The Playstation 2 was the first true system in the 128 bit processor era. Lets start off with the hardware of the PS2. It has a 128 bit processor running at 266 MHz. It provides enough power to process the games and load them with ease. It has 32 megabytes of ram, which may not sound like a lot, but for the processes it needs to make it is plenty. The video card has 4 MB of ram which will allow multiple processes such as camera views, pixel shading, and light distribution. All of the hardware working together puts out a 32 bit color output. The Rom used to play the discs is very similar to a computer. It is backwards compatible so it will play all PS2 and most Playstation 1 games. It has a 4x DVD rom drive. The 4x is used in most home DVD players so your not lacking in performance. In my testing the Rom doesnt play VCD, DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-R, or DVD-RW. The back of the PS2 has a fan to suck the hot air out which will allow better performance over long periods of time. There is the standard AV multi out for the audio/video. There is a digital out (optical) out for added clarity. A AC in for the power supply. A 5 ½ inch expansion drive bay for a hard drive or a network adapter. And a master power switch for the whole system. On the front of the system there are 2 inputs for controllers. It has computer like interfaces like 2 USB ports for adding peripherals such as a mouse or keyboard, but if you do add one it has to be one made by Sony Playstation or it wont work. There is a S400 also refereed to a I-Link port, used for microphones or headphones in games that support the feature. For the memory it has 2 Magic Gate slots which are backwards compatible with Playstation 1 cars along with Playstation 2 cards. At the bottom is a head sink like fixture for added cooling. And the standard Reset/Power button with a bright green LED and a eject button with a bright blue LED.