Predict: The Next Generation Console Tech

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Which of those sacrifices would they be willing to accept? Especially since launch availability affects sales too. I would think they'd go for a smaller part that yields poor because of frequency requirements because a die shrink would almost assuredly fix that. A big part on the previous process would still be a (comparatively) big part on the smaller process. Seems that's better for long term, but I don't know.

They will hit a pad limitation if they shrink a small chip. That's why I'm wondering what kind of interfaces the chip will have. 128-bit memory or maybe even 256-bit for example. Will it be DDR3, DDR4 or GDDR5 or maybe something else. What about the connection to Kinect for example? Or connection to the HDD and everything else in the console.

Anyway, my expectations are that they will design the chips with future shrinks in mind. A ~400 mm² chip with a TDP of ~150 Watts for the next X-Box shouldn't be too unrealistic IMHO. It might just be wishful thinking on my part, but I don't really see why Microsoft wouldn't do it.
 
They will hit a pad limitation if they shrink a small chip. That's why I'm wondering what kind of interfaces the chip will have. 128-bit memory or maybe even 256-bit for example. Will it be DDR3, DDR4 or GDDR5 or maybe something else. What about the connection to Kinect for example? Or connection to the HDD and everything else in the console.

Anyway, my expectations are that they will design the chips with future shrinks in mind. A ~400 mm² chip with a TDP of ~150 Watts for the next X-Box shouldn't be too unrealistic IMHO. It might just be wishful thinking on my part, but I don't really see why Microsoft wouldn't do it.

Very unlikely imo. And a ~400mm² chip will have a superior TDP of 150W.
 
Or that Thebes and Kryptos are upcoming AMD APUs, nothing to do with PS4/Durango, and that Sweetvar26 has been trolling us all along ;-)

Yeah, it's odd that a x86 motherboard would have reference to the PS4 project.

Unless we're meant to think it's a certain AMD CPU/APU that is planned to be in ps4 as well as desktop, and not specifically the PS4 project name. Or sweetvar was confused.

I dont know, it would kinda fit with the idea that PS4 is an APU (supposedly A10 in the kits) and no discrete GPU. Which of course would be a terrible idea as it's not powerful enough. None of that matches with the vgleaks/bgass info either, which lherre corroborated.
 
Way overkill for what is needed for a console, so while anything is possible it will not happen. Silicon budget is insane for server style CPUs as is bill of materials.
 
was'nt xenon or cell overkill for consoles ?

It was/is definitely perceived to be a big and power hungry CPU. I believe though that it had a TDP ~50W at launch.

I think realistically we're looking at either a APU that has 4/8 Jaguar cores and a 7850/8850 GPU ~100-120W or a APU (with lower end GPU) ~30-40W and a separate 7850/8850 GPU ~70-80W.
 
I think you haven't been paying attention - Jeff Rigby posts nonsense. If you want to believe in number connections like him, then let's just say it'll 5 cores in the CPU because Orbis has five letters, only the last letter is one shy of Orbit, so it points to five cores with one reserved for the OS. And it'll have an HTML 5 UI, tying in with the 5 theme.

There's no need whatsoever to tie the number of shader units of a GPU to the resolution. There's no correlation whatsoever between the number of execution units and the output resolution. You can render 1080p, 720p, or sub HD, on Xenos and RSX and any other GPU regardless of what numerical groupings they come in.

Grrr, now I'm full of anger and tension! I don't mind speculation - I even welcome it and smart or curious connections. But flippin' gobbledegook connections do my nut in.
 
It was/is definitely perceived to be a big and power hungry CPU. I believe though that it had a TDP ~50W at launch.

I think realistically we're looking at either a APU that has 4/8 Jaguar cores and a 7850/8850 GPU ~100-120W or a APU (with lower end GPU) ~30-40W and a separate 7850/8850 GPU ~70-80W.

I think the single APU scenario is more likely. Your latter solutions seems rather cumbersome. It may even be a SoC for the next X-Box and I don't see why that single chip couldn't have a TDP of say 150 Watts or so.

BTW, aren't current rumors that the GPU in the next X-Box and PS3 are based on AMD's HD 8000 series GPUs? The GPU in the next consoles may even be slightly more advanced to facilitate HSA capabilities. I think a GPU that's largely similar to a 8870 wouldn't be too odd, though probably with lower clocks to keep TDP in check. Let's say our theoretical 8870 has a 1000 MHz clock, then our X-Box GPU will have a 750 MHz clock. Those are just numbers I'm pulling from thin air here to show what I mean.
 
Anything less then a 7870 seems a bit shy for gpu power.
don't forget that there is still an year before the release.
by then you can bye an equivalent graphic card for less then 200$, probably half of the console price.

cpu power was what keep the current generation afloat and allowed for games to evolve. On gpu side they could always lower the resolution and effects. At least an 8 core jaguar is to be expected, 50mm2 is not that much.

jaguar seems the better choice since it is made on 28nm same as te gpu, its low power, high efficiency, low die area and best of all made by amd, so they can keep the research all on amd field > cheaper

considering the 190mm2 die area of the wiiu, double that for sony and microsoft is not that far of reach.

so, speculating, around 7950 gpu power, 250-300mm2 plus 8core jaguar 50mm2

the power consumption shouldn´t surpass 150 watts considering that the 7970m on laptops can be kept under 100 watts.

150 watts sould be quite easy to cool noweday considering the advances in gpu coolers that can cool more then that in a dual slot space.

For 400$ in a year that should be the acceptable performance for this high end platforms.

just one more speculation of course :D
 
As far as I'm concerned a single chip HSA solution seems like perfect solution. They have had 7years to plan this if not a bit more. Much like the 360 was a great way to test unified shader architecture a closed box like the 720 with seems like a perfect time to try out HSA.
 
I think the single APU scenario is more likely. Your latter solutions seems rather cumbersome. It may even be a SoC for the next X-Box and I don't see why that single chip couldn't have a TDP of say 150 Watts or so.

BTW, aren't current rumors that the GPU in the next X-Box and PS3 are based on AMD's HD 8000 series GPUs? The GPU in the next consoles may even be slightly more advanced to facilitate HSA capabilities. I think a GPU that's largely similar to a 8870 wouldn't be too odd, though probably with lower clocks to keep TDP in check. Let's say our theoretical 8870 has a 1000 MHz clock, then our X-Box GPU will have a 750 MHz clock. Those are just numbers I'm pulling from thin air here to show what I mean.

With these specs ; can the consoles have a low power sleep mode like the smartphones and tablets ?
 
As far as I'm concerned a single chip HSA solution seems like perfect solution. They have had 7years to plan this if not a bit more. Much like the 360 was a great way to test unified shader architecture a closed box like the 720 with seems like a perfect time to try out HSA.

I think the Jaguar cores will be big in laptops too, on the large low cost ones, on ultra-portables (decade old form factor that Wintel calls, something ending in -book), and on smaller devices such as windows tablets and others (special dual core version with less I/O)

That amounts to a "midrange CPU", in between the various ARM chips and the desktop chips, chasing after markets occupied by the E-350, the A4 and the Celeron. With eight or more cores, it would be both slower and faster than A4 and Celeron.
Console CPU would benefit from lower overhead and being a fixed target : it gets competitive with i3 and A10 for the games.
 
With these specs ; can the consoles have a low power sleep mode like the smartphones and tablets ?

It's done on the first Wii already with an added ARM CPU. an ARM or MIPS CPU can always be present on a chip, which could do chipset duties as well (that used to be called "I/O processor"). It may receive a handful of PCIe lanes or Hypertransport from the APU, then has all the SATA, USB, networking, on-board flash to manage, then it can do the low powered thing between download and stand by. Have hardware encryption too.. Something involving the A5 Cortex inside the AMD APU, actually, either as last standing chief or communicating with the CPU-that-does-chipset.
 
I'm assuming a multicore Jaguar or Bulldozer CPU can switch off cores and just run one or two of them, throttled back even, for lower power work.
 
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