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So with the switch over to PPC that basically wihpes out backwards compatibility right? Seem like a silly move to me, but I suppose I'm not a big company.
 
Originally posted by stoid
Hmmm, what an interesting change..

Could it be because the x86 processor system is running out of steam really fast.


:rolleyes: Ya people have been saying this almost as long as the people that have been claiming that Apple is dead. Reality time: x86 isn't going anywhere when you consider AMD's latest offerings are neck and neck, and in some cases a tad ahead, with IBM.
 
Originally posted by Omad0n
So with the switch over to PPC that basically wihpes out backwards compatibility right? Seem like a silly move to me, but I suppose I'm not a big company.

This may be why they actually purchased VirtualPC from Connectix. And you thought that it was so they could make a better Windows emulator for the Mac.
 
Originally posted by Omad0n
So with the switch over to PPC that basically wihpes out backwards compatibility right? Seem like a silly move to me, but I suppose I'm not a big company.
In console's backwards compatibility is over-rated, IMO.

The PS2 is the first one that allowed you to do it without some kind of add-on, like the GameCube - GameBoy addapter (which really is not a backwards compatibity device either)

Once people start playing the new games, the old ones start looking very bland. Besides, if you have a bunch of games for the older system, you probably have the old console - giving you perfect compatibility at the expense of having 2 consoles.
 
This makes alot of sense. Intels latest stuff is way, WAY too hot for any set top box product. Nobody wants a game system that sounds like a PC when you turn it on, and considering the size of an Xbox, it would sound like a jet engine. :p

Besides, IBMs chips are a more efficient choice for this type of aplication anyway, and their latest chips can emulate x86 faster then the previous Xboxes 733Mhz, so backwards compatability would not be to hard.
 
Originally posted by Omad0n
So with the switch over to PPC that basically wihpes out backwards compatibility right? Seem like a silly move to me, but I suppose I'm not a big company.

That may be a reason for 3 CPUs - to get decent emulator performance for backwards compatibility.
 
Why?

I really don't see a need for two g5 processors in a game system. If the xbox has a p3 in it and is able to run games like halo without hickup, why would you waste your money with three chips. I see it being feasible having a single 64bit chip when it launches but nothing more is really needed. Xbox needs an awesome graphics card and that is it. You have to realize that a game system only runs games, no printer drivers, no advanced os, etc. I think this is a hoax. It is true that ms is using ibm chip as its main cpu and ati as its graphics. But that is really about all the facts that are known right now.
 
Originally posted by nagromme
Could the author's misunderstanding be simply this? 3 IBM chips: one PPC CPU, and two cheaper, custom supporting chips?

I agree. How about :
- 1 PPC 970 derivative
- 1 System controller chip (memory etc)
- 1 Graphics GPU (ATI)

ATI has recently got into an arrangement with IBM. So ... all sounds quite plausible.
 
Time for the Mac to start getting more FPS and eye-candy driven games methinks. How I'd love Half-Life 2 to debut/appear on the Mac.

Can't wait* to show PeeCee "gamers" my "can't play games" Dual G5 2.5gb Ram Radeon 9800 throw something like that about...

*although I have to!
 
Originally posted by eric_n_dfw
I wonder if they didn't mean 3 IBM designed processors - one (or two) of them being 970 derivatives and the other(s) being support chip(s).

I've never seen a 3 CPU machine. I suppose it is possible, but it always seems that (other than "1") CPU's always travel in even numbers.

There was another thread about this article a few days ago. There is no way it will have three 970 based processors. The cost alone would push the price point high. It would be a real money loser to sell it. I could see one 970 and two auxiliary chips to handle other functions.

Look at the Cell processor. It will have multiple cores, but some core will be for different tasks.
 
Re: Re: Xbox and PowerPC Technology

Originally posted by Stike
As far as I know, the Cell processor is NOT IBM-based. Its a new design, conceived by Sony, built in cooperation with Toshiba and IBM.

People keep forgetting that point.
 
Originally posted by Mac-Xpert
If the chips are dual-core you would essentially have 6 processors, which would make it a even number again.

A similar article even stated that it could run dual threads, which would be the equivalent of 12.
 
I think it's quite funny how people are thinking that there's going to be three processors in the xbox2, or whatever they wanna call it. Think about it, why would MS make a machine that would be more powerful than an everyday desktop? Yea, it may have no Harddrive, but external Harddrives are not hard to come by. Why would one want to buy a new computer for gaming when they can buy an even faster xbox for gaming.

Nobody truly knows what Apple-IBM/Intel/AMD is going to in the future. Maybe Apple will go with an AMD/Intel processor (i doubt that highly and am not starting that thread) or maybe Apple will use a quad-core processor, (I saw an oct-(8) core Power5+) and that'll be faster than the xbox, who knows... but my point is, i don't see MS making a faster gaming machine than traditional computer.
 
Originally posted by mgargan1
i don't see MS making a faster gaming machine than traditional computer.
You're right.. .Maybe the author meant, faster than personal computers of today.

I could see a dual core in an xbox. Maybe that's why IBM didn't license SOI to Intel.. They wanted the xbox business and this would make it too expensive for Intel...
 
wait wait. . . so apple starts using this cool new chip (G5) and now M$ is probably going to start using it in some of their products? will longhorn run on the chips also? then everyone is using them and has no clue apple was the first? maybe apple's 'new' product that has been about a number of rumors will be a game console/TV-recorder/all-of-the-above-do-hicky and they will relase it now and then the new M$ x-box will be pointless and nowone will buy it!!!!

sorry a bit carried away, but still first used in apple machines now into M$ . . . i wonder where M$ gets their ideas?
 
Microsoft Again Playing Follow The Leader

Check out these excerpts from the Mercury News article. Seems like a lack of confidence on M$'s part.
In contrast with the current Xbox, the next one will have no hard disk drive -- unless Sony puts one in the PlayStation 3. Instead, the console will rely on flash memory to store saved games and permanent data, much like the current PlayStation 2.

The machine also will have about 256 megabytes of dynamic random access memory. But Microsoft will upgrade that to 512 megabytes if Sony puts in more.

I mean WTF right? I'm never going to deliberately buy any M$ products ever again.
 
This is my favorite line in the article:

Internally, Microsoft has begun developing game prototypes, and it is using G5 systems to do so

I can just picture all this MicroLimp geeks doing whatever they can to hide the puddle of drool at their workstation:

"Ah, yeah Bob, these Macs really suck. I don't know why anyone would buy one. No, no, you go home, poor me has to stay late again..."

I would like to officially welcome any new switchers from the Xbox development world. :)
 
How I'd love Half-Life 2 to debut/appear on the Mac.

Not gonna happen -- HL2 has apparently ditched OpenGL in favour of DirectX, which means no Mac compatibility.
 
Originally posted by iGAV
3 processors... :eek: :eek: :eek:

Keep in mind that it probably isn't going to be doing SMP but will use the sep processors for sound, video, and AI/world geometry, etc. But I can't see MS using anything other then established vendors for video (nvidia, ATI, etc) So maybe 1 CPU for sound and 2 for AI/world geometry :confused:
 
Hey Guys and Gals,

So am I to understand that all three Major Video Gaming Systems are moving to IBM-64-bit-PPC. Anyone else thinking that someone will do any of the following;

1) Port Darwin to X-N, PS3, GCN2

2) Port OSX (or similar) to X-N, PS3, GCN2

3) Create Windows for PPC (ala WinNT4)

4) Abandon the x86 archetecture

5) Put Intel in Chapter 11 for supporting 3GIO instead of HyperTranport like IBM, TI, Apple, AMD

So is these good or bad?
What do you think the long term effects will be?
Will this help Apple gain stregnth on the consumer side of the computer world?

Ponder that please.

TEG
 
Originally posted by andyduncan
I'm betting that a little game of telephone went on here.

I think it's much more plausible that someone said the system will contain three IBM chips, and that the processors will be based on the 64 bit 9xx line.

Somewhere along the line from source to publication this got twisted into three processors, when it might have meant two processors and a System Controller/Northbridge. Or even a dual-core chip plus northbridge.

3 chips isn't unheard of (Sun had some three chip machines), but it's not a common configuration.

I agree. I think anyone that has a shred of insight can see this. I'm glad you pointed it out. There's simply no need to have more than one (future) G5 class processor in a machine that only has to pump out graphics at HD resolution.
 
G5's to prototype

I thought the MOST interesting part was that Microsoft is internally building prototype games for the Next-Box with G5's.

Sweet.
 
Doesn't the CameCube use a G3 processor now, so whats to say all three companies wont use IBM for their next generation consoles.
 
Re: Microsoft Again Playing Follow The Leader

Originally posted by crees!
Check out these excerpts from the Mercury News article. Seems like a lack of confidence on M$'s part.


I mean WTF right? I'm never going to deliberately buy any M$ products ever again.



Has Microsoft ever come up with an original idea, ever? MS-DOS from Q-DOS, the Windows GUI from Apple, Explorer from Netscape, MSN from Yahoo, Xbox from PS1 and the Dreamcast (I mean even the controllers)etc.
Bill Gates is the utilimate 'credit-taker.' Can anyone think of something that MS has invented or developed on their own that wasn't a derivative of another company's design.
 
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