Topic: Wii U has quad core 3GHz CPU, 768 MB of RAM

[Chozo Ghost]

http://wiiudaily.com/2011/12/wii-u-has-quad-core-3ghz-cpu-768-mb-of-ram/

Nintendo is finally set to release a new, much more powerful console with HD graphics, and many are wondering what kind of technology we might find inside the console, and how it will compare with the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. We’ve heard from developers who have access to the console that the Wii U is “50% more powerful” than the Xbox 360 and PS3. We now know that those estimates of 50% are based on the fact that the Wii U is around 50% more powerful on paper, according to information Wii U Daily obtained from a Japanese developer who is currently working on porting a PS3 game to the Wii U. According to the source, the Wii U specs are:
 

• Quad Core, 3 GHz PowerPC-based 45nm CPU, very similar to the Xbox 360 chip.
• 768 MB of DRAM “embedded” with the CPU, and shared between CPU and GPU
• Unknown, 40nm ATI-based GPU

The source also mentions that Nintendo has been testing two versions of the console, one with 768 MB of RAM, and one with 1 GB. The RAM is also made by IBM and is embedded with the processor on the same die/silicon, which results in more bandwidth.

If this is true it really sucks. I was hoping for at least 2GB of Ram at a minimum. The PS3 and 360 have 512mb of RAM, so 768mb really isn't a huge leap forward, and when the xbox420 and PS4 roll out in a year or two they will probably just slaughter the Wii U...

The Wii was 50% more powerful than the GC, so is the Wii U being 50% more powerful than PS360 really such a big deal? Its a huge leap over the Wii though, so that's something, but...

[BlackNMild2k1]

I just posted about this in the Rumor thread (yes, I know I'm late, but it is a rumor after all).

But that is 768MB of EMBEDDED DRAM
not the regular ram a console would use and certainly not that PC ram people like to compare it to. This would make it ridiculously fast and stupidly expensive.

[Chozo Ghost]

I posted it first. You are slacking.

Can't it be both the embedded Ram and the total RAM at the same time? Maybe Nintendo decided to do things different this time and have it all embedded, which may be a more efficient (possibly cheaper) way of doing it.

[Ceric]

I posted it first. You are slacking.

Can't it be both the embedded Ram and the total RAM at the same time? Maybe Nintendo decided to do things different this time and have it all embedded, which may be a more efficient (possibly cheaper) way of doing it.

BnM is just pointing out its an order of magnitude faster to have the ram on the chip.  Which would make the amount small on paper but performance wise it really could be great.  Though the number of 768 is a very odd number for ram in any flavor.  I wouldn't be surprised if that is true they end up going with the 1gig worth because it makes some different things simpler.

[BlackNMild2k1]

if it was cheaper to embed then everyone would have done it.


and 768 is not an odd number for Ram


128 MB or 1 Gigabit
256
384
512
640
768
896
1024 MB or 1 GigaByte

[Ymeegod]

Isn't all current systems eDRAM as well?  The 360 had 10 MB of eDram on the GPU so 768 MB is a big step up even if it's shared.  And that doesn't mean you won't have system memory as well?

[Chozo Ghost]

Doesn't Moore's Law say stuff like that doubles every year? And since the PS360 came out 5+ years ago and have been doubling year after year for each of those 5 years then maybe the Wii U which doesn't come out until sometime next year isn't really such a quantum leap after all.

So let's say in 2005 the 360 has 32mb of edram or whatever, and if each year it doubles itself then it could become 64mb in 2006 and then 128 in 2007 then 256 in 2008 and 512 in 2009 and 1024 in 2010 and 2048 in 2011....

[Ian Sane]

Being better than the PS3 and Xbox 360 is expected.  If they fucked THAT up well, ****, I'm surprised Iwata and Miyamoto can get to work without getting lost.  It would be so unbelievably dumb if they didn't top the existing specs.

The issue is whether or not this will compare favourably to the next systems from Sony and MS.  I don't expect them to match it.  If the Wii U comes out first it will make sense for it to have the weakest hardware.  The issue is on how big the gap is.  If it's PS2 to Xbox, that's fine.  If it's like, well, the Wii to the Xbox 360, that's a big problem.

Nintendo's strategy should almost be to assume the Xbox 360 was their current system instead of the Wii and to design a logical successor to that.  It would help them to better guess what the next gen is going to be like.  If they just spruce up the Wii then they could easily get leapfrogged.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Oh and Chozo, your title is wrong. 768MB of eDRAM

BIG difference. But I pointed out a flaw in this rumor in the Rumor thread.

[the asylum]

If the last few years taught us anything it's an incredibly sucessful gimmick can only go so far on its own; especailly one that's easily copied. The Wii U just has to have power comparable to the PS4 or next Xbox, otherwise we're looking at more of the same kind of drought that the Wii's suffering

[MegaByte]

For reference, this is a picture of an 8-core POWER7 supercomputer chip from IBM. See the largest area of memory marked L3? That's only 32MB of eDRAM, so 768 is suspect.

[Enner]

It seems highly likely that it's just regular RAM rather embedded RAM.

Unless Nintendo and IBM has concocted some crazy embedded RAM solution.

[BlackNMild2k1]

You should read the rumor thread posts on this. I think it's explained better in there

This rumor either has typos or is plain wrong.
Other sources with access to Dev kits have stated that the Dev kits have atleast 2GB's RAM which would mean the final product has at minimum 1+GB of RAM (50%-75% of dev kit memory).

I also linked directly to IBM PR stating that 768MB (Megabytes)is wrong which would lead to the speculation that they meant 768Mb (Megabits) which equals 96MB (Megabytes)
1Gb (Gigabit) = 128MB (Megabytes)

So if the other sources are to be believed (1-1.5GB RAM in Wii U), then that would mean this rumor has a typo and IBM is setting up to deliver up atleast 96MB of eDRAM in the Wii U which is more than 10x the amount the 360 had.

But I'll just link to it so you can see the links for yourself.
http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/forums/index.php?topic=16688.msg708741#msg708741

[TJ Spyke]

Xbox 360 has 10MB of eDRAM, so it would be about 9.4x as much. Either way, it's a good jump over it.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Well if we are getting technical (the rumor states 768Mb-1Gb / 96MB-128MB)

96MB is actually 9.6X as much as the 10MB in the 360.
I was just rounding to make things simpler.

[ThePerm]

yeah since this is likely just the embeded memory, I have to say the mother board RAM will probably fluctuate as months go by. I wouldn't expect it to be any less then 2GB. The price of RAM fluctuates so, i'd imagine however much RAM is going to be in the system will be determined by how much RAM costs around July-ish. My shitty 4 year old outdated computer barely runs Minecraft on 2gb of RAM.  If I were Nintendo and I thought the bare minimum of 2gb of RAM was most likely I would just tell developers to try to limit first generation games memory allocation to just 1gb. There could end up being more than 2, but that will all depend on the RAM market. RAM is something that can be changed at the very last minute.

[MegaByte]

My shitty 4 year old outdated computer barely runs Minecraft on 2gb of RAM.

Blame Java. It eats RAM. That's not a good comparison to what would normally run on a console.

[Chozo Ghost]

Yeah, Java runs as slow as molasses. Its meant to run on any and all architectures so its not optimized in any way.

[ThePerm]

oh i do blame Java for Minecraft, but Minecraft isn't really a high end game, there are better games that use more ram and use it efficiently. My shitty computer with its only 2gb of ram may ore may not run Starcraft 2.

[SixthAngel]

I blame Minecraft for Minecraft.  For ages I could barely even run the game because he messed things up with an update.  I don't know much about coding but I've played plenty of other stuff that uses Java and none of it had problems that bad or overheated my freaking computer.

[MegaByte]

Yeah, Java runs as slow as molasses. Its meant to run on any and all architectures so its not optimized in any way.

It's optimized, but in such a way as to use up a ton of memory (due to the way it does garbage collection).

[ShyGuy]

Notch handed the Minecraft project over to Jen, so it should get better.

Considering that Nintendo is re-revealing the Wii U next E3, who knows what awesomeness lies in store?

[Chozo Ghost]

Considering that Nintendo is re-revealing the Wii U next E3, who knows what awesomeness lies in store?

BlackNMild2k1. Either he will due to his sleuthing through rumors, or no one will.

[the asylum]

Notch handed the Minecraft project over to Jen, so it should get better.

Considering that Nintendo is re-revealing the Wii U next E3, who knows what awesomeness lies in store?

If we dont see new F-Zero next year you'll be reading a news story of a man who drowned in his own tears

[BlackNMild2k1]

Notch handed the Minecraft project over to Jen, so it should get better.

Considering that Nintendo is re-revealing the Wii U next E3, who knows what awesomeness lies in store?

If we dont see new F-Zero next year you'll be reading a news story of a man who drowned in his own tears

And SpikeTV will have to rename it's hit series to 1001 Ways to Die.