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Revolution Specs... |
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Brent
Legend Joined: 01-26-2006 Location: Texas Online Status: Offline Posts: 6677 |
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Topic: Revolution Specs... Posted: 03-29-2006 at 8:36pm |
According to Insiders and IGN
For today's report we spoke to a variety of trusted development sources, all of whom are in possession of Revolution development hardware - some more finalized than others. The studios who updated us with this information have asked to remain anonymous for obvious reasons, but we can verify that the specifications forwarded to us are current and come by way of either official Nintendo documentation or benchmark tests with working Revolution kits. Insiders stress that Revolution runs on an extension of the Gekko and Flipper architectures that powered GameCube, which is why studios who worked on GCN will have no problem making the transition to the new machine, they say. IBM's "Broadway" CPU is clocked at 729MHz, according to updated Nintendo documentation. By comparison, GameCube's Gekko CPU ran at 485MHz. The original Xbox's CPU was clocked at 733MHz. Meanwhile, Xbox 360 runs three symmetrical cores at 3.2GHz. Clearly, numbers don't mean everything, but on paper Revolution's CPU falls performance-wise somewhere well beyond GameCube and just shy of the original Xbox. However, it's important to remember that the CPU is only one part of the equation. Revolution's ATI-provided "Hollywood" GPU clocks in at 243MHz. By comparison, GameCube's GPU ran at 162MHz, while the GPU on the original Xbox was clocked at 233MHz. Sources we spoke with suggest that it is unlikely the GPU will feature any added shader features, as has been speculated. "The 'Hollywood' is a large-scale integrated chip that includes the GPU, DSP, I/O bridge and 3MBs of texture memory," a studio source told us. The overall system memory numbers we reported last December have not greatly fluctuated, but new clarifications have surfaced. Revolution will operate using 24MBs of "main" 1T-SRAM. It will additionally boast 64MBs of "external" 1T-SRAM. That brings the total number of system RAM up to 88MBs, not including the 3MB texture buffer on the GPU. By comparison, GameCube featured 40MBs of RAM not counting the GPU's on-board 3MBs. The original Xbox included 64MBs total RAM. Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 operate on 512MBs of RAM. It is not known if the 14MBs of extra D-RAM we reported on last December are in the current Revolution specifications. "The external RAM can be accessed as quickly as the main RAM, which is a nice touch," a developer we spoke with alleged.
Lots of numbers, but what do they all mean? The short answer is that
Revolution is exactly as Nintendo has publicly stated: a console whose
primary focus is not quadrupling raw horsepower, but rather a
potentially gameplay-changing new controller. Nintendo's new hardware
supports this innovative new peripheral and not the other way around.
Looking back, it makes sense. |
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Brent
Legend Joined: 01-26-2006 Location: Texas Online Status: Offline Posts: 6677 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 03-29-2006 at 8:38pm |
That controller better kick some serious a** and cost in the $200 range or I forsee an early doom to the Rev.
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JasonSGN
Admin Group Administrator Joined: 01-25-2006 Location: New Jersey Online Status: Offline Posts: 6699 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 03-29-2006 at 9:02pm |
Goodbye Nintendo the console maker - hello Nintendo the third-party software developer.
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Brent
Legend Joined: 01-26-2006 Location: Texas Online Status: Offline Posts: 6677 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 03-29-2006 at 9:16pm |
Something tells me that would never happen. They would all jump off the top of Nintendo HQ before making a game for Bill Gates. Of course with the success of the GBA and the DS, plus a tidy warchest (forget how much) they are set for quite awhile. This might be the only option they really have. You already have the goliaths (MS & Sony) making their high powered systems that creates a huge loss on every console sold. So they make inexpensive hardware that you can make money on (just as they did with the Gamecube). Concoct something totally different then the norm (rev controller) and keep your fingers crossed that people will keep buying up Nintendo branded games. Also the timing of this is kind of alarming. Leave to IGN to pull off an April Fools joke a few days in advance. |
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JasonSGN
Admin Group Administrator Joined: 01-25-2006 Location: New Jersey Online Status: Offline Posts: 6699 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 03-29-2006 at 9:33pm |
Good points Brent. Nintendo could survive on their handheld market alone - I guess that's why they can take a risk with the Revolution. They don't need to be the top console maker to be profitable.
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Brent
Legend Joined: 01-26-2006 Location: Texas Online Status: Offline Posts: 6677 |
Post Options Quote Reply Posted: 04-04-2006 at 2:29pm |
Oddly enough....
Nintendo annual profit biggest since 2001The ultrapopular DS and a weak yen dumped $807 million of net income into the Mario factory's coffers last year. + + + = |
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