Previously I thought MS would have a 2 tier xb2.
As it turns out the lower tier would be the streaming device that we've heard about now.
Consoles are different than cpu and gpu's who can use binning to make the most of the wafer, consoles just can't do that. I thought the lower tier xb2 would have been the lower specced chips.
So what about taking chips with a few disabled cu's, and clocked lower and putting them in a surface aio device or in a surface studio?
It doesn't need to be a big seller, far from it, just enough to use up those lower specced chips.
It would be capable enough cpu, being zen based with enough gpu grunt for its purpose. It's not meant as a gaming rig, just light gaming (in pc terms), its a productivity device.
That way ms is not paying intel, Nvidia for chips, you can produce xb2 with fully enabled gpu without the big loss that it would entail.
In the past they couldn't do this due to consoles processor architecture, but shouldn't be a problem with xb2's apu.
The only problem I see is open gl, vulkan drivers, so may not be able to run software without dx12 code path, how much software is that, and could it use amd vulkan driver's / customized version, or a shim of some sorts.
They would also need to produce dx10/11 drivers but shouldn't be a problem for them.
As it turns out the lower tier would be the streaming device that we've heard about now.
Consoles are different than cpu and gpu's who can use binning to make the most of the wafer, consoles just can't do that. I thought the lower tier xb2 would have been the lower specced chips.
So what about taking chips with a few disabled cu's, and clocked lower and putting them in a surface aio device or in a surface studio?
It doesn't need to be a big seller, far from it, just enough to use up those lower specced chips.
It would be capable enough cpu, being zen based with enough gpu grunt for its purpose. It's not meant as a gaming rig, just light gaming (in pc terms), its a productivity device.
That way ms is not paying intel, Nvidia for chips, you can produce xb2 with fully enabled gpu without the big loss that it would entail.
- Higher specced xb2 at same price or even cheaper
- Savings/higher margins on a surface device
- Board, chip, everything already designed
- Windows 10 would just run.
In the past they couldn't do this due to consoles processor architecture, but shouldn't be a problem with xb2's apu.
The only problem I see is open gl, vulkan drivers, so may not be able to run software without dx12 code path, how much software is that, and could it use amd vulkan driver's / customized version, or a shim of some sorts.
They would also need to produce dx10/11 drivers but shouldn't be a problem for them.