Why is x86 being dropped by Microsoft for new Xbox?

[seismologist]

I think they wanted to be comparable to the PS3 for whatever reason. Cost? Ease of ports? Who knows.

 

[standing ovation]

I realize that x86 is some 20+ years old now, and its remarkable how addons to this system have made it perform quite well in things like 3d graphics and sound. However am I right in assuming that inefficincies in x86 make it less attractive for a new gaming console?

Not only consoles, but computing in general.

I think the x86 architecture was a fairly specific solution to problems geeks were facing at the time: a need to execute lots of instructions on a tiny bit of data. Nowadays, however, the opposite seems to be the case, with engineers wanting more malleable solutions to problems that may yet lurk in the future, one that is capable of performing relatively few instructions on massive amounts of data.

Stated another way: GPU architectures are fast becoming touchstones for CPU design. And this trend looks to be the nail in the x86 coffin.

 

[mesyn191]

Nah, they can keep improving on the original x86 much like Intel improved it with the 3x86 and AMD has done recently with AMD64. Further changes in the future appear to be to depreciate x87 performance in favor of SSE 1/2/3 which largely fix all of x86's ass backwards and anemic FP performance problems...

Integer wise x86's performance is still hanging in there quite well with the best CPU's you know so I don't think there are any problems on that front, ecspecially since AMD64 fixed the lack of GPR problem.

x86 is going to be around for a long loooong time and outside of arch. designed to be very good at one or 2 things will be very competitive with pretty much everything for a long time to come IMO.

 

[nutball]

Stated another way: GPU architectures are fast becoming touchstones for CPU design. And this trend looks to be the nail in the x86 coffin.

This is so deeply wrong it's not even funny.

Compare Opteron to ... say... POWER5. Then come back to us.

EDIT: oh and while you're at it look up the phrases "vector processor" and "array processor" and "history of supercomputing".

 

[standing ovation]

x86 is going to be around for a long loooong time and outside of arch. designed to be very good at one or 2 things will be very competitive with pretty much everything for a long time to come IMO.

For the sake of backward compatibility, yesterday's computers run today's applications just fine.

But eventually the hardware industry will need to adopt a new technology standard if for nothing else than to get consumers to migrate to new hardware ... and keep them in business. Until then, it is becoming increasingly difficult for ordinary customers like me to perceive--and justify--incremental changes in our everyday computing.

 

[standing ovation]

This is so deeply wrong it's not even funny.

Opteron ... Power5 ... History of supercomputing?! I'm sorry but I haven't a clue what you are talking about.

So in the meantime I'll try to explain what I meant.

Rather than continue to increase processor speeds and/or feature sets and risk running headlong into the law of diminished returns, CPU architects seem to be embracing parallelism for the same reasons that GPU designers have. As a consequence--and all I'm saying really--is that the two should be getting more similar than dissimilar ... and will probably evolve beyond the x86 standard.