Xbox One (Durango) Technical hardware investigation

[AzBat]

If as you say they decided in february why would they anounce 8gb in may?

Could be as simple is wasn't ready yet & didn't want to promise something before they were sure. I will re-iterate I don't think the odds of it happening are real high. I figured we would have heard more corroborating rumors about it before now.

Tommy McClain

 

[DrJay24]

I still im trying to understand the benefit 32MB of ESRAM at 109GB/s has over a general system RAM bandwidth of "only" 68gb/s?

If the spec bump included faster general RAM I would be ALOT more excited. Even it only doubled to 136 GB/s that would be a real boon.

They are already using the cutting edge for DDR3. What you are advocating is switching to GDDR5.

 

[Jay]

(possible) xb1 sports 16Gb of ram.

(possible) I win a $5m lottery.

Yet, both very unlikely (the latter way more... still possible).

'possible' alone means little, unless you have a way at least to quantify its range.

You seem so sure to the point of certainty, what makes you so sure? Cost, availability of chips, board redesign?

IF final dev kits are 12GB, and IF the rumour that MS asked devs about more memory is true, then it is possible.
Many if's there, but this is a news and rumours thread, and both conditions fall under that.
It's not just people deciding to one day think, hmmm lets up the XB1 specs.

I personally wouldn't put money on it being 12GB, but that doesn't make it impossible. (As many people have explained)
I would put money on them not changing to a 12 core Intel, with a NVidia system though. :smile:

 

[blakjedi]

They are already using the cutting edge for DDR3. What you are advocating is switching to GDDR5.

i see.

 

[XpiderMX]

Many if's there, but this is a news and rumours thread, and both conditions fall under that.:smile:

Some people need to read this.

 

[Jay]

Forgot to put technical in there.
I don't feel just basically saying impossible, when people have given reasons why it isn't is in the spirit of the thread.
Discuss rumours on their technical merit and feasibility. (Even if you think it may or may not happen)

 

[dagamer]

Thing is, if the 12GB rumor is true, no one has to know until production starts around the end of this month to mid-September. We also really need to remember, when they decide to increase RAM (if they do) is on a completely different time table from letting developers and the general public know. The former is an engineering decision, the latter two are marketing (as they can technically tell us after the device is in stores honestly, the FCC shouldn't bother them about RAM).

 

[Shifty Geezer]

'possible' alone means little, unless you have a way at least to quantify its range.

It means 'not impossible' as a counter to an argument. Likelihood requires a discussion of probabilities. Impossible asserts a 0% chance, which is untrue. A 0.000001% chance is still infinitely greater odds than 'impossible'. I know some folk have a little difficulty accepting the abstraction and consider the odds as much the same, basically zero, but to engineers and mathematicians there's a clear distinction.

 

[MrFox]

It's not impossible it's simply inconceivable.

 

[Boxercide]

The thing about the 12 GB rumor is that it didn't come from any reliable source. It was generated by fanboys in forums and has now taken on a life of its own.

 

[smerfy]

The thing about the 12 GB rumor is that it didn't come from any reliable source. It was generated by fanboys in forums and has now taken on a life of its own.

Wait, where do you think it originated?

 

[Silent_Buddha]

They are already using the cutting edge for DDR3. What you are advocating is switching to GDDR5.

It's perhaps cutting edge for JEDEC certification but not for XMP certification as there is Intel certified XMP ratings of up to 3000 Mhz in shipping products versus the 2133 Mhz in the Xbox One.

Cost versus benefit is certainly far more in favor of going with 2133 Mhz rated chips. Then again 2400 Mhz rated chips are pretty much the same price as 2133 Mhz rated chips now. There's a large bump in price when you go above that, however.

That said, considering the Xbox One was designed with DDR3-2133 in mind, it's extremely unlikely that they will go for a higher speed. Especially as they have likely already made procurement contracts with one or more memory manufacturers for large quantities of it. Breaking those contracts would likely result in a very significant monetary loss.

Regards,
SB

 

[2real4tv]

Is it possible to deduce whether RAM is expandable w/o modification by looking at the motherboard?

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2013/05/xbox-one-development-photos/?viewall=false#slideid-138498

 

[XpiderMX]

Is it possible to deduce whether RAM is expandable w/o modification by looking at the motherboard?

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2013/05/xbox-one-development-photos/?viewall=false#slideid-138498

I guess we need both sides of the MoBo.

 

[MrFox]

It's perhaps cutting edge for JEDEC certification but not for XMP certification as there is Intel certified XMP ratings of up to 3000 Mhz in shipping products versus the 2133 Mhz in the Xbox One.

XMP is an SPD extension for enthusiast overclocking and overvolting spec, and it's used by module makers to sell niche memory, it's not used by memory manufacturers. As far as I can tell, there's no chip production that are binning or testing the chips as such. Notice that there isn't a single vendor selling 1.5v above 2133, they are all volted out of specs, it's the only practical way to reach these speeds, and I don't think microsoft would want to go 1.6v or 1.65v.

 

[mozmo]

looking at the pic there are 16 memory chips on top, which probably equates to 8GB. 512mb x 16.

Now DDR3 isn't point to point, so it's entirely possible they have pads on the bottom to add more ram, that's one advantage of DDR3 it easier to add more ram on the same channel.

 

[bkilian]

It's not impossible it's simply inconceivable.

Do I really need to break out the Inigo Montoya _again_?
Inconceivable means you literally could not even have thought about it. This whole thread already blew it out of the water, as did the survey sent out to developers, since it proves _someone_ had thought about it.

 

[Gipsel]

So 16GB are not impossible but just improbable.

/end of semantics discussion

 

[Cyan]

The thing about the 12 GB rumor is that it didn't come from any reliable source. It was generated by fanboys in forums and has now taken on a life of its own.

I think the news appeared in an article first. According to it, Microsoft took the unprecedented decision to upgrade the specs of the Xbox One before its release.

This is the actual article from July 12th or so, and it mentions the survey sent out to developers, a rumoured upclock -which turned out to be real-, how they took the decision due to the DRM issues and an alleged upgrade to 12GB because development kits shipped with 12GBs then --although developers thought retail kits would have 8GB.

http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/1...-the-specs-of-the-xbox-one-before-its-release

 

[Solarus]

that would be amazing if xbox one had more ram. would that mean even better textures and stuff? i know it wont increase the graphics like polygons and shaders and things but better textures is always welcome. maybe this will mean good thing for pc gamers in many years too? would the 68GB/s bandwidth be enough?