PlayStation Portable hardware

The PSP's main microprocessor is a multifunction device named "Allegrex" that includes a 32-bit MIPS32 R4k-based CPU (Little Endian), a Floating Point Unit, and a Vector Floating Point Unit. Additionally, there is a processor block known as "Media Engine" that contains another 32-bit MIPS32 R4k-base CPU, hardware for multimedia decoding (such as H.264), and a programmable DSP dubbed "Virtual Mobile Engine". The secondary CPU present in the Media Engine is functionally equivalent to the primary CPU save for a lack of a VPU. The MIPS CPU cores are globally clocked between 1 and 333 MHz. During the 2005 GDC, Sony revealed that it had capped the PSP's CPU clock speed at 222 MHz for licensed software. Its reasons for doing so are unknown, but are the subject of some speculation. Various homebrew tools enable users to operate at 333 MHz, generally leading to a higher frame rate at the expense of battery life. On June 22, 2007, Sony Computer Entertainment confirmed that the firmware version 3.50 does in fact remove this restriction and allows future games to run at the full 333 MHz speed. It does not affect already-released games.[3]

The system has 32 MiB main RAM in the original PSP and 64 MiB in the PSP 2000 (and subsequent series) and 4 MiB embedded DRAM in all models. The 4 MiB of eDRAM consists of 2 MiB dedicated to the graphics processing unit and 2 MB dedicated to the Media Engine secondary processor. There is no memory management unit for either CPU. No evidence of a TLB has been found. The co-processor that normally manages the TLB-based MMU seems to be a custom effort by Sony and has no integrated memory. Both CPUs contain 16 KiB of two-way set associative instruction cache and data cache respectively. There is additionally 16 KiB of scratchpad RAM which, while faster than main RAM, is not nearly as fast as the integrated cache.

The PSP's eDRAM memory chip is the earliest known use of a three-dimensional integrated circuit (3D IC) chip in a commercial product. The eDRAM (embedded DRAM) memory was manufactured by Toshiba in a 3D system-in-package chip with two integrated circuit (IC) dies stacked vertically.[4] Toshiba called it "semi-embedded DRAM" at the time, before later calling it a stacked "chip-on-chip" (CoC) solution.[4][5]

The 166 MHz graphics chip has 2 MiB embedded memory and through its 512 bit interface provides hardware polygon and NURBS rendering, 16bit Depth Buffer, Bézier Surfaces, Bézier Curves, B-Splines, hardware directional per-vertex lighting, Bloom, Motion Blur, Gouraud Shading, Cel Shading, culling, mipmapping, LOD, clipping, Lightmapping, environment mapping, Render to Texture, shadow mapping, shadow volumes, environment projection and perspective-correct texture mapping, texture compression, tessellation, Hardware Transform and Lighting (T&L), fogging, alpha blending, alpha, depth and stencil tests, transparency effects, post-processing effects, vertex blending for morphing effects, and dithering, all in 16 or 24 bit color. The graphics chip also handles image output. Specifications state that the PSP is capable of rendering 33 million flat-shaded polygons per second, with a 664 million pixel per second fill rate.[6]

The PSP is also able to play back movies on a UMD (Universal Media Disc) format. PSP's audio player supports a number of audio codecs, including ATRAC, AAC, MP3, and WMA, and has the option to be played with or without a set of six visualizations. The image viewer will display several common image formats including JPEG, Bitmap, and PNG. However, image viewing is limited by the file size and resolution of the image and any image exceeding a file size or resolution cannot be displayed. This is usually the case with attempting to show DSLR images on a PSP.

MPEG-4 and AVC video formats are also compatible with PSP. With reasonable video and audio bit-rate settings (a resolution of 320×240, a video bit rate of 500 Kbit per second, and an audio sampling rate of 22050 Hz) a 22-minute video file is roughly 55 MB, enough to fit on a Memory Stick Duo as small as a 64 MB. At the same rate, a hundred-minute feature film can fit on a 256 MB Memory Stick. As of firmware update version 3.30, H.264/MPEG-4 AVC Main Profile video files of the following sizes can be played: 720x576, 720×480, 352×480, and 480×272. Many video files, both free-to-distribute and copyrighted, have been encoded for the PSP and are available on the Internet. Game and movie trailers are increasingly available, even from studios' official websites.

There are numerous software applications and hardware devices specifically designed for PSP's various media-centric applications.

The WLAN processor is an ARM9 from Marvell Semiconductor.[7]

The PSP can connect to a wireless network through Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11b. This allows 2–16 players with PSPs to create a local, ad hoc network for multiplayer gameplay; or to connect to the Internet via an Internet-connected Wi-Fi router. One can also use an ad hoc network to send images from one PSP to another by use of the "send" and "receive" functions that appear in the "PHOTO" menu. By connecting to the Internet, players can compete against other players also connected to the Internet, or browse the web and download files to the Memory Stick via the built-in web browser. Use of wireless network features increases the power consumption and results in a lower battery life.[8]

The non-slim PSP featured a standard IrDA port located on the top left of the device. To date, the only games or applications to use this feature have been homebrew. This can be used to control many TVs as well as other infrared devices. The port is absent from the new PSP Slim redesign, probably due to the lack of any official software that utilised it. Instead, the Wi-Fi switch has moved to the top where the port previously was, so gamers do not accidentally turn Wi-Fi off when browsing the web, playing online, etc.

Currently, only the PSP Go is equipped with Bluetooth technology.

The PSP's main menu allows the user to configure the system for use across the Internet or an intranet via a wireless connection, known as infrastructure mode. The PSP can recognize protected and non-protected wireless networks within its range, and supports connecting to WEP and WPA encrypted networks (WPA2 is not supported). South Korean PSPs have shipped with software providing web browsing and multimedia streaming features, but only through company-owned Wi-Fi hot spots, and with a monthly fee.[9]

Use of infrastructure networks in PSP software began with a small number of titles at the U.S. launch, supporting online play. The RSS features allow the user to download video web feeds or listen to podcasts from websites. RSS or podcast content can be saved to the Memory Stick Duo. Audio (and more recently video) content can be streamed and played "live". After the release of firmware 3.50, there is now an RSS Guide function.

Sony's LocationFree Player allows users to stream live television broadcasts (or other video content) to their PSP, within their Wi-Fi network, or remotely via the Internet. After the release of firmware 3.80, streaming audio is now available to be used on the PSP currently only supporting ShoutCast and Icecast internet radio.

On January 30, 2008, firmware update 3.90 was released which enabled Skype WiFi phone function on the Slim & Lite model, Brite model, and the PSP Go.[10]