EVERYTHING Xbox 360

[TrinireturnofGamez]

  It will use virtual RAM on the hard drive when it has to, caching things that aren't needed to be accessed at high speeds like voiceovers  etc .
     The video processor is more advanced than anything the PC will have for a while, it fits microsoft's Direct X 10 specifications,  instead of  dedicated pixel and vetrex pipelines , they use all purpose ALU units that can do anything , supposedly even compile code .
     Sweet.... but hopes of the Xbox 360 running windows are shattered, Power PC's are incompatible with X86 and windows , so microsoft can still make money selling Pcs and windows, and the Xbox 360 for gamers.
   But i'm sure someone can hack it to run Linux or Mac OS... and  people who run server / render farms could gain a significant and cheap boost of computing power by adding a few dozen Xbox 360's .   
   no doubt this new batch of consoles will push gaming into a new era , with less limits on the creativity of skilled programers and artists .

[Redlum08]

W1ntry?? Where is your tech analysis? I guess I beat you to this thread...LOL

[SPK]

 no doubt this new batch of consoles will push gaming into a new era , with less limits on the creativity of skilled programers and artists .

less limits, but would it encourage more sloppy coding?

It's always a byproduct of better processing power, developers use the available resources inefficiently.....better power doesn't mean better games...

[TriniXaeno]

that is where competition comes in.

if programmer A decides to slouch and throw up some bad code, programmer B will wtfpwn him with some efficient wizardy and make his game become the pwnage.

Programmer A will probably get fired and end up working on Duke Nukem Forever.

lol

steups @ cachin from HD. That will never be as fast as RAM! Never been a fan of any shared memory anything, nor HD caching. Gimme 1GB Uber DDR mcs!

lol @ waiting with bated breath for W1ntry's tech analysis. Like you have a fan base developin here boy!

[QZA]

let's be honest.
how many among us when the original xbox was announced seceretly loathed the idea of monopolistic microsoft presuming to enter the console market.
i will be honest, i never bought an xbox and one of the reasons was that it was a microsoft product. however what i read above is simply too sweet to resist, if they set a pricepoint  anywhere below 500 USD i am buying. this machine is looking like a ps3 killer. its a good thing the big N relies more on innovation than tech advances.

[W1nTry]

LOL @ developing fanbase. As for my tech comments, yeah I got beat to it cudos to specs by shivadee. I'll just add a few words that I can recall based on what i've read. Software wise the Xbox 360 will be backwards compatible and will offer a base offering of Xbox live aka. the Silver package. However unlike previously, owners of the new Xbox will have access to Live FREE. You'll be able to create online profiles, view stats, etc. Also developers have geared the service towards gamers in a slightly different way in that they will be able to spectate events they are not competing in, such as say the Halo World championships or Unreal Championship finals, etc. Browsing, music ripping (provided u have the detachable HD) for custom sound tracks and the ability to stream media are also said to be included. As for the use of shared memory, I am not sure as to the specifics or inner workings, however I am sure its similar to the PS3's use of shared memory as opposed to cache, which means it will be very fast so I don't forsee it being a problem. Daz meh 2c for now.

[shivadee]

People could "loathe" MS taking over as much as they want. I really couldnt care less, if their product is good i am gettin it. We shal wait and see

[W1nTry]

I don't think its so much that ppl loathe MS "taking over" per say, as much as it is that if u monopolize a market and completely eradicate competition eventually its us the consumer that will suffer. If u have 1 supplier, 1 developer, 1 person controllering the development process things could slow down, become stagnant, over priced and you'd have no choice in the matter. Thats no good even if the current product is good. What makes the product better is innovation and competition. I think the Xbox 360 sounds good, so does the PS3 so does the Nintendo Revolution. WHen the time comes i'll buy one that I want regardless of the branding. I do however care that MS could take over the market, I think thats bad for business and ppl in general.

[shivadee]

True. The small businesses have to either fall in with them or ship out. They cant compete. But you know MS..well hell MS, SONY and any other huge company. Money Talks, and with the level of competition with the new consoles you could immagine how money talking.

I have a feeling SONY have an Ace up their sleeve. Standing in line in the cafeteria at E3 i hearing the CGI and Progie guys talking. One is working with Square Enix, other with Namco, another with EA. You know how everyone is a critic. Each one bashing the others. But when you hear the Square guy bashing himself, well. Man eyebrow raise.

Well, no Morgan Webb yet. Although i pass the place where they had their logo up last year and where they film themselves infront of it, again for those that care. Laruto you go know what i talking about, check the RW i send yuh

[Czar]

It will use virtual RAM on the hard drive when it has to, caching things that aren't needed to be accessed at high speeds like voiceovers  etc .

Care to share a link on that info? Cos it sounds like bs to me...remember, the HDD is detachable! That sounds like a very bad idea and not something that they would implement.

The 512 is more than sufficient imo...it's GDDR3 clocked at 700MHz...that's quite a ways beyond your conventional DDR/DDR2 system RAM...

Software wise the Xbox 360 will be backwards compatible

Did they confirm that? I know that it will be more than powerful enough to emulate the original XBox, but I don't recall them confirming the backwards compatability...tho it's hard to believe that they would leave it out if they can easily accommodate it.

[TriniXaeno]

no backward compatability would be a real bane to the system.

That proved to be a winning factor for the PS2!

Good points on the monopoly. I was one of those people that welcomed Microsoft's entry into the console arena. Hoping, more than anything else, that it would bring the awesome console only titles, one step closer to PC ports. Instead, they took away the PCs holy grail (halo at the time) and made it a console exclusive.

That made me uber MAD! Been drooling over HALO PC since inception. Stayed away from the system as a result. The cludgy controllers didn't help either. lol

That bitterness is behind me now and man, the XBOX system is so much the pwnage that it ain't funny.

The most powerful console of 'em all. The 360 looks to continue the tradition.

As for choosing between the platforms, don't. Get 'em all!!

* [X]-Baego plays lotto

[TrinireturnofGamez]

  its just my inference the xbox  360 will probably use the hard drive for cache in some more demanding games , there are already a few games that use more than 1GB of RAM , for some titles with alot of content the developer will probably require the hard drive to be in place for the game to run .
   The hard drive is supposed come with the xbox by default ,it is detachable , so you can share save games etc. between xboxs .
    512mb may seem to be adequate right now but in a few years it won't be enough for the titles that game developers unleash on the PC ...   so games developed for both PC and console platforms will face either caching to the hard drive , or skimping on content  . 

[shivadee]

That is complete nonsense. Right now the current XBOX only have how much? 32MB of RAM or 64? Whatever it is, that RAM you cyah run nuttin on a PC with that. You comparing PC RAM to Console RAM. Doh do that. Its used in different ways. When you watch DOOM 3 or SPLINTER CELL 3 there is no way in hell, no way a 32 or 64 MB RAM ANYTHING could run that on a PC. But it doin it on XBOX, and DAMN GOOD too. I mean to top that on a PC you go need the top of the time gfx card.

No doubt PC graphics better, but to be extremely honest, what i see up here, PC games goin the way of the dinosaur, except for those RTS and MMORPG. THis E3 is about 90% console gaming.

Watch the graphics for CONDEMNED for the 360. That detail you seeing on HL2 on PC. And this is a LAUNCH title. They eh start to bend and break the boundaries of the system yet. Right now the graphics on the XBOX is amazing. PPL cyah believe that is a console. not to worry. The consoles this round look like they could hold they own

[TriniXaeno]

lol, so it has always been Shivadee and history is set to repeat itself.

remember, that console spec is gonna remain frozen for the next couple of years.

Sure, when the xbox first came out, it sported graphics that matched the best pc at the time.

a year later, nvidia had surpassed it on the PC platform.

Same will happen in time with the xbox 360. De Ja Vu.

The PC market will surpass it in graphical splendour and horse power in due course. Unfortunately, it will be at a premium. Expensive iwmc!

Sorry to hear that PC games aren't making as much of a dent in the E3 armor. Any thoughts on why that is? Anybody commenting on that openly? PC game vendors perhaps at the show?

spill the beans!

[Exar_Kun]

Good grief.
XB360 specs are yesterday's news now.

PS3 specs making that look like lil children thing.

[Czar]

That is complete nonsense. Right now the current XBOX only have how much? 32MB of RAM or 64? Whatever it is, that RAM you cyah run nuttin on a PC with that. You comparing PC RAM to Console RAM. Doh do that. Its used in different ways. When you watch DOOM 3 or SPLINTER CELL 3 there is no way in hell, no way a 32 or 64 MB RAM ANYTHING could run that on a PC. But it doin it on XBOX, and DAMN GOOD too. I mean to top that on a PC you go need the top of the time gfx card.

Thank you for saving me the effort of explaining it!

And just to confirm...the 360 WILL be backwards compatible...
http://www.gamespot.com/news/2005/05/16/news_6124746.html
I'll quote the article for the lazy bastids who won't click on the link...

the other big question surrounding the 360 was backward compatibility. However, Microsoft would only say that the console will be "backward-compatible with top-selling Xbox games." This ambiguous wording could mean that Microsoft will select which titles will run on the next-gen console. However, it could also simply mean that Microsoft is merely being prudent in case some original Xbox titles don't work on the 360, as was the case with some older PlayStation 1 games and the PlayStation 2.

[TrinireturnofGamez]

 

That is complete nonsense. Right now the current XBOX only have how much? 32MB of RAM or 64? Whatever it is, that RAM you cyah run nuttin on a PC with that. You comparing PC RAM to Console RAM. Doh do that. Its used in different ways. When you watch DOOM 3 or SPLINTER CELL 3 there is no way in hell, no way a 32 or 64 MB RAM ANYTHING could run that on a PC. But it doin it on XBOX, and DAMN GOOD too. I mean to top that on a PC you go need the top of the time gfx card.

  The xbox doesn't have to run Windows to play its games, and it doens't have  spyware ,  Norton auto protect , MSN messenger etc. running in the backround , under those conditions a PC  with 256 mb of RAM usually has only 80-60 mbs left free .   So the 64mbs of RAM on the xbox are more than enough for most games  since it doesn't run  a crappy  OS in the backround .
    For a game like Doom III that had 500mbs of video data , and 200mbs or so of game engine data/ sounds , the developer compressed  the textures , like doom III automatically did for PC's without a 512mb graphics card,  Doom III on the PC could easily fit all of its data onto a 64mb graphics card , the developer for the Xbox went a few steps further to fit all of this data onto the Xbox's 64mbs of memory , they probably had to use hard drive cache right through to store stuff that is low priority .  .
   Don't forget the Xbox runs all its games at 640x480 resolution on a television screen that is too blurry to see how low resolution everything in the game is . For a PC to look as good , it needs textures several times larger , and a 1024x768 resolution , so the XBox doesn't need 128ms of video memory  , 16 or 32mbs will do .
  The difference is that the Xbox 360 and the Ps3 are supposed to be running all their games on displays with resolutions like 1960x1720   and they will need ton of RAM for the graphics chip , with only 512mb of RAM for video AND system   it won't be enough in a few years unless they start caching to the hard drive , the games that will need the extra cache usually don't need a high frame rate , like RPG's , so no one will really notice it .

[TriniXaeno]

I wonder how HDTV is gonna affect the native resolution for consoles?

with old school tv, they could get away with insanely low res and still look great.

I'm thinking the high res of HDTV is gonna call for more horse power for things to look as great as we are accustomed.

[W1nTry]

Umm Czar aren't most of the stats of the PS3 out already? it'll sport 3 Cell processors, a next gen Nvidia video card prolly a derivative of the NV85 (I think thats the notation). It will once again use RDRAM memory technology, etc? At least thats what i've read from more than one site.

[W1nTry]

Ok I just had to post these articles, its kinda funny when u read them and once u do you'll see why:

GRAPHICS CHIP firm Nvidia has showed off its contribution to the up-and-coming Sony Playstation III, dubbed RSX.

The RSX chip connects directly to the Cell microprocessor crafted by a Sony, Toshiba and IBM partnership.

Nvidia claims the RSX chip, which will be made at a Sony fabrication plant in Nagasaki, represents 1500 person years of investment - whatever that means. It will deliver two teraflops of floating point power when it's coupled to the cell.

And Nvidia said it will contain 300 million transistors which it claimed is more than the number of trannies in CPUs and GPUs of the three leading current generation systems put together.

Meanwhile, Elpida said it will make XDR memory modules for the Playstation III - it has licensed that technology from Rambus.

So I add to what I said Above, the PARTICULAR RAMBUS technology that the PS3 will use is XDR RAM, if you've never heard about that, its FAST, FAST, FAST, trust me on this GDDR wants nothing with XDR right now. Now for the second part :p

SO IBM hypersters are claiming their cell chip can do two teraflops per second. what about the lastest power5??? Go to IBM.com and find out here.

There you can see the latest and fastest power5 dual core processors can do 56.78 Gigaflop/sec in an eight way configuration. That's 16 Power5 cores combined, and the total is only 56.78 gigaflops for 16 lowly Power5 cores, or, about three gigaflops/per core. which makes sense, a float point operation takes more than one clock to finish, and each power5 core has probably two or more FP units...

So, there is no magic, you can't possibly do more than one instruction in one clock in one unit. You can do multiple if you have multiple units. To have 1000gigaflops, you will need 500 units each operate at two gigaflops.

A teraflop means 1000 gigaflops, so IBM is claiming that one PS3 is 2000% faster than an eight way power5 server selling at half a million bucks??

This is stupid.