Predict: The Next Generation Console Tech

[(((interference)))]

That I agree with because as you see I even told him that didn't sound impressive. But yeah in hindsight he was probably playing it safe since at the time they probably didn't know the exact performance nor bothered to look closer at it like we would.

Yeah, or he didn't want to risk being too specific.

Well Intel was supposedly never in the picture. And both consoles are supposedly using Jaguar cores now. But this to me does point so far to similar performance.

Well DaE was saying that it was Intel and Nvidia, but now it's obvious he was just leading us on:
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-the-curious-case-of-the-durango-devkit-leak

DaE reckons that the current devkits were dispatched to studios in February, and feature Intel CPUs and a graphics card that carries the NVIDIA brand - but he doesn't identify either part more specifically. He also claims that the Durango kit features more than 8GB of memory (other sources have suggested 12GB), and that it is 64-bit in nature - at this point it's worth bearing in mind that dev hardware typically features double the RAM of retail kit in order to accommodate debugging tools and other systems. DaE also says that Microsoft is targeting an eight-core CPU for the final retail hardware - if true, this must surely be based around Atom architecture to fit inside the thermal envelope. The hardware configuration seems difficult to believe as it is so divorced from the technological make-up of the current Xbox 360, and we could find no corroborative sources to establish the Intel/NVIDIA hook-up, let alone the eight-core CPU

 

[Rangers]

Dae changed to Intel and AMD later.

Maybe that server box Durango is housed in is running Xeons or something.

 

[bgassassin]

Yeah, or he didn't want to risk being too specific.

I don't think the latter was the case sense he said he got that number from someone else.

Well DaE was saying that it was Intel and Nvidia, but now it's obvious he was just leading us on:
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-the-curious-case-of-the-durango-devkit-leak[/QUOTE]

Oh I was speaking from a final silicon perspective.

Dae changed to Intel and AMD later.

Maybe that server box Durango is housed in is running Xeons or something.

Good point. That might be why he was saying Intel for the CPU. That really makes me wonder what they are doing for the GPU if Jaguar cores are going to be in the final.

 

[aaronspink]

So...this is definitely Durango. And that little troll had it...

Congrats, someone has a bog standard workstation... And love the circle of USB connectors, enet, and hdmi, which are all like bog standard.

 

[Rangers]

Congrats, someone has a bog standard workstation... And love the circle of USB connectors, enet, and hdmi, which are all like bog standard.

True. But,

It matches in looks/casing what DaE claimed was the Durango kit (which Eurogamer supposedly verified with developers was legit)

It has a screen on the monitor in the 2nd shot that also matches DaE's screens.

And it has that "MS asset" sticker on the back. (Which if real, will probably make it really easy to track this leak for MS. Edit-Actually I cannot read the numbers off the tag, blowing it up causes it to become blocky fast)

It comes from vgleaks website which has a surprisingly good track record (and is surprisingly awesome idea for a website this time of the generation imo)

It's a little flimsy, sure. But I for one wouldn't be surprised at all if it's real.

 

[Love_In_Rio]

If MS delivers an Xbox 3 with a GPU with a GPU over 2TFLOPs of programmable shader powerformance I will personally drive south to bkillian's house and give him one of my world famous orange vanilla cheesecakes and offer to grill him Alaskan Salmon. (If it has a 3TFLOPs GPU I will put the console in a box, bake the cheesecake, and take it out of the box and throw the Salmon on the console lid and grill it in the living room George Forman style!)

Ps- Poor AlStrong only got a cheapo throw togetther Cheese Stick. 'em the brakes!

They´ll do. At least 2 Tflops. Or Valve will do it.

 

[Cyan]

If MS delivers an Xbox 3 with a GPU with a GPU over 2TFLOPs of programmable shader powerformance I will personally drive south to bkillian's house and give him one of my world famous orange vanilla cheesecakes and offer to grill him Alaskan Salmon. (If it has a 3TFLOPs GPU I will put the console in a box, bake the cheesecake, and take it out of the box and throw the Salmon on the console lid and grill it in the living room George Forman style!)

Ps- Poor AlStrong only got a cheapo throw togetther Cheese Stick. 'em the brakes!

Also don't forget you can't survive the hype unless you can have your bubble bath. Aside from that hide some wine in the basement, along with the jewels in your safe.

I guess AIStrong will be in his bubble bath with a cup of Merlot and an old copy of Mother Jones left over from Autumn 2010, when life was normal....

Nice findings guys, some of you are certainly admirable, and Ruskie has been very observant. The 720W power supply seems well over the top to me though. If that's true the console should have the same size of that alpha development kit to dissipate the heat.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

And it has that "MS asset" sticker on the back. (Which if real, will probably make it really easy to track this leak for MS. Edit-Actually I cannot read the numbers off the tag, blowing it up causes it to become blocky fast)

CSI can 'enhance' that to perfect legibility.

 

[Rangers]

Guys hold the phone, pics of the Wii U dev kit have also leaked!

Sorry, saw that on another forum and had to laugh.

Also had to laugh at this comment about the Durango leak

OMG! 2 USB ports, ethernet AND HDMI! Talk about overkill.

 

[lefizz]

To be honest its very easy to resample and get the asset tag.

If i can do it in 10 seconds they can , 3651325.

Someone was very silly releasing that unless they were just visiting or had been sacked.

 

[Ruskie]

Yop I would have never suffer going through all those GPU pictures my-self.

It was actually quite fast. I knew it has to be HD6xxx series. Than I looked at AMDs official hardware support companies and there are 5 of them. So I just looked at every model each of them has and everyone except MSI wasn't fitting.

I also mentioned it could be R6790, but it would have to have visible red cover (which one in dev kit does not have) or it would have "MSI" grills instead of normal ones and dev kit one has normal grills. So it can only be R6870 or R6950.

 

[user542745831]

and Ruskie has been very observant.

It was actually quite fast. I knew it has to be HD6xxx series. Than I looked at AMDs official hardware support companies and there are 5 of them. So I just looked at every model each of them has and everyone except MSI wasn't fitting.

I also mentioned it could be R6790, but it would have to have visible red cover (which one in dev kit does not have) or it would have "MSI" grills instead of normal ones and dev kit one has normal grills. So it can only be R6870 or R6950.

Not sure, but weren't "MystWalker" and "Rurouni" actually be the first to come up with that, see:

http://forum.beyond3d.com/showpost.php?p=1667711&postcount=14512
http://forum.beyond3d.com/showpost.php?p=1667715&postcount=14515

?

If Durango has a 6950 powering it I think most here will be satisfied

A GPU at least two years old (or maybe even older depending on when it would get released) would satisfy you ?

 

[Ruskie]

Actually, Kaotik was first to mention 68xx-69xx design reference. As I said, I knew it was 68xx-69xx series so I looked at manufacturers that make it and compared them, obviously Myst and Rurouni figured out the same thing.

And obviously it won't be 68xx-69xx in retail, its just for emulating real hardware once silicon is done.

 

[user542745831]

Actually, Kaotik was first to mention 68xx-69xx design reference. As I said, I knew it was 68xx-69xx series so I looked at manufacturers that make it and compared them, obviously Myst and Rurouni figured out the same thing.

Was referring to "MystWalker" and "Rurouni" apparently being the first to come up with MSI .

 

[Rangers]

A GPU at least two years old (or maybe even older depending on when it would get released) would satisfy you ?

Considering Cape Verde was the most prevalent rumor, the above GPU's look good. Besides that, it's assumed this would not be the actual GPU in the final, just the most modern available at the time they were hocking together the kit (could have been in January or something).

According to Tech Power up review at 1080p, 6870 is 129% as fast as 7770. 6950 is 146% as fast. And 7770 isn't even the slowest of the two Cape Verde options.

Interestingly the transistor count between the two is closer (1.7B=6870 vs 1.5B=7770) though. And 7770 is a much more modern architecture which may draw close or ahead of 6870 in the most modern games, but it is still battling a deficit of 640 SP's vs 1120. 6950 the case of superiority is more clear.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

A GPU at least two years old (or maybe even older depending on when it would get released) would satisfy you ?

Most people buying a console are buying a years-out-of-date GPU. And the final part could be a modern architecture, with the current devkit part just being selected for equivalent performance but not features. Considering some of the rumours regarding targeting a lower performance bracket, a decent GPU is satisfying. Anyone wanting more should be gaming on PC.

 

[user542745831]

Besides that, it's assumed this would not be the actual GPU in the final, just the most modern available at the time they were hocking together the kit (could have been in January or something).

At least according to the following Wikipedia page for example:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Islands_(GPU_family)#ASIC_table

HD 6870 apparenty was released October 2010 and HD 6950 apparently was released December 2010?

And at least according to the following Wikipedia page for example:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Islands_(GPU_family)#Chipset_table

most HD 7000 Series apparently were released between January 2012 and March 2012?

And the first post regarding that topic that can be found over there for example:

http://www.vg247.com/?s=Durango

appears to be from February 2012 ?

 

[Ruskie]

Actualy MSI R6870 and R6950 shown are overclocked versions that came in march(r6870) and october/nov(r6950) last year.

 

[Rangers]

Right, 7970 came out in Jan (actually even late Dec as I recall, at least the NDA). The rest Feb and later.

So if The Durango was put together in Jan, they would have had to go with 7970 (presumably too powerful) or something from 6000 series.

And so on if the Durango kit was actually put together before January 2012 (I have no idea).

Actualy MSI R6870 and R6950 shown are overclocked versions that came in march(r6870) and october/nov(r6950) last year.

Yeah I noticed that, kind of weird on the overclock, wonder the thinking. And why MSI and not a reference sapphire or something. My guess was maybe the excellent cooling those MSI cards seem to possess? Maybe utter reliability is key in these dev kits?

I mean here is what it looks like

Vs the reference cards

 

[Ruskie]

Thats my guess too.Frozr3 ran much quiter than stock one.