New XBox with 3x PPC G5

[Hammer]

Should have concentrated on multiple ATI VPUs instead of CPUs....

[Hammer]

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

Microsoft has supported multiple ISA editions via Windows NT 4.0 and Windows CE. There's nothing new here except that MS now has .NET to tie their products together. Their first non-X86 console adventure was with  Sega’s Dreamcast (SH4).

AT&T's WebTV was MS's next adventure.
They probably will run out CPU ISAs before they give up…

[Hammer]

@Wain

There should be a Sega Dreamcast Emulator running on X86 Windows floating somewhere in the WWW.  I haven’t tested the performance of the said emulator.  Sega Dreamcast is powered by Windows CE 2.x with DirectX 6 class GPU i.e. PowerVR and 200Mhz SH4 processor.

Refer to
http://www.pocketpclife.com/issues/issue199911/dreamcast001.html

[Hammer]

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.

AMD’s K9 would probably push the X86 further e.g.  dual cores.

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.

Note that, AMD64 ISA  is a collaboration between AMD and MS. The decision to cut Win16 from Windows XP(X86-32) Pre-install Edition mirrors the decision to cut X86-16 from AMD64 ISA. This may be re-applied IF Microsoft and IBM are working together for a processor solution for the X-BOX2.

Officially, both Transmeta and AMD support AMD64/X86-64 ISA.

References
http://www.sharkyextreme.com/archives/may01_25.shtml

[Hammer]

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.

Would it cost $49 in 1,000-unit quantities?

[Hammer]

Untrue. The Dreamcast wasn't powered by Windows CE, it was just compatible with it. (The logo on the machine says as much.)

I use the said word as one can install either Linux or Windows on X86 HW and under the context of Windows. Refer "http://wtvhelp.hypermart.net/news.html"'s marketing blurb as an example.

[Hammer]

Somewhere around $100-$300 for low volumes, depending on what you buy, I'd speculate. This is decidedly cheaper than other 64bit processor solutions, and on par with the high performance 32bit solutions (but with greater performance per Mhz and per Watt)

Note that the current PPC 970 (.13 micron, SOI, 8 levels of copper interconnects) is quite different compared to Motorola’s G4 in terms of TDP.    

Note that the of price $49 per 1000  is applied for a certain X86 processor (not Intel). Careful with the time differential when comparing current product A to unreleased product B.

[Hammer]

As such, XBox can launch at a wildly low price, perhaps competing with the current consoles in that area: imagine a $150 XBox 2 positioned against the $99 Gamecube and $160 Playstation II, and for Microsoft to be profiting or breaking even from day one.

Note that there are other non-CPU-factors that made X-BOX adventure less profitable for MS e.g. Hard disk, GPU, APU and 'etc'.