We already know that the 266/133 figures, which were provided by IGN,
were fabricated. Why's this? Because we know their statement on the internal flash is now wrong as well; if user storage is on an included 2GB SD card, then the handheld won't have 1.5 GB (a non-power-of-2 size, note!) of flash memory. Also, a few other things to note:
- The ARM-11 the 3DS uses only comes in speeds of 350-1000+ MHz; ARM doesn't make it as slow as 266 MHz.
- Iwata hinted a lot at "high" specs that are "beefed up" and also implied that the 3DS will have a HIGHER power draw than the DSi. This indicates hungrier chips, which means that, since it moves from 90nm to 65/45nm, it has to be clocked way, way higher to make up for it.
- The PICA200, clock-for-clock, blows almost all CPUs out of the water; it edges past the Xbox's and MAYBE the Wii's, itself only really bested by the Xbox 360's and PS3's. It features hardware T&L, something the PSP (and even the PS2 and Game Cube) lack, among numerous other functions that make it far more potent than the PSP's GPU.
- The ARM11, clock-for-clock, is well beyond the ancient r4000 design the PSP uses, which
dates to 1991. I'd probably estimated it to be 2:1, or at worst 1.5:1.
- The PSP's "second" CPU is actually a weak media processor, that only sees full power during video playback. (so the PSP can shut down the main CPU and save battery) In games, it is largely relegated to audio processing.
-The PSP, contrary to Sony's claims, can't even hope to compete with the PS2; even @333 MHz, it's perhaps half as potent. Meanwhile, the 3DS is seen showing one of the most impressive PS2 games,
Metal Gear Solid 3, in all its glory; even more glory, really, since it's in 3D.
Overall, a more realistic statement of the clock speeds in the 3DS would be between 400-800 MHz for the CPU, and 200-400 MHz for the GPU; the latter is the entire range that the PICA200 seems to currently be sold in.
Of course, the screenshots speak for themselves, really. I mean, look at
Konami's Metal Gear Solid 3D screenshots. Now compare to, say, even
Metal Gear Solid 4. And now compare to
MGS on the PSP. Note how the 3DS, compared to the PSP, has higher-resolution textures, more detailed hair, use of bump/specular mapping, bloom, and the ability to use a setting that isn't so square and blocky it reminds you of the PS1.