The evolution of console hardware is a part of its natural lifecycle. The PlayStation 3, however, has seen a rather accelerated level of change as compared to other consoles.

Within its first year on the market, the PS3 has seen no less than four different hardware configurations. The main differentiator to the consumer is hard drive side, but inside the black plastic casing are many changes that affect wireless connectivity, USB ports and PS2 backwards compatibility. With all those different factors, Sony engineers have had multiple occasions to revise its technology inside the console.

Besides just simplifying or removing circuitry, Sony quickly shifted from a 90nm manufacture process for its Cell Broadband Engine processor to a cooler running and more economical 65nm chip size. This in turn made the system demand less power, which in turn generates less heat and lowers the cooling requirements.

Now according to Japan publication Tech-On, the Furukawa Electric company showcased at the Techno-Frontier 2008 exhibition its third-generation work on the PlayStation 3’s fan and heatsink system.

The first two iterations of PS3 cooling had a massive heatsink cool both the RSX graphics chip and Cell CPU, but the latest model offers separate cooling for each chip. The heatpipes used in the original models have also been completely eliminated without endangering the operation of the PS3.

These changes actually simplify the design, allowing for a noticeable weight savings – the latest cooling apparatus weighs 350g, or half of the original launch cooler.

Such revisions are a part of the reason why Sony was able to halve the manufacture costs of its PlayStation 3 during 2007. Estimates from earlier this year peg the costs to make each console at around $400 – a far cry from the original $840 estimate set during the console’s launch in 2006.