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Emily Rogers: NX Not Using x86 Architecture - Won't Blow Away Current Gen Consoles

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MuchoMalo

Banned
No, based on rumours, it's the power consumption gain that is. Polaris 10 is expected to perform like R9 390X with less compute units... But thanks to a higher clockspeed. Also power consumption is twice smaller.

There has been no evidence of higher clock speeds so far at all. All that we've heard is the same 800-1000MHz.
 
Man, I hope these rumors turn out to be false. Fucking hell Nintendo, don't make the same mistake again. If NX is underpowered, the system will be in big trouble.
 
I don't understand why these would be in development. Zelda I get, but there's very little need for these other games, especially SSB4.

My guess would be software for Wii U has come to a standstill, so in the meantime, they figure they might as well port a title they know will sell well for launch.
 

Branduil

Member
1080p/60 is possible on the Wii U. It's a developer choice, not something that requires PS4 levels of power. I would guess that most Nintendo-developed games will be at least 1080p, and probably most of them (outside of big open-world games) will be 60fps.
 

Piscus

Member
Wow, the negative-leaning Emily Rogers thread is getting posts up the wazoo, yet the positive-sounding Nvidia thread is moving much more slowly! I wonder why that is, or what that tells us...
 

Pokemaniac

Member
I think I understand....

So x86 supports more technical formats, but takes up more memory (RAM or HD space?) and can run slower.
ARM has more narrow support, but is better optimized, and takes up less memory space.

This is really more about the complexity of the chips than anything else. It's better to visualize this as two different languages (since that is more or less what it is). x86 is a big language which has a bunch of extra words which represent more complex ideas which require similarly complex logic to interpret. ARM is a smaller language which focuses on the simpler core words which you can chain together for more complex things.
 

Nanashrew

Banned
1. it is

2. they will

3. they do

if you want a console that lacks third party support due to low power/strange architecture and used first party games to sell a grand total of fuck all units, the wii u is right there.

nintendo should probably do the opposite of that if they want to be successful going forward.

ARM is not at all strange or radical.
 

sfried

Member
1. it is

2. they will

3. they do

if you want a console that lacks third party support due to low power/strange architecture and used first party games to sell a grand total of fuck all units, the wii u is right there.

nintendo should probably do the opposite of that if they want to be successful going forward.
...So what part of the rumor mentions "strange arcitecture"? Low power might make sense since the suggestion was it was for the handheld.
Wow, the negative-leaning Emily Rogers thread is getting posts up the wazoo, yet the positive-sounding Nvidia thread is moving much more slowly! I wonder why that is, or what that tells us...
Everyone wants Nintendo to fail/go 3rd party/doomed but in all honesty, it would make more sense to merge the two threads.

The fact that nVidia is still in the console maker deals game surprises me more than any of this talk about power levels.
 

MuchoMalo

Banned
1. it is

2. they will

3. they do

if you want a console that lacks third party support due to low power/strange architecture and used first party games to sell a grand total of fuck all units, the wii u is right there.

nintendo should probably do the opposite of that if they want to be successful going forward.

I hope you're not calling ARM a strange architecture lol. Literally every major engine supports it.
 

Quasar

Member
So...in the existing ShieldTV and its X1....just how far from the XBO GPU is it?

And just what Arm socs has AMD worked on? I thought they were using their license for microsetver chips.
 

LordRaptor

Member
I think I understand....

So x86 supports more technical formats, but takes up more memory (RAM or HD space?) and can run slower.
ARM has more narrow support, but is better optimized, and takes up less memory space.

It's more... when you write code, you're telling a computer what you want it to do, and there's an interpreter who translates those instructions from code that a human can read and write, to machine code that the computer can understand.
That interpreter is whats looking at the dictionary; x86 has a huge dictionary that covers everything, ARM only has the most commonly used words. Because theres fewer words to look up, its a bit quicker to look up each 'translation'. But when thats being done millions of times a second, that 'bit quicker' adds up each time.

Its not a great metaphor... but if you think of the convenience of a pocket dictionary over a full dictionary, thats the sort of benefit involved; it can be smaller, it takes less 'power' to carry around, or to scan through, and its more efficient because it only has common words listed
 

Nanashrew

Banned
The fact that nVidia is still in the console maker deals game surprises me more than any of this talk about power levels.

Same for me. The Nvidia stuff goes hand in hand, and feels like it helps to fill in the gaps of what Emily said. Some in the previous thread were starting to come to that conclusion.
 
Wow, the negative-leaning Emily Rogers thread is getting posts up the wazoo, yet the positive-sounding Nvidia thread is moving much more slowly! I wonder why that is, or what that tells us...

That not as many people give much of a shit about the handheld, like myself.
 

Vanillalite

Ask me about the GAF Notebook
People need a paradigm shift in thinking.

If I said 1.5 teraflops you'd all say underpowered cause you are all thinking console as that's less than he current PS4 let alone the Neo

On the flip side if you said 1.5 teraflops for mobile (32bit) that shit would be omg I'm doing two chicks (or dudes) at the same time so already came fast.

PS: Reports if I remember correctly are the current iPad Pro tops out at about 800 gflops for 32bit.
 

big_z

Member
I mentioned it was an arm based system a long time ago then got pooped on from some of those that wanted it to crush a ps4 in power.

The system isn't going to set a new power standard but don't write it off because of that. I imagine Nintendo pulled nx from e3 after news of ps4k/xb1.2 broke. theyre not competing directly but the media would likely cover it that way
 

gamerMan

Member
It wouldn't make sense for Nintendo to come out with the most powerful system. Most 30 year gamers are not going to buy a Nintendo system even if it is the most powerful system. They have already bought a PS4 for multiplatform gaming so this would be a secondary console for most hardcore gamers. I can tell you that no parent is going to buy a Nintendo for $399.

There are 2 things Nintendo can do to get a profitable sector in the market. Price this thing at $249 or change the retail price of games to $39.99. Nothing else Nintendo does is going to grab the market unless it is something truly innovative that we haven't seen before. Nintendo has sort of backed themselves into a corner.
 

sfried

Member
That not as many people give much of a shit about the handheld, like myself.
We don't even know what form factor the NX will manifest in, so...how the hell do we know if all this talk was partaining to the handheld all along and not the console? Perhaps the "console" really is a docking port with a SCD.
 
There's a lot of posts in this thread that boil down to, "Oh no, it's not X86, that means it's going to suck!" What exactly is so inherently good/modern/powerful about x86?

Let's not forget, only in this most recent generation did the leading console manufacturers switch to x86. The Xbox 360 used PowerPC, just like the Wii U. I suppose that x86 could in theory make games easier to port, but even that is somewhat questionable—I don't think we're getting more or better PC ports this gen then we did last gen, for instance.

If I had to pick the architecture I thought Nintendo was mostly like to choose for NX, I'd go with PowerPC. There's nothing inherently wrong with PowerPC, and Nintendo doesn't like change. Not saying it will happen, but I think it's as likely as ARM.
 

Meesh

Member
Won't lie, slightly let down by this info/rumor... was hoping for power a little above Xbone.

In the end though, as developers look at the entire NX package from behind the scenes I wonder how many actually find it viable enough to put their games on?? This shit kinda worries me..
 

Nanashrew

Banned
I mean, GBA, DS, 3DS have all run on ARM CPUs.


EDIT: Though most problems for the handhelds is that they're weak and doesn't have much engine support. If Nvidia is helping with their next handheld we'll see more engine support (though that seems like a given regardless). Vita is going nowhere and Japan is getting into unreal engines which the Vita does not support. I imagine they'll try to get mobile Unreal Engine support for their handheld.
 
1. it is

2. they will

3. they do

if you want a console that lacks third party support due to low power/strange architecture and used first party games to sell a grand total of fuck all units, the wii u is right there.

nintendo should probably do the opposite of that if they want to be successful going forward.



Wii U's sales is due to the price and the lack of games. People here are vastly overestimating Wii U's 1st party offering, which has been pretty much underwhelming.
 
It's more... when you write code, you're telling a computer what you want it to do, and there's an interpreter who translates those instructions from code that a human can read and write, to machine code that the computer can understand.
That interpreter is whats looking at the dictionary; x86 has a huge dictionary that covers everything, ARM only has the most commonly used words. Because theres fewer words to look up, its a bit quicker to look up each 'translation'. But when thats being done millions of times a second, that 'bit quicker' adds up each time.

Its not a great metaphor... but if you think of the convenience of a pocket dictionary over a full dictionary, thats the sort of benefit involved; it can be smaller, it takes less 'power' to carry around, or to scan through, and its more efficient because it only has common words listed

This is really more about the complexity of the chips than anything else. It's better to visualize this as two different languages (since that is more or less what it is). x86 is a big language which has a bunch of extra words which represent more complex ideas which require similarly complex logic to interpret. ARM is a smaller language which focuses on the simpler core words which you can chain together for more complex things.

Thanks guys,

I am reading up on it some, but it is still a lot to wrap my brain around. I know only a little about coding, but I think I am starting to get the general concept of it.

The chips are (apparently) specifically designed with architecture to support different ways of computing (RISC) and (CISC) which have to do with the code translator having to do a lot less work with RISC (ARM) as it is simplified to make it more efficient.

am I close?

..Also, if these rumors are true, then maybe there is a way to make and ARM chip that is comparable in power to what the current gen consoles are running while being more efficient?
 

DCDW

Member
Only Nintendo would go out of their way to spend money on manufacturing a custom chip/hardware that at best performs on par with low spec hardware from 2013.

h9wiqFP.gif
 
I wonder how long it'll be until we get a rumor that the next system is called "The New Nintendo Home Console" and "The New Nintendo Handheld" or something like that. All the rumors seem to just be confirming all of our worst and silliest fears.
 
Not x86 could be a detriment to third party support.

This is my first thought as well.
But I'm not too well knowledged about this stuff to really say for sure if it's a problem or not.

I could see it being one though, if you consider Third Party support and easy ports and stuff. At least I guess.
 

CronoShot

Member
The more I think about it, the more it's making sense.

Why the NX console is rumored to be on the weaker side. Why the NX handheld is rumored to be fairly powerful.

It all ties into their NX philosophy, of being the iOS/Android of gaming. The handheld and the console will run the same games. The handheld will run them at lower settings/resolution (obviously) but I think NX is a case of one library for multiple form factors.

Basically, deciding on buying a 3DS or Wii U came down to two things: game library and form factor. Buying an NX console or NX handheld comes down to simply form factor.
 

bachikarn

Member
It's also about price. Yes with Polaris they could have a 50W chip performing like PS4. But they dont care about this. It's not going to help them anyway. The closer they are to the handheld, the better flr them.

Why is this better? Why does Nintendo want to put out two platforms that are basically the same. It's nearly equivalent to them dropping out of the console space.
 

Neoxon

Junior Member
Why is this better? Why does Nintendo want to put out two platforms that are basically the same. It's nearly equivalent to them dropping out of the console space.
Of course the console is gonna be more powerful than the handheld. The trick is to have the console remain within the ballpark of the PS4 & XB1 while maintaining a reasonable distance in visual fidelity compared to the handheld (especially if Nintendo wants to maximize their software output with a mostly-shared library of games).
 
Only Nintendo would go out of their way to spend money on manufacturing a custom chip/hardware that at best performs on par with low spec hardware from 2013.

h9wiqFP.gif

Never doubt Nintendo to release expensive hardware that's under powered. They will find a way for this system to be expensive, even though it's on par power wise with technology 4 years old.
 

Neoxon

Junior Member
Did you guys not read Emily Rogers' post? Since it's not x86 (according to her), you can't really compare the NX Console to the PS4 & XB1 on paper. We can't really compare until we see gameplay footage.
 

TLZ

Banned
lol @ this thread. What a mess.

The other thread is more mature and level-headed.

Some are either simplistic, have selective reading, or just don't understand tech.

Did you guys not read Emily Rogers' post? Since it's not x86 (according to her), you can't really compare the NX Console to the PS4 & XB1 on paper. We can't really compare until we see gameplay footage.

You're talking to the deaf mate.
 
Some people in this thread are giving off "the age of Sony is done" vibes... And none of this is even verified D: Will eat a man of the night's watch if it turns out true
 

Pokemaniac

Member
Thanks guys,

I am reading up on it some, but it is still a lot to wrap my brain around. I know only a little about coding, but I think I am starting to get the general concept of it.

The chips are (apparently) specifically designed with architecture to support different ways of computing (RISC) and (CISC) which have to do with the code translator having to do a lot less work with RISC (ARM) as it is simplified to make it more efficient.

am I close?

..Also, if these rumors are true, then maybe there is a way to make and ARM chip that is comparable in power to what the current gen consoles are running while being more efficient?

Basically, chips that implement RISC instruction sets are more efficient because they can be simpler because the instruction set itself is simpler.

There are definitely existing ARM cores which can meet or exceed the PS4 and Xbone.

This is my first thought as well.
But I'm not too well knowledged about this stuff to really say for sure if it's a problem or not.

I could see it being one though, if you consider Third Party support and easy ports and stuff. At least I guess.

90% of the architecture differences will be handled by compilers. ARM isn't really a significant obstacle to portability.
 
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