Xbox One (Durango) Technical hardware investigation

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Alternatively, I thought that the Xbox One was basically a less powerful version of the PlayStation 4 hardware, but there is more to it.

I still think this is basically the truth. It should tell you something that Sony admits they expressly considered eSRAM but discarded it in favor of fast unified RAM.

edit: I'm not in the compare thread. I'll shut up now.
 
I still think this is basically the truth. It should tell you something that Sony admits they expressly considered eSRAM but discarded it in favor of fast unified RAM.

edit: I'm not in the compare thread. I'll shut up now.
It was not just a question of esram or fast unified memory. They'd either have a much more expensive and bigger system with esram, or fewer CUs like MS.
 
It was not just a question of esram or fast unified memory. They'd either have a much more expensive and bigger system with esram, or fewer CUs like MS.
I thought it was EDRAM because Sony expressly mentioned that they could achieve 1TB per second speeds using some alternative memory, and the eSRAM isn't fast enough for that as you can see in the Xbone.

The EDRAM is really fast in the X360, in fact it is faster than the eSRAM by orders of magnitude. The eSRAM definitively has the potential for low latency, but not superb high speeds, it seems.
 
I thought it was EDRAM because Sony expressly mentioned that they could achieve 1TB per second speeds using some alternative memory, and the eSRAM isn't fast enough for that as you can see in the Xbone.

The EDRAM is really fast in the X360, in fact it is faster than the eSRAM by orders of magnitude. The eSRAM definitively has the potential for low latency, but not superb high speeds, it seems.

The eDRAM connects to the main gpu array at 32gb/s while the eSRAM is connected at 102gb/s. The 256gb/s connection is between the eDRAM and ROP logic.
 
I thought it was EDRAM because Sony expressly mentioned that they could achieve 1TB per second speeds using some alternative memory, and the eSRAM isn't fast enough for that as you can see in the Xbone.
That would be entirely up to the design targets of the implementation. Bandwidth is more a function of clocks and the total width of the read and write paths. Unless you really care about sub-ns latencies--and at these capacities and distances on the die you don't, there is no conclusion to draw based on the type of memory cells employed. To think differently is to forget about IBM's POWER7 L3 cache.

The EDRAM is really fast in the X360, in fact it is faster than the eSRAM by orders of magnitude. The eSRAM definitively has the potential for low latency, but not superb high speeds, it seems.
What measures differ by 10x?
 
It's certainly huge enough to be able to fit a PSU in there but I actually don't think it will, because of the proprietary power plug shown on the back. It resembles a standard "figure-8" 2-pin plug as seen on lots of AV/computing gear, like PS3 slim for example, mac mini etc, but it's upsized and has what I assume is a metal grounding strip along the outer edge of the recessed connector.

Really disappointing if MS was to build such a giant piece of hardware and not be able to squeeze a PSU in there.

Also, what is the small round connector next to the ethernet socket on the rear I/O panel of the device? Looks like a 3.5mm audio jack, but I don't really see what reason such a connector has to exist on the XB1, or at least not on the rear of the console like that where it's very hard to reach and awkward to plug into...

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Right below the Yellow 2.5 HHD is where the PSU would have to be if it is in the box, so no.
 
Just a few quick thoughts about the reveal, most of which have already been shared by others so I won't elaborate much on them:

  • The presentation was much more US-focused than I expected. A sign that MS's strategy is to double-down on their appeal in their strongest market even if it costs them support elsewhere?
  • Less detail than what I was hoping for. Not expecting a full reveal or tons of specifics, but I didn't feel that any aspect of what they presented was fully explained. They could have left the audience with a firm grasp of something.
  • Nothing I saw made it more or less likely I would be buying an Xbox One. Almost everything I saw just confirmed what I was expecting to see going in and the things I didn't know enough about to form an opinion on going in, I still don't know enough about coming out. In this sense the PS4 reveal had much more of an effect on me. Admittedly some of this was simply that they showed first, so all of the shared features between the consoles looked more impressive the first time I saw them.

Another thing that occurred to me is that, with MS Game Studios announcing all of those exclusives titles coming and MS Entertainment Studios coming into being and also producing exclusive content for MS platforms, MS have invested more into producing their own content than at any time I can recall in their history. This is a notably different strategy than what is being employed by competitors like Google and Apple and notably different than how MS themselves have traditionally operated. I wonder if this is just temporary while they establish their platforms in the marketplace or a permanent shift in their positioning.
 
Maybe 120W for the whole system max.

What do you mean by "don't have a controlled airflow"? The case sucks air from the vents, through the heatsink and the fan exhaust it through the top. There is no doubt in my mind that it will be quiet.

The numbers I've heard are 220W for the PSU, 150W "at the very least" total draw for the machine and 100W for the SoC.

This was from someone on GAF and not my usual sources, so I don't know how accurate they are.

They got the 100W for the SoC correct though.
 
The numbers I've heard are 220W for the PSU, 150W "at the very least" total draw for the machine and 100W for the SoC.

This was from someone on GAF and not my usual sources, so I don't know how accurate they are.

They got the 100W for the SoC correct though.

Yeah, pretty beefy system and will draw more than launch 360 if those rumors are true.

Certainly makes the Wii U look bad. Or good I guess depending, since it's doing a lot with 33 watts.
 
Just a few quick thoughts about the reveal, most of which have already been shared by others so I won't elaborate much on them:

  • The presentation was much more US-focused than I expected. A sign that MS's strategy is to double-down on their appeal in their strongest market even if it costs them support elsewhere?
  • Less detail than what I was hoping for. Not expecting a full reveal or tons of specifics, but I didn't feel that any aspect of what they presented was fully explained. They could have left the audience with a firm grasp of something.
  • Nothing I saw made it more or less likely I would be buying an Xbox One. Almost everything I saw just confirmed what I was expecting to see going in and the things I didn't know enough about to form an opinion on going in, I still don't know enough about coming out. In this sense the PS4 reveal had much more of an effect on me. Admittedly some of this was simply that they showed first, so all of the shared features between the consoles looked more impressive the first time I saw them.

Another thing that occurred to me is that, with MS Game Studios announcing all of those exclusives titles coming and MS Entertainment Studios coming into being and also producing exclusive content for MS platforms, MS have invested more into producing their own content than at any time I can recall in their history. This is a notably different strategy than what is being employed by competitors like Google and Apple and notably different than how MS themselves have traditionally operated. I wonder if this is just temporary while they establish their platforms in the marketplace or a permanent shift in their positioning.

I dunno, I think they countered the "long" PS4 reveal with being strictly an hour long since it was on broadcast TV on Spike TV. The problem with the internet is that if you don't explicitly spell something out several times, they will absolutely assume the worst.

Also, I highly recommend people listen to the Wired Game|Life podcast: http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2013/05/gamelife-podcast-xbox-one/ It seems they were given an exclusive look at the console before the reveal and do have several interesting tidbits. I can't remember them all, but I do remember that there is only a single SKU with 500GB (solving one of my questions about how you make separate SKUs when we demand WiFi, HDMI, decent hard drive space, etc..)
 
The numbers I've heard are 220W for the PSU, 150W "at the very least" total draw for the machine and 100W for the SoC.

This was from someone on GAF and not my usual sources, so I don't know how accurate they are.

They got the 100W for the SoC correct though.

I didn't count Kinect 2 consumption, because it's not in the same box, even though it should power through it. I don't know how much that is though.

Yeah, pretty beefy system and will draw more than launch 360 if those rumors are true.

Launch 360 drew more than 150W. I saw some Anandtech figures of 177.8W in Halo 3 for the old 360.
 
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