He's back. The connected PS3-party wet blanket who brought us covert info on the PlayStation 3 has dug up some dirt from a phantom insider who claims the PS3 may see even more downgraded specs. From lower clock speeds to an external power brick to who-knows-what-else, one thing we know for certain is that we sure as hell won't be getting what was promised at E3 2005.

More dirty insider talk after the jump.

Red says: got any interesting news?

Phantom Insider says: sure

Red says: then let's start it up

Phantom Insider says: Fully functional PS3 betas still do not exist

Red says: hmm

Phantom Insider says: Despite that we have seen a number of downgrades

Red says: clock speed?

Red says: remember it was going to be 3.5 ghz?

Phantom Insider says: And now we have been told that the powersource might be an external 400 watt unit after all

Phantom Insider says: instead of internal as promised

Red says: interesting

Phantom Insider says: The current designs despite having vents all over the place apparently still cant dissipate the heat to sufficient levels

Phantom Insider says: And yields on 3.2 Gigaherz CELL processors are too low

Red says: they can't produce them in mass supply still?

Phantom Insider says: so the final release might run only at 2.8 gigaherz

Red says: what have you heard about the rsx?

Red says: why would that be downgraded?

Red says: it as already somewhat weak

Phantom Insider says: RSX is finished and has been finished for quite a few months now

Red says: hmm

Phantom Insider says: we know what it can and cannot do

Red says: yea?

Phantom Insider says: I won't comment any further

Red says: hint?

Phantom Insider says: No

Red says: come on, this is anonymous

Phantom Insider says: I can't tell you more

Phantom Insider says: I do not want to lose my job

Red says: does it bode well for the ps3?

Phantom Insider says: Last time we had a lot of internal emails coming in from Sony

Red says: hmm not surprised

Red says: you were the first to blow the lid off things

Phantom Insider says: They were looking for the sources of the delay and dev problems leaks

Red says: lol

Phantom Insider says: i cannot risk it

Phantom Insider says: I am sorry

Red says: no probs

Red says: one thing

Red says: were the units at e3 2.8?

Phantom Insider says: yes

Phantom Insider says: and had 2 gigs of ram

Phantom Insider says: dev kits ya know

We'll consider this rumor and speculation for now, but if these downgrades pan out, I expect some folks will have an even harder time justifying that $600 investment. Michael McWhertor

Send an email to Michael McWhertor, the author of this post, at mike@kotaku.com.