How to get more RAM for the PS3 under Linux. My hypothesis.

[mattruby]

Is there anything in the hardware stopping someone from say, desoldering the RAM (hot air?) and then using the toaster oven reflow method to put larger capacity chips on there?

In the 1980s, we used to expand Apple ][+ RAM (and some other 6502 PCs) by just piggybacking extra RAM chips right onto the same leads as the ones soldered to the motherboard.

The largest XDR chips right now (2008-1-27) are still 512Mb. PS3 has 256MB XDR, in 4 512Mb chips. But if >512Mb XDR chips are available, does the PS3 have the address lines to use them?

I could speculate that since they're soldered, Sony also cheaped out on fewer address lines, but maybe their compressed design/manfuacturing handoff schedule actually has the extra lines in the current generation, but just not used until later generations, when bigger XDR is available, and other costs are lower (or profits are higher) so Sony can pay for socketing the XDR. Anyone actually know?

[jimparis]

You can't piggyback BGA chips, so unfortunately that trick won't work very easily.. Plus, DRAM (and particularly XDR) is more complicated than SRAM, it's not just a simple "write an address and read the data".

[mattruby]

You can't piggyback BGA chips, so unfortunately that trick won't work very easily.. Plus, DRAM (and particularly XDR) is more complicated than SRAM, it's not just a simple "write an address and read the data".

Is the PS3 XDR controller chip able to address more than the 4 chips soldered to it? If it is, is there a way to add more chips to the controller?

[Jim]

You really are barking up the wrong tree without a paddle.
Jim