Guys it's time to let it go. This thread is for rumors of technical merit. Rumors of changing to a GPU 4x more power then the one they leaked 2 specs to have no technical merit they are nothing but noise.
It is confirmed by photos that some dev kits are GTX 680 and by word of quite a few that others are 7970.
It is reasonable to assume minimum 7970 architecture but more likely (since roughly 2 years between *launch* dates) that it is about 2 years or 1.5 generations more advanced. It isn't just process feature size and transistor count that drives advancement.
I say don't assume what was done was for no good reason. Maybe about $1,000,000,000 into this and lots of really bright people should suggest that forum quarter backs are not in a position to second guess the console designers.
This is the first time consoles start out with the CPU and GPU on the same die, with (de)compresion/move engines on the same die and very fast low latency local memory/scratchpad on the same die. The efficiency is not expected to be comparable to a discrete GPU.
You say it is time to let it go.
I say it is time for you to let go of the idea that the first APU consoles will be comparable to low-mid end discrete parts. They are not discrete and just about everything has changed since the previous consoles and their discrete parts. Comparing to discrete 7790 performance does not make sense.
This new batch of consoles will probably surprise people for years to come in terms of what they can do compared with discrete designs of 2012/2013.
I have noticed a lot of bashing and nay saying against everything from rumors to posts with sources/links. Yet when I ask the bashers and nay sayers for sources/links/quotes (when they say this or that is not possible) they usually ignore it or provide half a source for one of a dozens "no no no you can't do that" claims they make. I don't think it is reasonable to keep replying to links/sources/quotes with just "it can't be done". At least provide some links/sources/facts that back up the "oh no you can't do that".
Hold rumors to a certain standard. But also hold the bashers and nay sayers to a certain standard also. (Keep in mind that the "rumors" of 4-6 months ago held up pretty well. Wonder what will be said in 4-6 months from now.)
One example: "Oh no you can't change the ram size!". Non-sense. It can be as simple as changing a couple digits on the bill of materials from one Micron DDR3 chip to another higher density DDR3 chip. You don't need to argue anymore than that. History (360) shows that just such a decision was made. I don't think they did anything to the PCB. I think in that case they just switched one part number for the GDDR3.
I could go on about the clocks but if that isn't perfectly obvious from watching AMD and Nvidia and partners come out with all kinds of derivatives all day long in a few weeks to a month or two after reference then I am wasting my time trying to explain again and again.
wouldn't discussing the viability of something involve all facets of it being plausible or not?
