Next Xbox "to have 16 core processor"
- Thread starter MatParker116
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When I got a 360 just after launch PC gamers were not happy - at the time the 360 could match most current gaming PCs so I expect the same to happen when Microsoft release their next gen... a year after that PC gamers might have something to be smug about (if they have the money for whatever tech comes out of course.)Da Orky Man said:
From what I heard from the devs I know, Microsoft's next console will be equivalent to a 3.6ghz six core processor with a 7950 and 4gig of memory shared, however there is a second version to compete with the WiiU that will be cheaper - probably cloud based. As a recently converted PC gamer myself I will be fairly happy if what I've been told comes true because it means I don't have to upgrade for a long while (minimum spec for most PC games has been fairly static for a while, I suppose because of the 360's spec) however I really wish Microsoft would up the memory.
The deal breaker for me was the security measures. Don't be surprised if it comes with Origin either.
16 cores?
Yeah, good luck with that.
I have a quad-core CPU, and Í've yet to come across a game that can make meaningful use of more than 2 of them. (with some load on a 3rd for background tasks.)
Game programmers are just not very good at writing decent multi-threaded code.
Of course, it doesn't help that PC architecture isn't well-designed for it. DirectX in particular has some serious bottlenecks that make using more than 2 cpu cores efficiently almost impossible, because of the way the CPU, and GPU communicate with eachother.
DirectX 11 took a step or two in trying to fix this, but it's still a long way off from being usable.
That, and writing multi-threaded code given how a game functions is just plain difficult.
So... If it does have 16 cores, you'd better hope the architecture was planned really carefully...
Otherwise 12 or more of those cores are going to spend most of their time doing nothing...
Yeah, good luck with that.
I have a quad-core CPU, and Í've yet to come across a game that can make meaningful use of more than 2 of them. (with some load on a 3rd for background tasks.)
Game programmers are just not very good at writing decent multi-threaded code.
Of course, it doesn't help that PC architecture isn't well-designed for it. DirectX in particular has some serious bottlenecks that make using more than 2 cpu cores efficiently almost impossible, because of the way the CPU, and GPU communicate with eachother.
DirectX 11 took a step or two in trying to fix this, but it's still a long way off from being usable.
That, and writing multi-threaded code given how a game functions is just plain difficult.
So... If it does have 16 cores, you'd better hope the architecture was planned really carefully...
Otherwise 12 or more of those cores are going to spend most of their time doing nothing...
If the rumours are true then it's almost certain to be an IBM Power7 CPU in those devkits... I really can't be arsed pulling up a benched comparison between those and Xeons - too much fucking digging and server kit performance doesn't always translate well into gaming performance. Plus if I did put one up it would only lead to one of us having to explain FlOps and why they're important. Fuck That Noise.Griffolion said:
As I said upthread, even if the rumours on what's inside the devkit are true, it's a sodding devkit. You can't reliably extrapolate anything for the eventual retail model from the devkit's specs beyond basic CPU type and probably GPU generation.
The real question is: will there be 16 actual physical cores in there or will it use virtual processors. If it's virtual cores, I can understand it. However, it's going to be a total horror for developers if they want to actually USE these things to their full potential.
Actually making content that requires enough OOMPH to require 16 cores... well... It's either going to look better than real life (poor, poor graphics designers) or have such awesome physics (poor, poor developers)
Maybe they can.
Don't know why they would.
Actually making content that requires enough OOMPH to require 16 cores... well... It's either going to look better than real life (poor, poor graphics designers) or have such awesome physics (poor, poor developers)
Maybe they can.
Don't know why they would.
Braveheart. It doesn't hurt that I just looked up the reference to make sure I had it right for alluding to it in my novel. XDj-e-f-f-e-r-s said:
The difference is desktop PC's have out of order processors whereas consoles are entirely in-order processors. I'll let wiki say it for me. Essentially, in an out of order processor "the processor can avoid being idle while data is retrieved for the next instruction in a program, processing instead the next instructions which is able to run immediately."ubersyanyde said:
