New XBox with 3x PPC G5

[JetRacer]

The next XBox will have not one but three (IBM) PPC G5 in it. Also worth noting is ATI graphics hardware beyond what we will see in soon-to-be-released ATI boards. If true, this will drive down G5 price to rock bottom.

Check it out here.

[whabang]

That's kinda cool!
I assume they'll use a JIT-x86 emulator, and the gfx, is DirectX, right?

[mikeymike]

It's a bit of an odd jump for MS, I think they're a bit uncertain about how CPU development will go in the future, with doubt cast on Intel's ability to stay ahead of the market.  AMD and IBM are grabbing the CPU headlines at the moment.

[redrumloa]

Bizzare, M$ without Intel.. What's next? Cats and Dogs getting along? I must admit the X-Box 2 sounds interesting, unlike the X-Box one. 3 G5? How would 3 G5 be cheaper than one X86 chip? This is what I want to know.

If this comes true which it looks like it will, my hat will be off to Hyperion. They took alot of heat a few years ago when they insisted PPC would become dominant in the near future. M$ using it would indicate that, should help to drop prices down too. Right :-?

[Seehund]

three (IBM) PPC G5 in it.

Isn't this just a case of a journalist making false conclusions from "three IBM chips"?

It just doesn't make sense. The G5s cost a couple of hundred $ each, don't they? 3 CPUs? Why not 2, 4, or some other even number? Why would the XBox 2 need such a ginormous CPU power? The predecessor did its stuff with a lowly Celeron for a CPU, and a kickass graphics system.

[whabang]

Two chips for CPU-tasks and a third for other tasks, perhaps? :-?

[minator]

Actually according to the rumour they are 3 dual core G6 processors and each can do 2 threads (so 12 in total).
The ATI chip is NOT the one due soon (R420), it's at least a generation ahead (R500).

How would 3 G5 be cheaper than one X86 chip?

Because they won't be high end CPUs, Apple will have those - The G6 is long romoured to appear later this year  so Apple may even be onto the G7 by then.

Lower clocked processors cost a lot less money than high clocked processors (especially in the volumes we're talking about) and possibly more importantly run cooler - do you really want a 140 Watt beast in your X-Box?  That's what Intel are predicting.

They also can take over tasks like sound and I/O, it's probably cheaper and quicker (to market) to use 3 CPUs than use custom chips.

In any case the PS3 is still likely to stomp all over it...

[bloodline]

Several things:

It's a "leaked" document.

It could be a concept design.

If could be used by M$ to squeeze out a better deal with Intel.

The CPU was not specified.

The Original XBox had almost nothing of the Prototype shown off by M$ in it.

We'll have to wait an see :-)

[whabang]

Bizzare, M$ without Intel.. What's next? Cats and Dogs getting along?

Considering the specs of the new Xbox, how about AmigaOS running natively on Microsoft hardware? :-D

If this comes true which it looks like it will, my hat will be off to Hyperion. They took alot of heat a few years ago when they insisted PPC would become dominant in the near future. M$ using it would indicate that, should help to drop prices down too. Right

The future of the CPU-market looks very uncertain at the moment. The x86 has been pushed as far as possible; a new generation must come soon.
What AMD and Intel has kept doing until now could easily be compared to Motorola continiuing to develop the 68k-series to 3k+ GHz-levels.

I don't think that Intel's future is so bright anymore.
There will be problems if the x86-platform is split up, and I don't think that AMD, Intel and Via will cooperate to create a successor to the x86.

Exciting times ahead for sure... Who knows? You know how Apple has kept an up-to-date version of MacOS for x86? What if M$ has the same for PPC? :-D I mean, there was a version of NT4 for PPC once...

[KennyR]

minator wrote:
Lower clocked processors cost a lot less money than high clocked processors

That's right. In the CPU production process, quite a few chips don't pass quality control. Rather than throw them away they're lowered to a clock speed at which they're stable and sold off. I believe Motorola did this for the 68040 and 68060, although in these cases it was the FPU that didn't make the grade and they were sold as having none.

All the same...it's hard to imagine that there could be massive stockpiles of lower quality G5s sitting around when there are so few real ones.

[bloodline]

Considering the specs of the new Xbox, how about AmigaOS running natively on Microsoft hardware?

Only if you like computing without a Hard drive :-(

[Bobsonsirjonny]

As for G5's costing too much - by the time this comes to market, a lot of time would have passed , also with so many new machines rumoured to go PPC, the quantity of chips should bring the price down.
And its M$ who can afford to subsidise the boxes in an attempt to make a killing on the content.

[Glorix]

Last time I heard of it, the PS3 will also boast a multiprocessor setup. That processor is dubbed 'Cell' and is being developed by Sony and IBM afaik. Seems both rivals will give their nextgen console's a bunch of raw horsepower.

What surprises me more is that the article mentions M$ is considering to give up on backward compatibility.

[System]

The price of the G5 processor is already as cheap as can be.

Do not make wild, rash assumptions about the cost of a chip based on Apple and Eyetech's system prices. They both make some kind of insane profit over the raw materials.

[ksk]

Three CPUs would be as insane as XBOX1. There really is no-way to sell it profitably.

IMHO: it is more likely that M$ is getting a special version of G5 core, like celeron of intel, and putting three of those cores on a single die. Also the reality could just mean that the XBOX2 is capable of running three simultaneous threads on the single (but improved) G5 CPU (it is public knowledge that the next generation of PPC9xx will have multithreading).

And the rest is marketing & FUD.