned so far:
  • Finding the lowest-power Super Slim motherboards
    • Some CECH-40xx and CECH-42xx motherboards have 28nm RSX.
    • All CECH-43xx motherboards have 28nm RSX.
    • CECH-43xx motherboards (RTX-001 and REX-001) purportedly have fewer PCB layers (presumably 4L, down from 6L on previous revs)
    • For this reason, I have been seeking out CECH-43xx motherboards (RTX-001 and REX-001) since they're guaranteed to be the lowest power
  • Boot requirements, CFW, and disc drive patches
    • Certain hardware boot requirements are already well-understood, thanks to the homebrew community
    • The disc drive controller IC and Wi-Fi/BT module are required to load software and play games. The system blackscreens when loading games without them present
    • Earlier revision PS3 consoles (CECH-25xx and earlier) can run "noBD" and "noBT" CFW, which patches out these requirements
    • As of 2024, Super Slim consoles cannot run CFW. Therefore the disc drive IC and BT module cannot be patched out.
    • This is the Super Slim tradeoff: more relocations in exchange for lower chipset power. How much lower? Idk yet.
    • CECH-25xx has a 40nm RSX and a larger-package CELL, but thanks to CFW could be trimmed without relocating disc drive controller or BT.
    • View attachment 35874
    • The CECH-25xx could be an alternate trim route if Super Slim relocations prove too onerous. Tradeoff = more power.
  • Southbridge & Relocations
    • This site gives a good overview of the console architecture.
    • All game-loading interfaces (SATA, USB) run through the Southbridge
    • The Southbridge then connects to the CELL over "FlexIO" (high speed differential interface)
    • A Southbridge+NOR daughterboard will have to be cut out and reconnected to the mobo
    • Daughterboards for the disc drive controller, Syscon, and Wi-Fi/BT will also be mandatory :'(
  • HDMI, HDCP, and analog video
    • The PS3 HDMI output uses HDCP at all times.
    • We have to test whether Wisecoco/Eyoyo type driver boards care about this.
    • If they can't display the video, we might be forced to use analog video.
    • If analog video is required, hopefully we can use RGB and grab H-Sync / V-Sync from the video encoder for VGA.
  • Softmod setup on Super Slims
    • As of 2024, Super Slims can only use PS3HEN to run homebrew and load backups from HDD or USB.
    • PS3HEN is not persistent across reboots, but all you have to do is re-run the enabler after a reboot, which just takes clicking an icon in XMB.
    • Running the enabler doesn't require internet! Should work perfectly in a portable.
With custom regs, daughterboards for the Southbridge, Syscon, disc drive controller, Wi-Fi/BT, and video encoder, the max possible trim would look something like this. I am very optimistic about this being possible.
View attachment 35875
I did some experiments and confirmed that the disc drive mechacon (SOIC) is not required for boot. The disc drive controller (QFP) is required for games to load. Next, I'll try removing the Ethernet controller.

View attachment 35876View attachment 35877

The dream would be a new exploit for Super Slim systems that allows for full CFW, and patching out the disc drive and Wi-Fi/BT just like on older systems. That would eliminate a ton of wiring, but is probably not going to happen anytime soon.

If anybody has additional insights, or wants to share their ideas or research, please post in this thread! Let's do this thing!
The board can be trimmed even more when u use the coding from PS3HEN... It totally removes the cd drive all together not needing it for the boot up.... And after that goes other systems can go such ass the support for blu Ray.... Also since you are using PS3HEN u can remove other things... With the lack of the cd drive u save much power.... So it drops from 190w to roughly 145w.... And since certain ppl aren't going to run this online... There is another coding to remove Internet all together, u can now remove all Internet related stuff..... Dropping it from 145w to 105w ... Using more coding u can drop it to a nice 89w but the games will run laggy ... So put it at 99w.....and when using a board use the ps3 super slim 4000
 
The board can be trimmed even more when u use the coding from PS3HEN... It totally removes the cd drive all together not needing it for the boot up.... And after that goes other systems can go such ass the support for blu Ray.... Also since you are using PS3HEN u can remove other things... With the lack of the cd drive u save much power.... So it drops from 190w to roughly 145w.... And since certain ppl aren't going to run this online... There is another coding to remove Internet all together, u can now remove all Internet related stuff..... Dropping it from 145w to 105w ... Using more coding u can drop it to a nice 89w but the games will run laggy ... So put it at 99w.....and when using a board use the ps3 super slim 4000
You can't do that with Hen, Hen is just a homebrew enabler. It doesn't really give you much hardware access like complete CFW does. Hence why BadWDSD now exists.
 
Hi guys just a heads up boardview for sem-001 will be available by January
for now pqx-001 scans are not ideally sanded and same sized for retracing so top later will now be finished for time being
@ me when that's done pleasee. Currently working on the opposite of a portable and the lack of ps3 super slim technical stuff online is really annoying. Even the psdevwiki basically overlooks that gen.
 
@ me when that's done pleasee. Currently working on the opposite of a portable and the lack of ps3 super slim technical stuff online is really annoying. Even the psdevwiki basically overlooks that
why don't you help me out then
send board scans or photos of cell and rsx all pads intact and then we will see where that ends up by the pretty much done just need to make sure cell and rsx pinnout to double check
 
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