Next Xbox 'to boast ridiculously powerful 16-core CPU' [NextGen Rumour WAR]

[MjW]

I thought we needed one more thread about rumour superiority.

Another rumour report arrives...
By Andy Robinson for computerandvideogames.com

Yet another next-gen Xbox rumour has reared its head this morning, claiming Microsoft's next console's set to boast a monster 16-core CPU.



The latest issue of Xbox World reports that codename 'Durango' devkits were sent to developers last month, shortly after secret meetings were held in London.The Durango kits don't resemble the final hardware in appearance, says XBW (the original Xbox 360 devkits were PowerPCs in standard PC cases), but the hardware inside is representative of the machine you can expect to see released in late 2013.
XBW's sources suggest Durango's devkit is powered by a state of the art 16-core IBM Power PC CPU with a graphics processor on par with AMD's Radeon HD 7000-series graphics cards, as previously rumoured.

The 16-core processor in particular would be a surprising addition, as it's future tech even for high-end PCs. AMD launched the world's first 16-core processor for the business market in November last year.
XBW explains: "It's a ridiculous amount of power for a games machine - too much power, even. But remember, Kinect 2 could chew up four whole cores tracking multiple players right down to their fingertips, so it'll need a lot of power."

Despite Microsoft and Sony both denying they'll show next-gen tech at E3 in June, XBW's sources claim many developers are working towards an LA debut for their next-generation software, "whether Microsoft and Sony are ready or not".

It's going to be an interesting few months...

Source

[maltrophstitan]

Seems a lot of outlets are picking up on this rumor. I think we would all love over the top power... well more power to them if true

[Ghost-Rhayne]

I don't think MS want to pull a Sony and release an Xpensivebox 720.

[Fon]

Just watch. Next gen consoles will be drastically weaker then what these rumors are saying.

[ex nihilo7]

Unless they can actually utilize all 16 cores without it being detrimental to performance, I think it would be a waste of silicon. I don't doubt developers would write highly optimized compilers for game engines, as far as the first party games are concerned for the first year or so, to take advantage of multi-threading, but after a while having too many threads running on 16 cores can create overhead. Hence detrimental to performance. Then again, maybe I don't know what I'm talking about . By only saying it has 16 cores doesn't say too much, since we don't know all the other architecture specifications. It might even take a page out of Intel's book and have 16 virtual cores, while only having 8 physical cores.

At least the rumor does say devkit, and not the actual system. AMD uses actual physical cores, and not Intel's hyperthreading approach.

[TGO]

I don't think MS want to pull a Sony and release an Xpensivebox 720.

Unless theres something we don't know, I read about this a few week back on Gaf & the original source said Sonys was still more powerful. which I find.....unbelievable, 32 Cores anyone?
either way it's all just rumours

[Soldier 95B]

If the Xbox 3 ends up being the most powerful by that much, it's going to be priced out of reach for many.

[MacP]

and just when I thought Microsoft couldn't get any dumber.

[BoyBettaKnow]

Going MS, make a beast of a machine.

Build it and they will come. I know i will.

[Lethal_NFS]

Just watch. Next gen consoles will be drastically weaker then what these rumors are saying.

What? I hear the new consoles will have 63 cores with a built in fish tank for added cooling.

[Sylar]

What? I hear the new consoles will have 63 cores with a built in fish tank for added cooling.

also works as a screen saver

[maltrophstitan]

Having an over the top CPU would maybe help with the Xbox brand focusing on a general purpose media box solution over just a dedicated gaming box.

Thinking ahead about what next gen may offer could give a ballpark figure of what it may need.

-You and a few friends at home playing kinect (reading facial features and fingertip movements)
-Someone watching a live HD stream of a sporting event in another room
-Someone browsing tv listings and starting a recording from their phone from work
-Someone playing an arcade game on a tablet over 4G

Imagine all of this being done simultaneously through the next gen Xbox, Handling 4 player Kinect input and HD gaming, while streaming live HD video, while recording an HD show, while someone else is playing another game on a tablet.

is that the future for Xbox? a families home media box which everyone can access at the same time?
That could maybe constitute a need for a CPU heavy machine, where yeah its 16 cores but they're not all dedicated to one task.
MS could limit 8 of those for actual main gaming purpose, another 4 for kinect, and another 4 for general media purposes.

[Two4DaMoney]

Going MS, make a beast of a machine.

Build it and they will come. I know i will.

And we thought the ps3 started off rough due to the high price. They will bleed so much money trying to keep their price in a range that people are willing to pay.

[maltrophstitan]

And we thought the ps3 started off rough due to the high price. They will bleed so much money trying to keep their price in a range that people are willing to pay.

360 launched at $400 if the new parts follow Moore's Law and you take into account inflation, along with MS position in the industry $450 to $500 wouldn't be unheard of.

plus all the ways these companies seem to milk storage devices and other peripheral needs.

and really IMO it wasn't just the sticker shock that cost Sony, they kept cutting features, lying/half truths about gameplay demos, and their overall smug attitude.

[D3seeker]

Sounds right. I for one wouldn't expect any less.

[Fon]

What? I hear the new consoles will have 63 cores with a built in fish tank for added cooling.

.. Sounds legit.

[Centurion]

Unless they can actually utilize all 16 cores without it being detrimental to performance, I think it would be a waste of silicon. I don't doubt developers would write highly optimized compilers for game engines, as far as the first party games are concerned for the first year or so, to take advantage of multi-threading, but after a while having too many threads running on 16 cores can create overhead. Hence detrimental to performance. Then again, maybe I don't know what I'm talking about . By only saying it has 16 cores doesn't say too much, since we don't know all the other architecture specifications. It might even take a page out of Intel's book and have 16 virtual cores, while only having 8 physical cores.

At least the rumor does say devkit, and not the actual system. AMD uses actual physical cores, and not Intel's hyperthreading approach.

AMD's Bullzoder approach is similar to Intel's hyperthreading approach.

With hyperthreading, each core has two architectural states (i.e. two sets of registers, etc), and they share the execution units. Each core has an L1 and L2 cache. All cores share the large L3 data cache.

With AMD's approach, each core (AMD calls them 'modules') has two architectural states and the only execution unit they share is the floating-point unit. Both sets of execution units have their own L1 data caches. L1 instruction cache, L2 cache, and L3 caches are per-module.

So when we say 16-core AMD processor, we're really talking about 8 modules.

Not trying to be impertinent, just thought I would elaborate on the topic

If there is a 16-core CPU in Microsoft's new console, I'm guessing its a quad-core PowerPC chip with 4 hardware threads per core, like POWER7.

[mynd]

AMD's Bullzoder approach is similar to Intel's hyperthreading approach.

With hyperthreading, each core has two architectural states (i.e. two sets of registers, etc), and they share the execution units. Each core has an L1 and L2 cache. All cores share the large L3 data cache.

With AMD's approach, each core (AMD calls them 'modules') has two architectural states and the only execution unit they share is the floating-point unit. Both sets of execution units have their own L1 data caches. L1 instruction cache, L2 cache, and L3 caches are per-module.

So when we say 16-core AMD processor, we're really talking about 8 modules.

Not trying to be impertinent, just thought I would elaborate on the topic

If there is a 16-core CPU in Microsoft's new console, I'm guessing its a quad-core PowerPC chip with 4 hardware threads per core, like POWER7.

This.
Technically the current 360 is a 6 core CPU.

[TGO]

Wait a second....PS3 is a 8 core system, and before anyone gets technical it's still a 8 core CPU on paper, so the new Xbox could be the same, which makes this more believable and not very impressive.

Sent from my Sony Xperia S

[Sub-stance1]

Wait a second....PS3 is a 8 core system, and before anyone gets technical it's still a 8 core CPU on paper, so the new Xbox could be the same, which makes this more believable and not very impressive.

Sent from my Sony Xperia S

The next gen xbox will boost some impressive power but its the other features that will make it shine. Its gonna be pretty exciting to see where they go with it.

[Centurion]

Wait a second....PS3 is a 8 core system, and before anyone gets technical it's still a 8 core CPU on paper, so the new Xbox could be the same, which makes this more believable and not very impressive.

Sent from my Sony Xperia S

Keep in mind that the 8 SPE's in the Cell CPU are less complex compared to the 'cores' that you find in Intel/AMD/PowerPC chips.

[Sub-stance1]

Keep in mind that the 8 SPE's in the Cell CPU are less complex compared to the 'cores' that you find in Intel/AMD/PowerPC chips.

And will probably be a little less of a pain in the ass to work with than the ones in cell.

[itachi73378]

And will probably be a little less of a pain in the ass to work with than the ones in cell.

Yeah, due to the fact that they will probably be for general purpose processing and can pull more FLOPS than SPEs. I've been wondering about the cost break down recently

$100 CPU
$75 GPU (according to rumored radeon 6670)
$80 500gig HDD
$80 12x Blu ray drive
$40 8gig RAM

That makes the cost $300 and they will sell it for $400

[TGO]

Keep in mind that the 8 SPE's in the Cell CPU are less complex compared to the 'cores' that you find in Intel/AMD/PowerPC chips.

Yeah I was just saying, the whole 16 core thing is not that far fetched once you remember that technically PS3 is a 8 core, complex or not.
May not even be as expensive as some think

Sent from my Sony Xperia S

[ex nihilo7]

AMD's Bullzoder approach is similar to Intel's hyperthreading approach.

With hyperthreading, each core has two architectural states (i.e. two sets of registers, etc), and they share the execution units. Each core has an L1 and L2 cache. All cores share the large L3 data cache.

With AMD's approach, each core (AMD calls them 'modules') has two architectural states and the only execution unit they share is the floating-point unit. Both sets of execution units have their own L1 data caches. L1 instruction cache, L2 cache, and L3 caches are per-module.

So when we say 16-core AMD processor, we're really talking about 8 modules.

Not trying to be impertinent, just thought I would elaborate on the topic

If there is a 16-core CPU in Microsoft's new console, I'm guessing its a quad-core PowerPC chip with 4 hardware threads per core, like POWER7.

Ahh I must have misunderstood it then the last time I looked at it. Was their old architecture before Bulldozer like how I mentioned it? There was a guy in my class this semester that did a presentation on an older Intel chip and that was how he mentioned AMDs approach (using physical cores). I understand why Intel using the hyper threading approach though, roughly 20% performance with only 5% more die being used. These were the numbers on the chips a few years ago.