Cracking open Sony's PlayStation 2 (slim case)

Box - Front

The new slim case PlayStation 2's box is smaller then the boxes for the Xbox 360, Wii, and PlayStation 3.

Box - Back

Sony packed a ton of information on the box's back in English, French, and Spanish.

Box contents label

For $129.99 (plus tax), this new PlayStation 2 SCPH-77001 comes with the console, one DUALSHOCK 2 analog controller, an AV cable, AC power cord and adaptor, online sart-up disc, and printed manuals.

What, no stand?

If you look closely at the box's front cover, you'll see the PlayStation 2 standing upright on a thin, circular stand. Unfortunately, this vertical stand is not included with the console. You can buy the vertical stand for about $20 USD from various retailers.

Opening the box

PlayStation 2 box contents

Before buying this unit, I had never seen or held a slim case PlayStation 2. I was surprised by the PS2's tiny size. The included DUALSHOCK 2 controller is almost as wide as the PS2.

Analog DUALSHOCK 2 controller - Top

The DUALSHOCK 2 controller provides vibration feedback.

Analog DUALSHOCK 2 controller - Front

AV cable

The included AV cable provides RCA video and audio plugs.

PlayStation 2 - Front

On the front of the PlayStation 2, you'll find two memory card ports, two controller ports, disc cover open button, power/reset button, two USB ports, the IR receiver, and front cooling vents.

PlayStation 2 - Front controller and memory card ports

The PlayStation 2 supports both the ~120KB PlayStation memory cards (SCPH-1020 U) and the 8MB PlayStation 2 memory cards (SCPH-10020 U).

PlayStation 2 - Front buttons and USB ports

PlayStation 2 - Right side

The PlayStation 2's right side, or bottom when mounted vertically, has three small holes used to attached the vertical stand--sold separately.

PlayStation 2 - Back

The Ethernet jack, digital audio out (optical), AV multi out connector, power connector, and two cooling vents are located on rear of the PlayStation 2.

PlayStation 2 - Rear Ports

This image shows a closeup of the Ethernet jack, digital audio out (optical), AV multi out connector, power connector, and one of the rear vents.

PlayStation 2 - Left side

The PlayStation 2's CD/DVD drive takes up most of the unit's left side.

PlayStation 2 - Drive door open

The PlayStation 2's optical drive supports the following formats:

PlayStation format CD-ROM
PlayStation 2 format CD-ROM
PlayStation 2 format DVD-ROM
Audio CD
DVD-R
DVD-RW (Video mode)
DVD R
DVD RW

PlayStation 2 vs. PlayStation 3 Blu-Ray drive

I thought it would be interesting to compare the PlayStation 2 and some of the components from the PlayStation 3. This picture shows the whole PlayStation 2 console and the PlayStation 3's Blu-Ray drive.

If you would like to see more of the PlayStation 3's internal hardware, check out my gallery, "Cracking open the Sony PlayStation 3".

PlayStation 2 vs. PlayStation 3 Blu-Ray drive

This picture is another shot with the PlayStation 2's drive cover open and the PlayStation 3's Blu-Ray drive.

PlayStation 2 vs. PlayStation 3 Cooling system

This photo shows another shocking comparison--the slim case PlayStation 2 and the cooling system from the PlayStation 3.

PlayStation 2 vs. PlayStation 3 cooling fan

When I saw the size of the PlayStation 3's fan, I had to take this photo.

PlayStation 2 - Bottom

To disassemble the PlayStation 2, you'll start on the bottom. There are six case screws that you must remove.

Warranty seal

This warranty seal covers one of the case screws.

Void if removed

There's no turning back now.

Remove the six Phillips case screws

Removing the warranty stick, the unit's two rear rubber feat and three rubber plugs from the front will reveal the six Phillips case screws.

Unlike the Nintendo Wii or PlayStation 3, the PlayStation 2 has no security screws.

PlayStation 2, case top, and screws

With the six case screws removed, you can gently lift off the PlayStation 2's top cover. Unlike the Xbox 360, Wii, or PlayStation 3, the PlayStation 2's lacks a self contained optical drive. Removing the case's top half exposes the optical drive's laser and drive mechanism. Be careful not to damage these components during dissection and reassembly.

Case top removed

Removing the case's top half also exposes the PlayStation 2's metal shielding, tiny cooling fan, heatsink, power button PCB, and a tiny bit of the mainboard.

Metal shielding screw

To remove the metal shielding and mainboard from the case's bottom half, remove this screw--located between the two memory card ports.

PlayStation 2 mainboard and metal shielding - Top

With the last screw removed, you can lift the metal shielding and mother assembly away from the case's bottom half.

Cooling fan

There are three small screws connecting the cooling fan to the metal shielding. Remove these screws, disconnect the fan's cable, cut through the white sticker that holds the cable to the metal shielding, and then remove the fan.

Cooling fins

Compared with the PlayStation 3's massive cooling system, the PlayStation 2 heatsink is downright puny.

CD/DVD ROM drive

Instead of being a self-contained component, the PlayStation 2's CD/DVD drive is part of the metal shielding. Four, screws hold the drive mechanism to the shielding and mainboard. You must remove these screws before removing the shielding.

CD/DVD ROM drive ribbon cable

Before removing the metal shield from the mainboard, disconnect the CD/DVD drive's ribbon cable.

CD/DVD ROM drive lifted up

The CD/DVD drive's ribbon cable is fastened to the metal shield with an adhesive. I was unsure if the cable could withstand the stress of being pulled free, so I left the CD/DVD drive in place.

PlayStation 2 metal shielding - Top

With the CD/DVD ROM screws removed and the ribbon cable disconnected, you can remove the top section of the metal shielding.

PlayStation 2 mainboard and metal shielding - Bottom

There are not screws to remove on the bottom of the metal shielding. Just gently separate the shield from the mainboard.

PlayStation 2 metal shielding - Bottom

The metal shields are easily bent. Be careful when removing them.

Power button board

The PlayStation 2's power button is mounted on a separate PCB.

Mainboard - Top

The slimline PlayStation 2's mainboard is dramatically different than the original PS2 mainboard. Many of the functions once handled by separate components hare now handled by single chips. For example, the Emotion Engine (CPU) and Graphics Synthesizer (GPU) are now a single chip.

Mainboard - Rear ports

This image shows the system batter, CPU/GPU (covered with a gray pad), and the PS2's rear ports.

Mainboard - Memory card and controller ports

PlayStation 2 mainboard - without CPU/GPU pad

With the protective pad removed, you get a better view of the integrated Emotion Engine and Graphic Synthesizer.

Integrated Emotion Engine (CPU) and Graphics Synthesizer (GPU)

Jointly designed by Toshiba and Sony, the PlayStation 2's Emotion Engine is a 128 bit, 294.9 MHz RISC processor that provides 6.2 GFLOPS of floating-point performance. The graphic processor is capable of 128-bit 2D/3D graphics acceleration, uses 4MB of video RAM, and can produce a maximum resolution (external) of 1280 x 1024.

Sony CXD9209GP

I was unable to locate any information on the Sony CXD9209GP chip. The PlayStation 3 has a very similar Sony chip labeled CXD9208GP, but I was unable to locate any specific information on that chip.

Hynix 616A - 32MB RDRAM

System battery

According to at least one forum post I've read, removing the system battery can cause the PlayStation 2's system clock to stick. If this happens the main screen's rotating blue ball doesn't move and the clock's numbers won't change. To fix or 'unstick' the clock, try to change the clock's numbers for several minutes. Eventually the numbers should change and the clock will restart.

Samsung K4R271669F 128Mbit RDRAM

Samsung K4R271669F 128Mbit RDRAM (F-die) - 256K x 16 bit x 32s Banks

Spansion NOR Flash memory chip

Although I can't be 100 percent certain, I believe this Spansion NOR Flash memory chip is used to store the PlayStation 2's BIOS.

Spansion, AMD's former memory division, also provided memory chips for the PS3's Bluetooth module and Blu-Ray drive. AMD spun Spansion off as a separate company in 2006.

Texas Instruments or Sipex SP375 1A integrated circuit

I was unable to find any information explaining this chip's function. Searching the Internet for 'SP375', I found several references for a SP375 integrated circuit made by Texas Instruments and Sipex.

DVD Control integrated circuit (IC)

Posts on several PlayStation 2 forums identified the CXR716080 chip as the DVD Control integrated circuit (IC)

Broadcom BCM524110/100BASE-TX Single-Channel Transceiver

Broadcom's BCM524110/100BASE-TX Single-Channel Transceiver provides the PlayStation 2's Ethernet support.

Mainboard - Bottom

Sony CXD3098Q digital signal processor (DSP)

My research indicated that the chip shown in this picture is a custom digital signal processor (DSP) that provides the floating-point calculations used for 3D graphics and the video decoding for DVD playback.

Sony CXM4015R video signal processing

According to a forum post on nfggames.com, the Sony CXM4015R chip converts the raw video signal from the CPU/GPU into RGB video. As part of the signal processing, the chip handles the MacroVision (copy protection) mixing and Sync-On-Green (component video sync signal) mixing.

Mainboard labeling

Mainboard Sony copyright

Completely disassembled

With only a handful of screws and very very few internal components, the PlayStation 2 was a cinch to take apart and put back together. After more than six years of production, Sony has condensed the PS2 into an extremely tight package--as game consoles go. Although newer consoles have surpassed the PS2's capabilities, it's still a worthwhile gadget--if for nothing other than a spare DVD player.

It still works!

After putting the pieces back together, our PlayStation 2 test system still worked.