further indication that Xbox 360 has 512 MB

[Megadrive1988]

http://www.teamxecuter.com/

Xbox 360 Will Have 512Mb Memory

XBOX Scene NewsDuring our continuing development with the Xenon (Xbox 360) we noticed some interesting information in the latest docs - most notibly about the memory.

Quote:

The Xenon retail console will include 512 MB of UMA system memory. This is eight times the amount of memory that was available in the Xbox. The Xenon system software will still reserve six percent (32 MB) of total memory for system components, such as the visible features of the Xenon HUD, as well as the non-visible background system tasks.


Everything we have supports the Beta Hardware that will be shown at E3 - we hope to be able to support the Xbox's massive homebrew community well into the next few years - after all it's that same community that has helped to shape the Xbox's great success.

 

[Qroach]

What??? home brew?

 

[jvd]

Heh come on you guys should know by now i'm allways right


Btw i hear 756 is a possibility . They are waiting on the ps3 announcment to see if its needed

 

[Qroach]

you right? when did this start happening

 

[Megadrive1988]

Heh come on you guys should know by now i'm allways right


Btw i hear 756 is a possibility . They are waiting on the ps3 announcment to see if its needed

yo ho ho ho, I wish, yo, bro

 

[jvd]

I dunno. What chip configuration would they need to get to 756 ... I would think 1 gig would be the next step from 512 megs

 

[rabidrabbit]

Wasn't it always believed the next gen consoles would have at least 512 MB memory.
I don't know who started it, but recently in these forums a 256MB memory size was often seen in a couple of speculations :?

 

[jvd]

256 makes sense from a price stance. 512 is what people want when they look at pc video cards and 1 gig is my wet dream

 

[Qroach]

Ah JVD now you started rumors. go freak from gaming age is quoting you as someone in the know on the ram. I suggest you fix that

 

[Carl B]

I dunno. What chip configuration would they need to get to 756 ... I would think 1 gig would be the next step from 512 megs

No, you could do 756, but if it is all really UMD, it would definitely make more sense to go with the traditional 'powers of 2' increments. Otherwise the wire traces on the motherboard are going to be a good deal more complicated and you just need that many more devices to reach the memory goal.

In fact, the design process is probably far enough along at this point that accounting for the extra memory modules needed to reach 756 would have to have been a decision already made, not one they can still choose to execute at a later date.

 

[jvd]

Ah JVD now you started rumors. go freak from gaming age is quoting you as someone in the know on the ram. I suggest you fix that

Hey i know some stuff

I just don't know whati t all means

 

[Carl B]

Wasn't it always believed the next gen consoles would have at least 512 MB memory.
I don't know who started it, but recently in these forums a 256MB memory size was often seen in a couple of speculations :?

256 is:

1) The rumored, and quasi-confirmed, amount of memory in Xenon acoording to the Gamespy article. Following the article, talk originating from devs started that Microsoft might double that amount. This talk is additional along those lines, and day by day it seems more likely that 512 will be the amount.

2) The rumored max cap to memory for the PS3 in a one Cell configuration, due to limitations on the memory controller of Cell to talk to over four memory devices, and Sony using 512mbit modules. Sony could work around this though if they needed to, and it has been hinted at that a fairly simple tweak of the memory controller will allow it to talk to more devices. Still, you can be sure that whatever the case, it would be easier for Sony to go with 256 XDR than have to force 512.

 

[Megadrive1988]

btw, where is the 756 MB amount (for Xbox360) derived from?

I was thinking 768 MB (256 x 3)

 

[Shinjisan]

Wasn't it always believed the next gen consoles would have at least 512 MB memory.
I don't know who started it, but recently in these forums a 256MB memory size was often seen in a couple of speculations :?

256 is:

1) The rumored, and quasi-confirmed, amount of memory in Xenon acoording to the Gamespy article. Following the article, talk originating from devs started that Microsoft might double that amount. This talk is additional along those lines, and day by day it seems more likely that 512 will be the amount.

2) The rumored max cap to memory for the PS3 in a one Cell configuration, due to limitations on the memory controller of Cell to talk to over four memory devices, and Sony using 512mbit modules. Sony could work around this though if they needed to, and it has been hinted at that a fairly simple tweak of the memory controller will allow it to talk to more devices. Still, you can be sure that whatever the case, it would be easier for Sony to go with 256 XDR than have to force 512.

It's much more probable that since nVidia is forced to implement Flexio to let the GPU communicate with the Cell,they will complete the job with the Rambus technologies implementing also the 4 way memory interface giving the GPU the possibility to have its own 256MB pool of Ram.

 

[ShootMyMonkey]

Btw i hear 756 is a possibility . They are waiting on the ps3 announcment to see if its needed

How is 756 a possibility? 512 + 128 + 64 + 32 + 16 + 4?
768, perhaps? 512 + 256...
The sad thing is that in the beginning, MS was talking about putting 1 GB in there, and at the time, nobody believed it. And here we are pining for more than 256.

2) The rumored max cap to memory for the PS3 in a one Cell configuration, due to limitations on the memory controller of Cell to talk to over four memory devices, and Sony using 512mbit modules. Sony could work around this though if they needed to, and it has been hinted at that a fairly simple tweak of the memory controller will allow it to talk to more devices.

You wouldn't have to change the controller at all. It would be the DRAMs that would have to change. The controller is two 32-bit (36 w/ ECC) channels. XDR DRAMs can be set to have any (power-of-two) width bus from 1 bit all the way up to 16 bits. The 256 MB figure comes from the assumption that each DRAM would necessarily be using 16-bit wide busses. 64 / 16 = 4 DRAMs * 512 Mbits each makes for 256 MB. If you made all the DRAMs as 1 bit, you could go as high as 4 GB on the same controller.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

No, you could do 756, but if it is all really UMD, it would definitely make more sense to go with the traditional 'powers of 2' increments.

Doesn't DDR need paired RAM modules for top speed? Does on my PC. I'd have thought that'd be 512 mb (2x256) or 1 gb (2x512) then.

 

[Megadrive1988]

Btw i hear 756 is a possibility . They are waiting on the ps3 announcment to see if its needed

How is 756 a possibility? 512 + 128 + 64 + 32 + 16 + 4?
768, perhaps? 512 + 256...
The sad thing is that in the beginning, MS was talking about putting 1 GB in there, and at the time, nobody believed it. And here we are pining for more than 256.

when did MS talk about 1 GB ? in 2002 or 2003 ? where? who?

source plz

 

[Carl B]

You wouldn't have to change the controller at all. It would be the DRAMs that would have to change. The controller is two 32-bit (36 w/ ECC) channels. XDR DRAMs can be set to have any (power-of-two) width bus from 1 bit all the way up to 16 bits. The 256 MB figure comes from the assumption that each DRAM would necessarily be using 16-bit wide busses. 64 / 16 = 4 DRAMs * 512 Mbits each makes for 256 MB. If you made all the DRAMs as 1 bit, you could go as high as 4 GB on the same controller.

Well, those were some of the workarounds I was refering to. But my question there is, is that any sort of configuration Sony would want to implement?

If I were them, I'd be seeing if I could correct that memory controller issue instead.

 

[Karma Police]

If the increase in RAM is true, then wouldn't that mean MS is going for games running at resolutions higher than 1280 x 720, like 1920 x 1200?

I can't see how memory higher than 256MB will help with such "low" resolutions as the standard HD (1280x720).

Or am I missing something? :?

 

[AlNom]

Or am I missing something? :?

Larger worlds perhaps... lots of high resolution textures perhaps....