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The Second PS3 (PS3 Slim)

Image of a Slim PS3, Model is CECH2001A. Evan-Amos, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Background

Sony had learned from the previous models hardware issues, a problem that ultimately lead to a 319 Million dollar lawsuit aganst Nvidia and huge public scrutiny against Sony. In this model the weight, size and design of the console were dramatically changed in order to stop YLOD in its tracks.

Features and differences

The Playstation Slim models had a variety of changes from the Fat PS3 and the main ones are listed down below

45nm and 40nm Process: Nvidia and 'STI' (Sony, Toshiba and IBM) switched the process of the RSX and CELL-BE to 40nm and 45nm respectfully. This also resulted in a die shrink which leads to these chips running cooler and more efficiently
Lack of PS2 Compatibility: No models of slim have PS2 hardware installed on the motherboard, this means that the PS3 slim can only run PS2 games via emulation, which inturn cannot be accomplished without a jailbreak
Lack of OtherOS: The PS3 slim cannot run OtherOS as the minimum downgradible firmware for CECH-21xx consoles and beyond is 3.20, the update in which OtherOS was removes
Improved system security: The minimum downgradable firmware for some CECH-25xx consoles and all CECH-30xx consoles and beyond has been limited to 3.60. In this firmware Sony fixed the problem with their eliptic curve algorithm which they used to sign their keys. As a consequence of this it is (as of writing) impossible to jailbreak and install custom firmware onto these models

SKU Models

Over the course of its lifetime, the Slim PS3 had 4 individual models but dozens of different regional models with different firmware downgrades.

The model naming works like this: Every PS3 starts with "CECH", this is followed by a model number, lets say "21". This is then followed by a region number, such as "02" and finally followed by a submodel letter such as A. The final model number is then formated like CECH-2102A. We can then extrapolate that the console with this number is a PS3 with a SUR-001 motherboard, the console is from Australia and it has a 120GB hardrive, and from this information we can infer that it is a PAL system with a 45nm RSX and CELL-BE. We can find all this information without dissasembling the console at all

*The Motherboard varies with regioning and time of purchase.

Model	Motherboard	Flash	Hard Drive	OtherOS	PS2 compatibility	SA-CD compatibility	WiFi	CELL-BE process	RSX process	Number of USB ports	Flash ports	Release Date	Minimum firmware downgrade
CECH-20xxA	DYN-001	NOR, 1x 16MB	120GB	No	No	No	Yes	45nm	65nm	2	No	9/2009	2.70
CECH-20xxB	DYN-001	NOR, 1x 16MB	250GB	No	No	No	Yes	45nm	65nm	2	No	9/2009	2.70
CECH-21xxA	SUR-001	NOR, 1x 16MB	120GB	No	No	No	Yes	45nm	40nm	2	No	3/2010	3.20
CECH-21xxB	SUR-001	NOR, 1x 16MB	250GB	No	No	No	Yes	45nm	40nm	2	No	3/2010	3.20
CECH-25xxA	JTP-001/JSD-001*	NOR, 1x 16MB	160GB	No	No	No	Yes	45nm	40nm	2	No	7/2010 to 4/2011	3.40 to 3.60
CECH-25xxB	JTP-001/JSD-001	NOR, 1x 16MB	320GB	No	No	No	Yes	45nm	40nm	2	No	7/2010 to 4/2011	3.40 to 3.60
CECH-30xxA	KTE-001	NOR, 1x 16MB	160GB	No	No	No	Yes	45nm	40nm	2	No	6/2011 to 2/2012	3.65 to 4.10
CECH-30xxB	KTE-001	NOR, 1x 16MB	360GB	No	No	No	Yes	45nm	40nm	2	No	6/2011 to 2/2012	3.65 to 4.10