Wii U hardware discussion and investigation *rename

Source?

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=550+MHz+before+the+3.0.0+update,+800+MHz+after+the+3.0.0+update

http://www.vg247.com/2013/05/10/wii-u-latest-system-update-has-increased-cpu-gpu-speed-rumour/

 

Yeah and the new firmware also boosts the DDR3 to 2133MT/s, and overclocks the ARM they have for I/O to 2GHz so it can be used to assist rendering tasks like nVidia‘s project Denver.

Lots of secret sauce in that new firmware.

 

Wow, some people will believe anything. Apparently even coming from random edits on tvtropes of all places. That aren't even aware that PowerPC750 is not POWER6.

All of the news sites spreading this nonsense should be ashamed of themselves.

 

What Babel-17 said, although I got the info from Neogaf.

Nintendo have always secrets, so this could be true. But I've seen the innards of the machine and it's very simple, the cooling system is quite rudimentary, like the motherboard and so on.

If this became an opportunity for more developers to design games for the WiiU and take full advantage of the additional horsepower....

More developers for the console, and this would really open the floodgates later this year 2013.

 

Yes, in the same vein as NASA actually COULD send a bunch of screwup oil rig workers into space to sink a nuke into an asteroid about to hit earth; of course they wouldn't, but it could be true, but of course they wouldn't, but it could be true....on and on the squirrel runs in its little recursive wheel.

It's complete and utter lies of course.

Don't make me laugh. I'm too tired for that right now, my heart couldn't handle the strain.

 

Before we laugh this rumor out of existence, lets at least have a post that gives a definitive reason why this isn't true so it can be referenced later (along with more laughing).

So, why is this rumor false?

My thinking:
In order for a console to be a console, all hardware which a game relies on must be the same. Same CPU clocks, same GPU clocks, same amount of RAM. The one time I can remember an OEM "holding back" system specs was the PSP which was done for battery life reasons (launch CPU speed - 222Mhz, normal speed 333Mhz). However, Sony made it clear from the beginning that the CPU was capable of more. Thing is, anytime you do something like this, you have to test and validate every chip for the higher speed, plus provide cooling as well. Perhaps it could make sense in a battery life constrainted environment where you essentially shaft v1 systems when new games that rely chips made at smaller process nodes come out (without killing the battery), but in a console, it makes no sense. In fact, I think companies would be infuriated for wasting their time.

Is my reasoning sound?

 

I believe marcan42 may say otherwise...

https://mobile.twitter.com/marcan42/status/332935168572665857?p=v
https://mobile.twitter.com/marcan42/status/332935558378700800?p=v
https://mobile.twitter.com/marcan42/status/332936531289456640?p=v

 

Well, I said we should entertain it, and we have been entertained.

 

No, it really couldn't. It's a technical impossibility and it makes no logical sense why it'd happen like this even if it weren't. Nintendo being secretive with its hardware doesn't mean anything is possible. A better explanation is the one that the existing information fits - Nintendo doesn't brag about their hardware specs because their hardware specs aren't good.

More than that, a random edit to a wiki shouldn't qualify as newsworthy even if it is plausible. There isn't even the pretense of authority, let alone any qualification.

 

What is not funny is the idiots that believe crap like that.

 

Not everyone has the technical knowledge (and maybe business sense) to understand how insane that rumor is.

It does seem that the Wii U is using more power-saving features after the update. I wonder if there will now be a noticable difference with the system's average Watt range.

 

Perhaps they shouldn't post so much about them then?

 

A check on wikipedia would tell that the CPU is a 1997 design, first released prior to the POWER3.
I like to compare it to Pentium II/3 design (and pentium pro), in that it seems to have seen quite many shrinks, cache changes and clock increase (and minor improvments) ; conceptually the difference between a G3 at 233MHz and an Espresso at 1.24GHz or Broadway would be similar to that between a Pentium II 233 and a Pentium III S-1.4GHz, unless I'm severely mistaken.
What that design absolutely won't to is to reach 3GHz. That doesn't happen by accident either.

 

What about Nintendo are not deliberately releasing their specifications on how much power the update gave the WiiU in a way that they can keep something of a competitive edge with PS4 and Infinity that are still unreleased?

If you think about it, that way the other companies with their consoles still in development don't know what to aim for to beat the current processing power out now. I think it may be a possibility...

 

Unpacking your posts a little I know that it is highly unlikely although maybe possible to do that through a simple system update.

If you take into account that the system was released underclocked, which is actually the case for most electronics... a bump could be possible.

My issue with the rumour is the huge size of the jump, judging from people's words. I myself sometimes gotten into the nitty gritty of overclocking my PC, or seeing how my laptop CPU i5-2450M overclocks itself, but that's about it and so I will admit I may be a pretty average source for this.

What do I know, all I can say is a jump of 2 GHz is huge!!

What about the update having added a little something to the Wii U? Well, maybe not as much as that user claims, but some more power would attract more developers now that Nintendo are starving.

Nintendo... if only they could see you now...

 

Come on now, lets all stop being idiotic ... by not giving any more credence to this utter bullshit blind-fanboy-miracle-wish where a software update installs magical hardware upgrades.

 

Why didn't they release Wii U with full clocks in the first place? "Let's release a great piece of kit but deliberately halve its performance, and then when everyone's given up on it and lost interest, suddenly wow everyone with its hidden power, which of course means those people who did buy the console and games aren't getting as good an experience they could have got because we wanted to play this awesome trick. But they'll appreciate the novelty of the artificial performance cap and the chunky 720p no AA graphics of their games once they get over how they were shafted as early adopters. "

 

The idea is not so outlandish when we have the precedent of Sony precisely doing the same thing, though tripling the clock is completely bunk (that 2GHz ARM too, no question)

Nintendo would have set a deliberately slow clock to avoid or lessen any industrial problem, like the one that plagued the Xbox 360. Once the dust has settled and there are no significant overheating in the installed park (cooling/packaging issue, or people doing dumb things) they can push an update, without necessarily doing big PR about it and allow say a +10% or +20% higher CPU clock speed on new or supported games.

No idea if it is that likely.

 

No, the idea is completely outlandish, insane, and asinine.

The amount of effort, time, and money in re-validating all existing titles is outlandish. There's a specific reason why the companies (such as Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo) take so much time in doing their die-shrink updates -- it's so not a single thing is changed in regards to the clock or performance of the system.