New XBox with 3x PPC G5

[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?

[mikeymike]

You forgot that Microsoft makes VirtualPC, and could run x86 (read, legacy XBox) software on PPC (read, X-box2 if done in PPC) easily.

Yes but could they emulate a game well?  The x86 instruction set is horrendously complicated, I very much doubt a current PPC CPU could do it, not without some especial backup (like dedicated extra hardware that took care of some of the emulation work).

[downix]

@Mikeymike

I play a few PC games using VirtualPC on Mac OS X on Mac-on-Linux on my Pegasos, and it's acceptable.  

There's also the other bit folk forget, IBM has developed a hybred PPC/x86 chip before, the 615.

The lack of nVidia is more likely going to be limiting than the lack of x86.

[mikeymike]

I play a few PC games using VirtualPC on Mac OS X on Mac-on-Linux on my Pegasos, and it's acceptable.

What does that mean?

I class Jedi Academy occasionally running at speeds of 20 - 30 FPS on my PC, when generally it runs at ~60 fps as being just about acceptable, but really for a console and games specifically designed for it, that performance loss isn't acceptable.

[JetRacer]

Hey, it's news remember. What did you expect? The truth? :-)

Personally I think the whole thing is a load of BS. It fits the profile of being a hoax perfectly:

1. It's too well written, meaning, too much information and too many quotes. The author want's to prevent people to search for confirmation.

2. There's no rational explanation for any of the statements. It looks like the author is trying to force M$ to publish real facts.

3. Author phone number at the bottom.

But if it fools 100% of the slashdot readers, then it's probably news enough to be published here too. You people probably want to check out the comments they made:
http://games.slashdot.org/games/04/02/04/1933241.shtml?tid=127&tid=152&tid=185&tid=186&tid=211
Warning! There's ALOT of comment in that link...

[XDelusion]

The Dreamcast had CE yes, but only about 5 games actually took advantage of it, such as Namco Musuem, Midway's Arcade pack, Kiss: Psycho Circus, and two who's names elude me right now.

 All other games were written directly to the hardware, not using Direct X or CE for that matter.

 In the end I can say I'll either end up with a Nintendo or XBOX 2, but NEVER a Sony, I hate them more than Mircrosoft, they themselves are Mircrosoft haters who campain against the evils of Microsoft while adapting there same policys, one of them being there LIES!!!

[Acill]

I would love to see M$ go PPC myself. I've been wanting to trade my 2.6GHZ PC system I dont use much for a decent G4 based Mac for some time. If M$ goes PPC then it would made development fly on the processors. Thi would bring the price down and get rid of X86 at last.

[Madgun68]

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.

Untrue. The Dreamcast wasn't powered by Windows CE, it was just compatible with it. (The logo on the machine says as much.) The only titles "powered" by Windows CE were those built with the WinCE SDK. The bulk of the Dreamcast library, much to Microsoft's dismay, were built with the Katana SDK.

[Madgun68]

The Dreamcast had CE yes, but only about 5 games actually took advantage of it, such as Namco Musuem, Midway's Arcade pack, Kiss: Psycho Circus, and two who's names elude me right now.

Sega Rally 2 definately was. I believe Spirit of Speed 1937 was also built with it.

[minator]

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

Building chips is a very, very expensive involving $2 Billion on a Fab (Chip Factory), development of the process technology, development of the chips and probably a lot more besides.

The cost of materials used is a pittance compared to this.

The more you make the wider you can spread these costs, so the more you make the cheaper they get.  The G5 isn't being produced in huge numbers yet, probably less than 1% of the x86 market at the moment.

Those prices have a long way to fall yet...

[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.

[aMIGA_dUDE]

Speaking about backwards compatibility--anyone hear that PS3 will be backwards-compatible?

Yes, both PS1/PS2


http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/archive/32615.html

[System]

@Seehund:

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)

Obviously in bulk (many thousands..) or extreme production runs (games consoles can run into the many millions within 6 months of launch) it gets significantly cheaper.

As for assumptions: EVERYONE makes them here.

The assumption that a PowerPC is more expensive than an equivalent x86 processor is downright misplaced. Of any bit-count.

If Microsoft have chosen the PowerPC as the core of the XBox 2 (and IBM sources have confirmed they HAVE - but it's most likely a G5+ and some other chips, not 3 CPUs) then it may be significantly cheaper than the XBox to both produce and sell.

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.

The days of haemorraging money on console hardware are over.

=Neko=

[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'.