Microsoft's CPU/GPU Combo Chip is Called 'Vejle'

[Marcus Yam]

Microsoft and IBM beat Intel and AMD in designing a CPU and GPU combo chip.

Microsoft's CPU/GPU Combo Chip is Called 'Vejle' : Read more

 

[Darkerson]

Thats pretty sad that game console tech more or less one upped pc tech, but good for them I guess.

 

[warezme]

If it were a PC it would get unlocked, overclocked and better cooling put on the thing to make it better.

 

[jimishtar]

hope to see this migrate as a desktop solution.

 

[nforce4max]

Nice work, it is a shame about the throttling. This is why consoles usually never live up to their true potential and they often cut corners by reducing costs and in this case the cooling system. They should have put much more memory in this console. The more memory the better the games that devs can make graphics wise as well content.

 

[amster]

Does it have DirectX 11?

 

[counselmancl]

the overall design is capable of higher performance than the original design thanks to its integrated design

Who designed this?

 

[werfu]

Why throttle it? Its been years since programmer last used the CPU frequency to time their game. Having it run full potential would simply let the CPU idle more often and reduce game lag under intense sequence.

 

[smeker]

[citation][nom]Darkerson[/nom]Thats pretty sad that game console tech more or less one upped pc tech, but good for them I guess.[/citation]

How exactly did game console tech upped the pc tech?

What the person that wrote this article dont understand is that MS is using a four year old architecture of a 3 core cpu. They just shrunk the size and placed it on a single silicone. Instead of using 90nm they used 45 nm tech to print the CPU and GPU on a single silicon. You can see that from the images above.

Why dont they try doing that with an i5 CPU and and hd 5870 or GT480...

There is nothing revolutionary in this chip....

 

[siman]

"Microsoft and IBM beat Intel and AMD in designing a CPU and GPU combo chip."

umm ATI is AMD....or DAAMIT...

 

[rocket_sauce]

[citation][nom]werfu[/nom]Why throttle it?[/citation]
My guess would be to avoid the fiasco of the dreaded RROD of its last gen predecessor and to keep cooling on the cheap side.
[citation][nom]smeker[/nom]How exactly did game console tech upped the pc tech?[/citation]
Sounds to me he is just talking about a console getting this tech before a PC.

 

[daship]

Ever heard of Intel i3/i5 with integrated GPU. Maybe you should know what your talking about, or do research before you hit the keyboard.

So no, Microsoft did not beat Intel.

 

[gamerk316]

[citation][nom]nforce4max[/nom]They should have put much more memory in this console. The more memory the better the games that devs can make graphics wise as well content.[/citation]

I disagree on this one; you don't need that much physical RAM when running a single application. PC OS's have to deal with thousands of threads, just from teh OS, where consoles have a very lightweight OS, and teh rest of the RAM is guranteed to be free. There is no reason for >512MB RAM on current consoles, and no reason for >1GB for the next line of consoles, as that much space isn't physically needed.

[citation][nom]werfu[/nom]Why throttle it? Its been years since programmer last used the CPU frequency to time their game. Having it run full potential would simply let the CPU idle more often and reduce game lag under intense sequence.[/citation]

Maybe the 360 CPU lacks that functionallity? Remember, consoles are DESIGNED to be single-spec machines. As such, you can never assume developers coded in such a way that is correct for multiple CPU configurations, as the entire point of a console is to remove that from being a consideration.

 

[triculious]

I don't know if we would see this on a desktop pc but I think it would be awesome for laptops/netbooks

 

[Trueno07]

Game devs are starting to get frustrated with the lack of power in consoles. It's time for an upgrade, not a shift sideways.

 

[smeker]

[citation][nom]rocket_sauce[/nom]Sounds to me he is just talking about a console getting this tech before a PC.[/citation]
I dont think is a matter of not being able to do it for the Desktop PC but rather doing it with newer tech.
Who would want to buy a 5 year old CPU and GPU integrated on a single piece of Silicon for a Desktop PC usage? No-one sane...

Games consoles can do this because they do not change as much as PCs. Their refresh cycle is 5 to 6 years and probably longer for the current PS3 and 360. While people purchase new PCS every other year, or they upgrade components every year, so placing an old (repackaged) tech on the Desktop PC market would be a waste of money.

 

[kikireeki]

"Microsoft and IBM beat Intel and AMD in designing a CPU and GPU combo chip"
Since the GPU is ATI then AMD is involved in the project!

 

[webbwbb]

[citation][nom]daship[/nom]Ever heard of Intel i3/i5 with integrated GPU. Maybe you should know what your talking about, or do research before you hit the keyboard.So no, Microsoft did not beat Intel.[/citation]

The problem is that is not on the same silicon. They have two separate dies inside the same package. It does slightly lower latency compared to moving it to the mainboard but it is very slight. This is indeed the first time this has happened in a production environment.

 

[Netherscourge]

The GPU/CPU combo is not a tech-upgrade for the Xbox 360; it's a quality upgrade. They needed to solve the RROD problem - this chip does that (we hope)AND saves Microsoft manufacturing costs.

PC's still are the cutting edge in hardware and will always be until console makers adapt an upgradable structure and console software developers are willing to make games for it.

But then, it they do that, why bother making consoles when you can do the same thing cheaper on a PC?

The only thing consoles provide that PC's can't is solid anti-piracy measures. And that's good enough to pull game makers away from PC's and into consoles.

It's all about the Benjamins. $$$

 

[willgart]

When this version of the XBox will be available?

 

[Guest]

As a dane, having been to the city of "Vejle" them naming their most advanced chip after it, seems a bit funny Vejle is a nice city sure, but nothing especial high-tech comes to mind thinking about it.
One cannot help wonder, where that idea came from?

 

[False_Dmitry_II]

For everyone ragging on it being a 5-year-old CPU, I don't remember there being triple-cores at all in 2005. In fact, I'm pretty sure that I built a rig from scratch in the summer of 2005 for $1000 and it had a single core CPU.

 

[madass]

[citation][nom]gamerk316[/nom]I disagree on this one; you don't need that much physical RAM when running a single application. PC OS's have to deal with thousands of threads, just from teh OS, where consoles have a very lightweight OS, and teh rest of the RAM is guranteed to be free. There is no reason for >512MB RAM on current consoles, and no reason for >1GB for the next line of consoles, as that much space isn't physically needed.Maybe the 360 CPU lacks that functionallity? Remember, consoles are DESIGNED to be single-spec machines. As such, you can never assume developers coded in such a way that is correct for multiple CPU configurations, as the entire point of a console is to remove that from being a consideration.[/citation]
Then please explain why console ports like Call of Duty and Burnout take upwards of 700 mb of RAM.... GTA IV chews through 1.6.....

 

[wolfram23]

Hmm this should go into notebooks and tablet PCs

 

[igot1forya]

Where there is a throttle, there is going to be a mod to allow unlocking of the performance