couldn't it be just like with the xbox 360 the first kits were using x800s then later on closer to launch they got final hardware ?
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couldn't it be just like with the xbox 360 the first kits were using x800s then later on closer to launch they got final hardware ?
I suppose it's really a question of what features would Nvidia modify on a TX1 when targeting a gaming console? I have to believe they came up with a solution for memory bandwidth. Perhaps esram would be cheaper than moving to a 128 bit memory bus? Perhaps a shift to Pascal to take advantage of its more advanced Delta compression abilities. Point is, since they bothered to go custom instead of the cheaper option being a bone stock TX1, there would have to be some surgical modifications to enhance performance and energy consumption. Right?
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A9X was launched year ago and had 51.2 GB/s bandwidth with 4 GB LPDDR4. Definitely possible 1.5 years later. PowerVR tiling architecture beats DCC in bandwidth savings, so if they want to beat A9X performance, they need significantly more than 25.6 GB/s bandwidth. If Switch games target 720p (also on TV), it might not need to be as fast as A9X. However I would be sad, since we are comparing a tablet released 1.5 years earlier to a brand new pure gaming device. Switch is significantly thicker than tablets or phones, meaning that it can dissipate heat better and they can fit a bigger battery.
Price. A9X is in $600+ devices. Compare 3DS performance to what was technically possible - iPhone 4S launched 2 months later? That said, A9X obviously comes at Apple prices. An iPad Pro sold at cost, perhaps what Switch will sell at, would be a fairer comparison!
cheapchips
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Isn't a 128bit memory interface a bit too high power to hope for? (I've no idea)
At best the switch is not going to exceed 20w total system consumption is it, even with active cooling?
At best the switch is not going to exceed 20w total system consumption is it, even with active cooling?
The 128 bit memory bus is exactly what the A9X uses to achieve its higher bandwidth, so I would say no.
I just want to add that a 128 bit memory bus is far from exotic. When the Xbox 360 moved the two separate chips onto one SOC, it used a 128 bit memory buss, and that is a product you can purchase brand new for $99. I'm not saying that its all but certain, I'm just saying that I doubt after all these years of Nintendo developing hardware with clever work arounds to solve memory bandwidth, that they would release a product that would appear to have a severe bottleneck at just 25GB/s. Maybe its actually not a problem, and there is more to the story. There are other solutions to this problem, like a healthy amount of L3 cache that the original A9 used. It was scrapped in the A9X when they went to the bigger 128 bit memory bus.
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Absolutely, but my point is that I don't believe the wider bus drastically increases the cost of the SOC. If you can explain to me why it would, I would love to be educated. This is serious, I'm not being an ass, I frequent these forums to learn and better understand gaming hardware.
Price is of course a consideration. However we are talking about Apple profit margins. Similar tablet from anyone else would have been 100-200$ cheaper. Nintendo could sell the handheld at zero profit or even at loss at the beginning. Games license costs make them the money. iPad Pro also had a huge high density screen (biggest screen at that density ever made). It has pressure sensitivity sensor for pen and 10 bit wide color and professional quality calibration and quality. Much smaller 720p/1080p screen would be considerable cheaper. Last but not least, technology advances and gets significantly cheaper in 1.5 years. And we are talking about mobile tech. Any 1.5 year old flagship phone loses to modern cheap mainstream phones in all areas.
nintendo already said they will be selling switch at no loss.
Those $600 + devices also have huge margins on them. Tear downs of ios phones show they cost under $250 to produce. They also have much higher res screens that will cost more.
Switch is going to ship with a 720p screen. I would think a fairer comparison would be to an ipad mini .
ehh. once he started using a desktop core2 duo chip to compare to an arm cpu he lost the plot. Intel atom chips are not much bigger than the current arm chips. They also get great battery life. Cherrytrail in a tablet will offer similar power to a comparable chip in an android or ios tablet.
Yes, Nintendo usually makes a profit from their console hardware. However this time their entire business depends on a successful launch. Selling hardware at zero profit on launch is entirely possible. Zero profit at launch doesn't mean that the lifetime profits of the hardware will be zero. Consoles have long life time and parts get cheaper every year. They need to get the new ecosystem rolling and that requires lots of customers.
Only Nintendo knows their business best. Traditionally their average customer buys less games per sold console as Playstation and Xbox gamers. IIRC an average PS3 gamer bought 8 games, while an average Wii gamer bought only 2 games. But Wii was a one trick pony, unlike Nintendo handhelds. Nintendo handheld market is completely different (long product life time, lots of good games). Considerations like this make a big difference when you calculate an acceptable profit margin for the hardware.
with 2 sku's they can also price one low enough to entice people to want it and then lure them into the more expensive profitable one.
If they are selling right on the line between profit and loss at $250 with a 64 gig no pack in edition then a $300 128gig with port would net them a profit since the bulk of the game cost would have been spent on the first release and the 64 additional gigs would be a few dollars at most to add
tongue_of_colicab
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I still think people that believe in a 250 base SKU are getting their hopes up too much. I still believe the base SKU will be something like 299. With a bit of luck that one will come with 64gb of storage but I wouldn't be surprised if it only has 32gb.
Half a stack then
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