What was the PlayStation 3's Cell processor's clock speed?

The PlayStation 3’s Cell Broadband Engine processor had a clock speed of 3.2 GHz.

Sony, IBM, and Toshiba developed the Cell architecture for demanding multimedia and scientific workloads. In the PS3, the Cell processor combined a Power Processing Element with multiple Synergistic Processing Elements. These specialized processing units could perform parallel calculations, but developers had to structure software carefully to use them efficiently.

The 3.2 GHz figure describes the processor’s clock frequency, not the console’s total performance. The PS3 also contained a separate Nvidia RSX graphics processor, system memory, and dedicated audio and input hardware. Consequently, a clock-speed comparison with a conventional single-chip CPU can be misleading.

The Cell architecture contributed to the PS3’s technical reputation and its challenging development environment. Later software tools and improved developer knowledge made it easier to exploit the processor’s parallel design.