Xbox 2 CPU To Be A 65nm Part
2004 06:00 am
Last month, I posted an announcement made by Sony and Toshiba (one of the two Sony’s partners for the PlayStation 3) telling the world that trial production of chips (the cell) using a 65-nanometer manufacturing process would begin this March, with commercial production of the final chips expected for summer 2005.
In that story we also suggested that the Xbox 2 CPU could also be a 65-nm part since both Sony and Microsoft are going head-to-head for the next round in “The Console Wars.”
Today we can confirm that the Xbox 2 CPU will also be built using a 65-nanometer manufacturing process.
“It’ll be built on a 65-nanometer process,” a source confirmed to TeamXbox. “IBM has already taped out experimental samples at its East Fishkill fab but it will take between 12 to 18 months for them to deliver commercial parts. Anyway, they’re way ahead of Intel.”
There are countless stories as to why Microsoft decided to drop Intel in favor of IBM. But sometimes, it just could be as straightforward as Jodie Foster claims in the movie Contact, "The simplest hypothesis is most likely to be true."
And the truth is, when it comes to microprocessors, IBM has been pulling off one success after the other. It was the first company to deliver a 64-bit processor for the desktop, the PowerPC 970 found in Apple’s Power Mac G5 and, contrary to what most analysts predicted, it is the first company to deliver a 90nm microprocessor: the second generation PowerPC 970 found inside the new Xserve G5 that will also power the second revision of the G5. With this updated PowerPC 970, IBM delivers a 90nm processor before Intel’s Prescott.
“With the new 90nm manufacturing process, IBM broke the 2 Ghz barrier. The 65-nanometer technology will allow them to break the 3 Ghz barrier for sure and get closer to the 5 Ghz mark,” our source further clarified and was quick to add, “However, this is not just about clock speed. The more important thing here is what this baby and its specialized cores can do in a single clock cycle.”
For those really technically savvy, you may have noticed the same inaccuracy that we perceived. He used the word “cores” instead of “units”, which left us wondering…is Sony the only one coming with a CPU that is made of small groups of cores working together to process tasks in parallel? Only time will tell.
So, there you have it. Like kids comparing their toy collections, Microsoft can also say to Sony, “I’ve got one too” regarding the most advanced chip manufacturing process.
We’ll have more on the Xbox 2 CPU soon. Stay tuned.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CPU for Dummies
A microprocessor is made of transistors, which are, basically, tiny electronic switches. The processor executes a collection of instructions based on whether these switches are on or off. Current microprocessors, such as the Intel Pentium 4 and the AMD Athlon XP, are built using a .13 micron process; meaning its transistors are just 0.00000013 meters wide. The chip industry is soon switching to a 0.09 microns (or 90nm) manufacturing process and speeding up the process of 65nm fabrication.
A smaller fabrication process allows you to have smaller transistors. The smaller the transistors, the more you can place in single chip; resulting in more computational power. Also, as they get smaller, signals that travel within the processor have to a travel a smaller path, resulting in faster speeds. So, the smaller the transistors, the faster the chip operates. This is why processors have reached higher clock speeds with the pass of time.
=============================================
Xbox 2 Specs Leaked * Update *
2004 01:27 pm
Mercury News has just published an article revealing the Xbox 2 specs. You can view the entire article here.
We had access to some speculative Xbox specs last month but we have held off on revealing them until more official word is given. Now that someone had the balls to do it, we'll bring you even more details based on the info we have.
Please remember this info isn't official and based on info from various sources. As the Mercury News article says, the Xbox 2 will use three 64-bit processors. But we'll give you even more details. They'll be PowerPC processors, based on the PowerPC 976, the first dual-core 97x chip based on IBM’s 64-bit POWER5 architecture, which will also be the first PowerPC built on a 65nm manufacturing process. Check our previous story for further details.
Each processor is capable of processing two threads, thus meaning the whole system can process six threads simultaneously. It is worth noting that, because of its RISC nature, the new architecture is a big-endian system, a term that describes the order in which a sequence of bytes are stored in computer memory. Traditional x86 architectures use the little-endian approach.
The Xbox 2 is a multiprocessor-enabled, 64-bit platform. It is a proven server architecture that, in the case of Xbox, won’t take advantage of the greater than 4-GB physical memory space benefit of 64-bit computing but will make use of its other benefit: wider data paths and registers, something extremely useful in the execution and process of both integer and floating-point calculations.
The Graphic Chip
The graphic chip will be based on the the R500. This VPU has been in design at ATI’s Marlborough, Mass. office. It'll be fully compatible with DirectX 9's PS and VS 3.0 and the next version of DirectX: DX10, the same suite of APIs that will be used in Longhorn.
What nobody is telling you and you'll know about this first, here on TeamXbox, is the revolutionary approach of the Xbox 2 to deal with today's biggest problem in graphics chips: memory bandwidth.
The graphic chip will contain not only a graphics rendering core but up embedded DRAM acting as a frame buffer that is big enough to handle an image that is 480i and can be 4 times over sampled and double buffered. Yeah, we all remember Bitboys but this time you can bet this is for real. This solution will finally make possible HDTV visuals with full screen Anti-Aliasing on.
The technology also supports up to 512 MB of external memory on a 256-bit bus. However, current specs plan to use 256 MB RAM, big enough for next-generation visuals which are all about computational power rather than large storage.
We'll have more on the Xbox 2 specs soon. Stay tuned. We'll update throughout the day.
** UPDATE **
Information or Disinformation?
Don't believe everything you read. This is certainly the case regarding a lot of speculation that is currently flying around regarding the specifics of the Xbox 2. However, by collecting various bits of information it is possible to establish a few more than possible predictions of what is to come. Many have been discussing the rumors that the Xbox 2 will lack a hard disk, but this may not necessarily be true. Others have also been saying that a waiting game is being played between Microsoft and Sony, in which one side is merely waiting to see what the other does before making a decision. Again, this is most likely not true. Both companies are sure to have pretty solid ideas of just how they want their console hardware to be designed. Many of our questions are more likely than not already answered, and the question that remains is when will these facts be officially supported by the designers.
While we can’t give you any official information, we can give you a hint based on what we have come to know by deductive reasoning. Do you physically need a hard disc to store content? Consider this; in the case of Xbox Music Mixer, do you need the files to be stored in your Xbox? Answer that for yourself and you might just have sufficient info to put this question to rest…at least for now.
It may also be a false claim that the Xbox 2 will not be backwards compatible. Well, sort of anyways...
The fact is that Xbox 2 could be backwards compatible using emulation. Microsoft already owns VirtualPC, which allows PowerPC architectures to run Microsoft Windows applications. However, the problem is that, although Microsoft owns the DirectX API and the Windows kernel, it doesn’t own the nVidia chips found in the Xbox and since it is changing it graphics partner in favor of ATI, there are almost no chances of an agreement between the two companies being reached. This is more of a business problem rather than a technical issue.
Re: Xbox 2 Spec Are Leaked......findout More Here.......... 
Re: Xbox 2 Spec Are Leaked......findout More Here.......... 
Linear Mode
