Would xb360 have a better gpu if MS went with Nvidia?

[bbot]

Now that various reviews of R600 have come out and the conclusion is that r600's performance is on par with GeForce 8800GTS, would it have been better if Microsoft went with a Nvidia-designed gpu (g80) for the Xbox 360? (Based on perfmance alone, and not other factors, such as cost and licensing issues)

 

[Asher]

No, for various reasons:
1) G80 came out a year after MS launched and nearly 1.5 years after they started production. Are you familiar with Moore's Law?
2) MS needed to own the design of the chip, so it could shrink it down
3) Poor relations from the Xbox 1

 

[Neb]

Now that various reviews of R600 have come out and the conclusion is that r600's performance is on par with GeForce 8800GTS, would it have been better if Microsoft went with a Nvidia-designed gpu (g80) for the Xbox 360? (Based on perfmance alone, and not other factors, such as cost and liscencing issues)

Of course and the same would apply for PS3 (RSX swapped for G80). But it cost and consoles need to be as powerful as possible but as cheap as possible to. I mean just look at how people where disgusted with the price of the PS3 (~600$) and having a G80 would up the price a lot for either one of the machines.
But G80 wasn't out then so IF MS had went with an Nvidia chip for that time it would have been something similar to RSX and I think Xenos is more powerful than RSX!

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

You cant anwser that if things like cost dont matter. What if MS paid ATI a X amount of cash to do whatever they wanted and just make the fastest thing they could? Also g80 wasnt out at that time yet so they had to go with a older Nvidia chip and I dont believe they were as good as what ati did for the x360.

 

[swaaye]

XB360 has a GPU that is, at least on spec sheets, a hell of a lot more interesting than RSX. So I think they make the best decision for sure. Unless Xenos is a buggy mess and we just don't know it.

G80 is multiple times larger than Xenos, and that's with the EDRAM counted. So I don't think G80 could ever be a console solution in its current form. Of course, neither could a 180 nm RSX or Xenos, I'm sure. Once things shrink more, G80 in a console could be possible (but better things will be around by then, of course.)

 

[Carl B]

Now that various reviews of R600 have come out and the conclusion is that r600's performance is on par with GeForce 8800GTS, would it have been better if Microsoft went with a Nvidia-designed gpu (g80) for the Xbox 360? (Based on perfmance alone, and not other factors, such as cost and licensing issues)

G80 was not an option for 360; the timeline alone should make that obvious.