We all knew that Big Blue would come through some day. As Intel preps it's new Penryn 45nm processors for the personal computer market, IBM also takes a stroll down the same reduced die package lane. And at the recent ISSCC, short of International Solid-State Circuits Conference, IBM made their plans known to roll out a 45nm version of the CELL Broadband Engine whose 90nm, 65nm cousins currently power the various Sony PlayStation 3 SKUs.

Less means more. This is the statement that Sony aims to prove true when the company revealed that it will be featuring its new 45 nm Cell processor at the upcoming International Solid State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) in San Francisco this February 3 to 7. The new Cell Broadband Engine will be nearly twice as efficient, consuming only around 40% the power compared to its older 65 nm model. Check out the full article for more details.

How many times have we reported that IBM is the true winner of the console wars? Well, we have mentioned that twice - last November and December to be exact. Now, the company has recently taken the wraps off its newest creation - the world's fastest eDRAM.

At the International Solid State Circuits Conference (ISSCC), IBM revealed a pioneering on-chip memory technology that is blessed with the fastest access times ever recorded in an Embedded Dynamic Random Access Memory (eDRAM). This is the same type of memory used in the daughter-die of the Xbox 360's graphical processing unit (GPU). IBM also helped in creating the console's three-core Power PC CPU.

The new eDRAM from IBM improves on-processor memory performance in one-third the space with one-fifth the standby power of your usual, garden-variety RAM. With that, this technology would improve microprocessor performance in multi-core designs. It would also speed up the graphics movement in gaming and other multi-media applications.

It is expected that this new eDRAM would be an integral part of IBM's 45nm microprocessor and will become available in 2008.

And the new Cell Processor award goes to...? Which device, exactly? Signs are pointing towards the next-Next-Gen PS3. Or at least, Spong tries to speculate this possibility. They had sniffed out some interesting notes from International Solid State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) and a meeting about "Implementation of the CELL Broadband Engine in a 65nm SOI Technology."

Given the PS3's current Cell Processor, which runs at 3.2GHz and measured at 90-nano-metres (nm), it's interesting to find a new chip in the game. ISSCC notes revealed that:

The (new) chip operates at 6GHz at 1.3V and is fabricated in a 65nm CMOS SOI technology. The 65nm CELL Broadband Engine design features a dual power supply, which enhances SRAM stability and performance using an elevated array-specific power supply, while reducing the logic power consumption.

Intriguing? Hold your horses. That's not enough beef to prove that this supposed chip will head for the PS3. Not enough yet.

Apparently, among those who will attend this ISSCC conference would be a certain "S. Tokito" from SCE. Spong further speculates that this could possibly be Shizuo Tokito - the man behind the Blu-Ray. And if you put two and two together - the Cell Processor and Blue-Ray - the idea of this new processor heading to a future PS3 becomes that much more plausible.

Of course, there are other arguments that can be put forward here, one of which could be that the speculated new chip would be placed in the AV-centric PS3 that Ken Kutaragi "promised". Whatever the case, the said meeting will take place this February 13, so sure enough, we'll hear more about this 6GHz chip soon.