Yea, but they didn't do it 5 minutes after the thread was posted. Patience is needed here, not panic.
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Wii/PS3/Kinect homebrewer rumor: Durango CPU clocked at 1.6ghz.
- Thread starter KojiKnight
- Start date
Yea, but they didn't do it 5 minutes after the thread was posted. Patience is needed here, not panic.
I'm "downplaying" this one because the source is dubious, but even if true, tells us pretty much nothing and only serves as a strange battlefield.
shinobi602
Member
No no, I thought we're talking about the Wii U...
Explanation for the low clock speed.
Throughput may not be the primary concern of next-gen CPUs as we're moving on to GPGPU usage for SIMD operations. Latency may be the bigger concern.
1) To decrease latency, you need a shorter pipeline.
2) Now, if anyone has ever done any CPU design (I have), you'd know that a shorter pipeline means that you need to lower the clock speed enough so that the slowest instruction can make it through the slowest stage of the pipeline.
3) Smaller pipeline translates to smaller transistor count, which translates to the possibility of adding additional cores.
Throughput may not be the primary concern of next-gen CPUs as we're moving on to GPGPU usage for SIMD operations. Latency may be the bigger concern.
1) To decrease latency, you need a shorter pipeline.
2) Now, if anyone has ever done any CPU design (I have), you'd know that a shorter pipeline means that you need to lower the clock speed enough so that the slowest instruction can make it through the slowest stage of the pipeline.
3) Smaller pipeline translates to smaller transistor count, which translates to the possibility of adding additional cores.
piratepwnsninja
Member
In this thread we learn that a large number of GAF members don't understand modern CPU architecture, whether or not the info is right or wrong.
It's Kaioken Goku in the Saiyan Saga. So like, 5x Krillins I think. Maybe add a Yamcha.
KojiKnight
Member
You could say the same of ANY console rumor.
Zombie James
Banned
I don't doubt that he might have inside sources, but people who are doubting will probably point out that the Wii U is already out and he's been tinkering with one. Durango is just a dev kit with rumoured specs that could change at any time at this point.
BurnOutBrighter
Banned
This doesn't make any sense. Why wouldn't you get a faster processor? It's not like 3Ghz is even more expensive.
It's still a shallow way to spread or leak information. Any hardware rumor can be justified by the "inside sources" tagline.
Also why is the information Marcan got so specific? Why aren't the details about what the CPU and GPU inside the Durango given to him but the CPU clock-speed was?
Read my explanation. An architecture with lower latency in mind may necessitate a lower clock frequency.
weekend_warrior
Banned
Microsoft Wii60.
I wonder if it will even do HD? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
I wonder if it will even do HD? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
256 bit.
Thank you for this explanation! Everyone is so eager to freak out over the low clock speed.
NinjaTehFish
Banned
Apples and Oranges
That's what makes this thread so much fun, really.
IT JUST KEEPS DELIVERING!
in the context, he's using it to further prove that the Wii U clock speeds don't really mean anything. putting the rest of that information in there wouldn't be very fitting.
Iacobellis
Junior Member
Durango is used for apps and not actual games confirmed.
But really, is this the direction Microsoft is going?
But really, is this the direction Microsoft is going?
KojiKnight
Member
Thank you for this, it's illuminating. I'm curious, what happens at point #2 if the clock speed IS higher... At that point is the CPU just idling?
Tears For Fears
Banned
People clock speed..... I mean really.
Well snap, does this apply to the Wii U's CPU too?
Mihael Mello Keehl
Banned
I have a feeling that pending some breakthrough in pushing more Hz without too much power/heat, this gen is the only time consoles will break 3 GHz. After this it'll probably be a focus on cores and more advanced CPU architectures, similar to how AMD didn't try to keep up in raw MHz and even Intel backed out with the Core CPUs. Seriously, we rapidly hit 3 GHz about 10 years after breaking 1 GHz, yet we've only gotten significantly past it via overclocking.
What direction would that be exactly?
JordanN
Banned
I wonder if people will finally start believing Shin'en (assuming this rumor is true of course)?
"As said before, todays hardware has bottlenecks with memory throughput when you dont care about your coding style and data layout. This is true for any hardware and cant be only cured by throwing more megahertz and cores on it."
"As said before, todays hardware has bottlenecks with memory throughput when you dont care about your coding style and data layout. This is true for any hardware and cant be only cured by throwing more megahertz and cores on it."
Dark_AnNiaLatOr
Member
Perfecto Señor!
Thunder Monkey
Banned
To a small degree.
But you are likely talking about a much more modern architecture versus WiiU's 1999 variant.
I'm not 100% sure.
I've only done rudimentary design, including pipelining, of a MIPS processor.
Basically, instructions get queued up at every stage of the pipeline. If the clock speed is too high and the pipeline moves forward without that stage of the pipeline finishing it's operation, I'd guess things may become unstable at that point, or there may be corruption in the pipeline. Whether or not this is entirely true for modern CPUs, I'm not 100% sure. Hopefully someone can clear up this point.
edit: it appears there are often buffers in between pipeling stages and the current stage reads a register to detect whether the following stage has completed or not. I would guess that to keep these buffers small enough, clock speed has to be low enough so that the buffer doesn't overflow. Note that I'm purely guessing here, I could definitely be off base in my theory.
This article provides some good information on the subject:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pipeline_(computing)
KojiKnight
Member
If the Wii U is Krillin, that would make the Durango Piccolo. Depending on how many cores, it could be Piccolo pre-fusion with nail, pre-fusion with kami, or post Kami fusion.
Not at all times, hell, I don't even know how much "inside source" information is as accurate as anonymous source information and vice versa.
Both have high odds of being bullshit, I take the anonymous stuff a bit more seriously though.
Kacho
Member
Iacobellis
Junior Member
If you looked at the last couple E3 conferences, Microsoft have become less involved with the core games experience and more of how to expand onto multimedia and entertainment services.
I see. So even if Nintendo does their best to get some 2012 functionality in that CPU, is it likely that it's still too entrenched to its 1999 roots?
Krillin at the end of GT (you can't deny its existence) is the strongest character in the series lol. Just gonna find that YouTube video...
Mihael Mello Keehl
Banned
eh sorry if the pic is too big Im on mobile so idk.
KojiKnight
Member
I'm sorry, I have failed you... I never watched GT, and I never made it to the end of Cell saga in Z. Please, forgive me!
Dragonball was better anyways...
I would imagine so. Any sort of direct comparisons between the 360/PS3 CPUs and their next gen counterparts, based on clockspeed or cores, are going to relatively meaningless until we actually know something more substantial about them.
Just because you got arm muscle strength doesn't mean you can run faster.
Which means nothing because its all stuff they were promising when they launched the 360 seven years ago.
Don't need to spoiler that. DB >>>>> DBZ >>> infinity >>>> DGBT. That's the cold hard truth.
That Krillin business is just a joke anyway; gave me more of a reason to post that video if I found it (no luck), I found it quite humorous back then.
K
kittens
Unconfirmed Member
What. My clock clocks at more than 1.6ghz.
Thunder Monkey
Banned
We're still in the dark on exactly what WiiU's CPU is.
Clock rate points to a die shrunk tri-core single threaded version of Wii's CPU. Completely and utterly lacking in grunt, probably lacking any degree of SIMD functionality either.
Under a few conditions it may outpace the much higher clocked Xenon. Engines designed for big floppage like Xenon and Cell though? Well lets just say a lot of the issues running PS3/360 ports can probably be linked to it and the memory bandwidth.
How does this relate to a clock speed? It's hard, or even impossible at this point to derive anything from the clock speed. A 1.6 Ghz CPU doesn't tell us that MS is abandoning core games and adopting a different strategy. We still have to wait on the complete picture. Expanding into other markets doesn't mean abandoning others, certainly a CPU clock speed doesn't even come close giving us enough information to know exactly what they are doing.
GraveRobberX
Platinum Trophy: Learned to Shit While Upright Again.
This thread
Freshmaker
I am Korean.
That's been the case the whole time.
SNES Effective CPU rate: 3.58 MHz
Genesis CPU: 7.67
Blast processing wins!
Similar threads
- Locked