Next Gen Systems info

[IceDigger]

Anandtech has a nice writeup of the upcomming Playstation 3 and XBOX 360 hardware strenghts. Apparently they are nowhere near as powerfull and PC crushing as stated previously. Developers will most likely use only one core rather then the multiple cores in these devices.

The other point that has been made is that even if you can offload some of the physics calculations to the SPE array, the Cell’s PPE ends up being a pretty big bottleneck thanks to its overall lackluster performance. It’s akin to having an extremely fast GPU but without a fast CPU to pair it up with.

Right now, from what we’ve heard, the real-world performance of the Xenon CPU is about twice that of the 733MHz processor in the first Xbox. Considering that this CPU is supposed to power the Xbox 360 for the next 4 - 5 years, it’s nothing short of disappointing. To put it in perspective, floating point multiplies are apparently 1/3 as fast on Xenon as on a Pentium 4.

The most ironic bit of it all is that according to developers, if either manufacturer had decided to use an Athlon 64 or a Pentium D in their next-gen console, they would be significantly ahead of the competition in terms of CPU performance.

Really interesting read.

Link

 

[Zziggy00]

yeah, what can ya do ya know? Sony & Microsoft will always hype them up though, and all the general public needs to hear is "3 3.2GHz processors" and they can't think of anything else. none of it matters... there's a reason I go back to playing Super Mario Brothers Time and Time agian... not to mention Tetris... It's all about the game play.

 

[Ammut_vbulletin3_import16130]

I can't help but think of the Saturn when seeing the info on both of these systems. Both M$ and Sony seemed to just add up all the chips they are throwing in there and stating that is how the system will run. Unfortunately that just isn't how it works... I'm sure programmers currently working on either system are trying to get a fraction of the promised power while trying not to rip their hair out every day.

The more I see of the 360 vs Ps3 spec fights, the more I am drawn to the Revolution. I just hope Nintendo doesn't **** it up in their own special way.

 

[schi0249]

From the first video I saw of the PS3, I thought it was questionable. At E3, when asked if the video in Killzone was rendered, the answer was "It's done to spec." Not a yes or no. I do think the PS3 and X-Box 360 will be great systems. I just think the Revolution will be more fun. Just like I enjoy my GC more than my PS2 or XBox.