Nintendo Conference

[Deleted member 13524]

Based on limited memory its seem very much in line with the gpus found in the 360 and the PS3 except its paired with twice the amount of RAM. If you put double the amount of RAM in the 360 and the PS3 you would have a "more powerful" console.

No. An 80-shader, 8 ROP, 4 TMU Cedar GPU is NOT comparable to G71 or Xenos, that'd be a LOT slower.

I'd also have a hard time believing it's a Redwood Pro (HD5550).
As most rumours point out, the absolute minimum would be a RV730 and not an inch less, and as stated by some as an "HD4850 equivalent", it's probably closer to a RV740 (maybe done by GF at 32nm).




Regarding the eDRAM: suddenly those SDK V1.3 are our best bet again, uhn?

 

[ShadowRunner]

So far its unclear how many taablets will be supported by the base station. There ar mutterings that it is only one, which i dont believe for a second, but so far nothing has suggested otherwise wich is strange.

 

[obonicus]

So far its unclear how many taablets will be supported by the base station. There ar mutterings that it is only one, which i dont believe for a second, but so far nothing has suggested otherwise wich is strange.

There are also games/demos designed around 1 screen controller and 4 remotes.

 

[nintenho]

Stupid question but would the amount of processing power/RAM needed scale linearly depending on the number of tablets the WiiU is outputting to? I'd imagine it does and that it wouldn't make any difference whether you're outputting to the Wii's tablet or just making it split-screen on the TV.

Also does anybody know the resolution of the Wii tablet? Somebody on another forum said he thinks it's about 800X500 which is less than half of 720P making me think that a two player split screen may be possible on two tablets.

 

[dobwal]

No. An 80-shader, 8 ROP, 4 TMU Cedar GPU is NOT comparable to G71 or Xenos, that'd be a LOT slower.

I'd also have a hard time believing it's a Redwood Pro (HD5550).
As most rumours point out, the absolute minimum would be a RV730 and not an inch less, and as stated by some as an "HD4850 equivalent", it's probably closer to a RV740 (maybe done by GF at 32nm).




Regarding the eDRAM: suddenly those SDK V1.3 are our best bet again, uhn?

I sorry but you're even if you get to 32nm with a 4850 its not going to fit within the power envelope of the Wii-U. Its too small of a form factor.

 

[L. Scofield]

AMD has the contract for the GPU:

http://www.marketwire.com/press-rel...ole-gaming-entertainment-nyse-amd-1523972.htm

 

[ShadowRunner]

So far its unclear how many taablets will be supported by the base station. There ar mutterings that it is only one, which i dont believe for a second, but so far nothing has suggested otherwise wich is strange.

The info on Nintendos site points to this aswel: http://www.nintendo.co.uk/NOE/en_GB/news/2011/nintendos_upcoming_wii_u_console_features_controller_with_62-inch_screen_43187.html

In multiplayer games:

* The player using the new controller can have a different experience than those looking at the TV. This will offer a wide variety of competitive and cooperative opportunities.

Each Wii U console will be partnered with a new controller and can also use up to four additional Wii Remote™ or Wii Remote Plus controllers.

 

[BoardBonobo]

The all-new, Power-based microprocessor will pack some of IBM's most advanced technology into an energy-saving silicon package that will power Nintendo's brand new entertainment experience for consumers worldwide. IBM's unique embedded DRAM, for example, is capable of feeding the multi-core processor large chunks of data to make for a smooth entertainment experience.

IBM plans to produce millions of chips for Nintendo featuring IBM Silicon on Insulator (SOI) technology at 45 nanometers (45 billionths of a meter). The custom-designed chips will be made at IBM's state-of-the-art 300mm semiconductor development and manufacturing facility in East Fishkill, N.Y.

East Fishkill, multi core? Wouldn't it be amusing if nintendo had gone CELL for this!!

 

[fellix]

 

[patsu]

^_^ Cool ! Good to see Blu-ray media getting more use.

 

[Reznor007]

Makes me curious what kind of wireless connection the controller uses, and if it's possible to rig up a PC driver for it to use it as a fancy PC remote control.

 

[nintenho]

Is that spec sheet from a reliable source?

 

[obonicus]

Don't we already know that the CPU is on 45nm? I mean, it's in IBM's press release.

 

[Grall]

Stupid question but would the amount of processing power/RAM needed scale linearly depending on the number of tablets the WiiU is outputting to?

Most likely it would scale worse than linear since GPUs dislike rendering multiple targets; they have super mega-long pipelines that would need to be flushed multiple times per frame which is a drag on performance. But considering this is a closed platform with a custom API, it wouldn't be as big a drag as on the PC with its more flexible but more overhead-loaded DX API...

Somebody on another forum said he thinks it's about 800X500 which is less than half of 720P making me think that a two player split screen may be possible on two tablets.

I'd be more concerned with available wireless bandwidth for multiple tablets, I'm sure that is much more of a stumbling block than rendering performance. If the screens start glitching because your neighbor is torrenting anime shows over his wifi connection or someone turns on a microwave oven, well then you have a huge problem.

Maybe the screen wireless link runs over the 5GHz band... Yeah, probably. Still, 5GHz is getting more crowded all the time too as dual-band n-compatible routers start becoming more and more prevalent. That's probably why you'll "only" get one screen per console; there must be sufficient bandwidth available to safeguard there won't be interruptions in the data stream.

Also regarding that spec sheet, I'd take that with an Emma Maersk-sized load of salt...

 

[pc999]

That thing is false, it is official that the CPU is on 45nm.

 

[Grall]

Clearly we can see this isn't a repackaged Wii, anyone with eyes can.

Clearly, yes. For starters, it actually offers GOOD graphics this time 'round!

I argued that Wii was probably more then just an overclocked GC with more ram based on hardware data (even then I was only pointing at possible extra pixel pipes, nothing major).

I think the popular theory at the time was improved pixel shading capabilities, but as we now know that didn't pan out. I'm still wondering if the additional Hollywood trannies compared to Gamecube isn't an integrated N64 CPU + GPU, for hardware emulation. Nintendo did launch, or at least intend to launch, a cut-down N64 for the Chinese market quite some years back now that amongst other things dropped the cripplingly slow RDRAM for regular DRAM. Maybe that thing found its way into the Wii as well...

Stop wondering and read the thread maybe?

Lol, yea that would have been helpful! As I posted I misread and thought it was just two pages long, and then when noticing it was already six (!), I decided to watch the full Reggie presentation video someone linked from Gamespot first rather than read a ton of posts spoiling all the good stuff. I'm now caught up with the thread too.

It was confirmed hours ago that its using an IBM multi core CPU and that the controller only streams frames.

Oooh, entire HOURS, I'm so behind the times!

 

[patsu]

Don't we already know that the CPU is on 45nm? I mean, it's in IBM's press release.

Yes... I'm still interested to see if the box uses Blu-ray media. There was an earlier rumor about it on blu-ray.com.

 

[wsippel]

That thing is false, it is official that the CPU is on 45nm.

It also seems to be a custom Power7, not Power6.

Yes... I'm still interested to see if the box uses Blu-ray media. There was an earlier rumor about it on blu-ray.com.

According to Nintendo, it's not Blu-ray, but it is high density, and "space won't be an issue". Proprietary Blu-ray based format, probably.

 

[Reznor007]

I think the popular theory at the time was improved pixel shading capabilities, but as we now know that didn't pan out. I'm still wondering if the additional Hollywood trannies compared to Gamecube isn't an integrated N64 CPU + GPU, for hardware emulation. Nintendo did launch, or at least intend to launch, a cut-down N64 for the Chinese market quite some years back now that amongst other things dropped the cripplingly slow RDRAM for regular DRAM. Maybe that thing found its way into the Wii as well...

It's not embedded N64 hardware, that's pure emulation, most likely a better version of the emulator they made for the Ocarina of Time/Majora's Mask Gamecube release. You can tell by the higher res graphics, and some N64 effects aren't done exactly the same. The teleport fadeout in Mario64 in some levels did a dithered effect on real hardware, but in emulation it's just an alpha fade out.

 

[patsu]

According to Nintendo, it's not Blu-ray, but it is high density, and "space won't be an issue". Proprietary Blu-ray based format, probably.

Yap... that's what I heard too (Proprietary Blu-ray based format). Good that it's confirmed.