Rumor: Next Xbox GPU based on AMD 6000 series
The latest report pegs a late 2013 launch for the next Xbox, and claims the new console will have "six times the processing power of the Xbox 360."
Xbox 360 will reach its seventh birthday later this year. This console generation has been remarkably lengthy, but as games like Battlefield 3 have shown, it may be time to start thinking about the next generation.
Nintendo is striking first blood with its Wii U system, scheduled for release later this year. But obviously Microsoft has something up its sleeve. But, what? The latest report pegs a late 2013 launch for the next Xbox, and claims the new console will have "six times the processing power of the Xbox 360."
IGN claims that mass production of the next Xbox's GPU will begin by the end of the year, but will be based on AMD's cheaper 6000 series tech, not the 7000 series. "It will be akin to the Radeon HD 6670, which offers support for DirectX11, multidisplay output, 3D and 1080p HD output," the site reports. While that will offer a significant advantage over the Xbox 360, the site claims that this will make for only a 20 percent performance increase over the Wii U.
There is reason to doubt this report, however. Digital Foundry editor Richard Leadbetter notes that the Radeon HD 6670 is "an unremarkable entry-level enthusiast product" that "struggles to run Battlefield 3 at 20 frames-per-second on high settings at 1080p." While closed console environments do generally produce more efficient results, Leadbetter told Eurogamer that "it would be a curious choice for a platform holder looking to sustain another lengthy console lifecycle."
The supposed GPU for the next generation Xbox would be quite dated by late 2013, and will probably seem ancient seven years into the next Xbox's lifecycle.
[Original Xbox controller pictured.]
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Shacknews
replyAndrew Yoon posted a new article, Rumor: Next Xbox GPU based on AMD 6000 series.
The latest report pegs a late 2013 launch for the next Xbox, and claims the new console will have "six times the processing power of the Xbox 360."-
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Many times underwhelming compared to the HD 6970, GTX 580, and HD 7970.
For reference, Xenos at its release was the unified architecture equivalent of high-end HD 1xxx and GeForce 7xxx cards- the 8800GTX actually didn't come out for another year to introduce unified architecture to the PC and to definitively stamp the previous generation down.
The HD 6670 from a relative standpoint is nowhere near where Xenos was. It's a budget card compared to Xenos being a high-end card. The HD 6670 is already a generation behind whereas Xenos was actually ahead (the HD 6670 will even likely fall another at least half generation behind before the new Xbox is released). And already you can get cards that are better than an HD 6670 (a lot of the previous statements implied this, but I figured I'd drive it home explicitly too).
Sure, the card is an absolute upgrade from the 360's hardware, but it's a relative regression from the 360's hardware (not unlike GameCube v Wii). That said, should help Microsoft prevent that 50% failure rate problem they had with new 360s back in the day.
Still, doesn't change the fact that by the time this releases, modern $800 (or less) gaming PCs that people have been using for a couple of years will still be better or at least competitive with the new Xbox. Certainly makes the console-style mini-ITX computers Alienware is pushing with GTX 555s appealing atm.
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Actually sounds about right to me... i don't think MS, Sony or Nintendo are going to break the bank this time around for super computer consoles.
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Right. "Revolution" would disrupt development and slow release schedules; the new generation will legitimize many of the shoehorned/jury-rigged features developers currently use while adding some new ones. It will take time for developers to fully realize the power of the systems as it always does. MS, through Kinect and XBLA, and Nintendo--through the Wii controllers--have each shown how clever input modality and low-powered stylized content can make aged hardware thrive.
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Why not stick a 7000 series in it? Don't the 7000's run cooler and with less power draw?
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Probably cost & availablity of chips
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The problem (I believe) is heat dissipation and power consumption, the 6000 series cards are on the old 45nm nodes so a die shrunk 6000 should be within spec for a console. Might just be a 68xx die shrunk though.
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Power matters less and less.
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A 733Mhz 32-bit P3 vs. a 3.2Ghz triple core SMT enabled PowerPC CPU and a 233Mhz GPU based on I believe a Geforce 3 vs. a 500Mhz GPU based on the HD 1800/1850 with some forward looking tech (unified architecture, etc.) making it perform closer to a 1900/1950.
The end result was the 360 being about 4x more powerful than the original Xbox, this means a comparable increase in power over the same length of time if it were released this year (but since it'll probably be at least one more year, I'm guessing it will be slightly outpaced, much better than I would've predicted though).
The really interesting thing to me though, is that the Wii U is supposedly going to be around 5x what a 360 can do right now, so they will be much closer spec wise than they are currently. This is of course, if the rumors prove true.-
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The article points out how a midrange 6000 series card will look ancient 7 years into the cycle.........
Yes because the X1900 in the 360 is positively modern and not 5 generations behind itself (and a generation behind when the 360 was released)-
The R520, which the 360's GPU was based on, was high-end and released the same year as the 360. By the time the 720 launches the GPU it's based on will be out done by a tweaked out Trinity APU.
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This actually makes sense to me. I've said to other places, but if this round of consoles doesn't adopt an OnLive style scheme, the next round of consoles will. It will be driven by the whole piracy debate. So, even the doubts about AMD 6000 isn't that much of a stretch if this plays out, or at least begins to play out with this next round.
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Please don't gut the System, GPU memory, and storage this generation. You can get HTPC form factor cards for $25 that have more ram that a current Xbox360. A 6670 is a decent jump but nothing stellar either. At least developers should be targeting DX11 class engines now instead of DX9.
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Agreed, no reason not to have at least 4GB unified RAM.
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