The Xbox 360, What a Beast

[ShakaKhan70]

I'm looking forward to the release of the Xbox 360, its going to be a very powerful gaming consol. I don't understand what some of this stuff means, but I know that its a lot better than my comp, except for the memory, which it doesn't need as much of. What do you guys think about it?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

heres the specs:

 

 

 

Xbox 360 System Performance Specifications

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Custom IBM PowerPC-based CPU Three symmetrical cores running at 3.2 GHz each

 

 

 

Two hardware threads per core; six hardware threads total

 

 

 

VMX-128 vector unit per core; three total

 

 

 

128 VMX-128 registers per hardware thread

 

 

 

1 MB L2 cache

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CPU Game Math Performance 9.6 billion dot product operations per second

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Custom ATI Graphics Processor 10 MB of embedded DRAM

 

 

 

48-way parallel floating-point dynamically scheduled shader pipelines

 

 

 

Unified shader architecture

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Polygon Performance 500 million triangles per second

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pixel Fill Rate 16 gigasamples per second fill rate using 4x MSAA

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shader Performance 48 billion shader operations per second

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Memory 512 MB of 700 MHz GDDR3 RAM

 

 

 

Unified memory architecture

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Memory Bandwidth 22.4 GB/s memory interface bus bandwidth

 

 

 

256 GB/s memory bandwidth to EDRAM

 

 

 

21.6 GB/s front-side bus

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Overall System Floating-Point Performance 1 teraflop

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Storage Detachable and upgradeable 20GB hard drive

 

 

 

12x dual-layer DVD-ROM

 

 

 

Memory Unit support starting at 64 MB

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I/O Support for up to four wireless game controllers

 

 

 

Three USB 2.0 ports

 

 

 

Two memory unit slots

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Optimized for Online Instant, out-of-the-box access to Xbox Live features with broadband service, including Xbox Live Marketplace for downloadable content, gamer profile for digital identity, and voice chat to talk to friends while playing games, watching movies, or listening to music

 

 

 

Built-in Ethernet port

 

 

 

Wi-Fi ready: 802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g

 

 

 

Video camera ready

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Digital Media Support Support for DVD-Video, DVD-ROM, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW, CD-DA, CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, WMA CD, MP3 CD, JPEG Photo CD

 

 

 

Ability to stream media from portable music devices, digital cameras and Windows XP-based PCs

 

 

 

Ability to rip music to the Xbox 360 hard drive

 

 

 

Custom playlists in every game

 

 

 

Built-in Media Center Extender for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005

 

 

 

Interactive, full-screen 3-D visualizers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

High-Definition Game Support All games supported at 16:9, 720p, or 1080i, with anti-aliasing

 

 

 

Standard-definition and high-definition video output supported

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Audio Multi-channel surround sound output

 

 

 

Supports 48KHz 16-bit audio

 

 

 

320 independent decompression channels

 

 

 

32-bit audio processing

 

 

 

Over 256 audio channels

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Physical Specs Height: 83 mm

 

 

 

Width: 309 mm

 

 

 

Depth: 258 mm

 

 

 

Weight: 7.7 lbs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

System Orientation Stands vertically or horizontally

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Customizable Face Plates Interchangeable to personalize the console

[maxamillion]

ya! first to post about this awesome system. I am jsut excited as you if not more. i have my non core system fuly payed for at my gamestop. looking forword to the new morowin. looks jaw droping.

[____]

I can't remember where the xbox came in comparison to the PS3, but someone worked out that the PS3 would be (using the raw data that Sony published) the 40th (roughly) most powerfull computer in the world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Which was somewhere between US Military racks. IF the Xbox is anywhere near the PS3 by raw data then don't get your hopes up. They both over-hyped the last gen and couldn't live up to it. And they seem to have done it again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, remember that it will be done to the game engine to get the most out of the hardware. And in a lot of cases they won't even touch the upper limits claimed by microsoft.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, search OT for 'xbox 360'. Lot of discussion has been put on it before.

[Chris]

The technical specifications to me were just shocking when first announced because it was with existing technology. The PS3 didn't mean much to anyone with the "Cell" until they compared it directly to the Xbox 360 saying it was twice as powerful. Well I for one will be getting at least 2 out of 3 of the new next gen consoles as I was extremely dissapointed with the GameCube when I got one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Xbox360 is already pre-ordered and will be mine by December. Don't know when they'll start accepting PS3 pre-orders, but you bet your head I'll be pre-ordering one of them too. :)

[blade995]

Pfft solid proof Sony over hyped their consoll and it's about the same speed as Xbox360. Just search google for it. Lost all my links on this subject.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sony always does this, look at the PS2 they over hyped that and everyone still thinks thats faster than xbox.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But I will be getting both. Xbox360 for graphics and PS3 for games i can only play on that consoll and since i can use my PSP as a controller :D

[Nadril]

too bad PC's will top it within months of it coming out :)

[Ishbar]

The Ps2 had a 500 Mhz Processor while the Xbox ran 700 mhz. Ps3 and its Cell technology forced it to call back any production and push their release date to 2007.. Ps3 will die from Xbox 360. Nintendo Revolution is already dead. They just haven't made their Tombstone yet.

[SkULLEDPK3R]

this is gonna own ps3. I cant wait for socom3 and halo3 also!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How much is 360 going to be anyway i may preorder?

[DaN]

too bad PC's will top it within months of it coming out :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PC's already topped that ages ago.

[ShakaKhan70]

 

too bad PC's will top it within months of it coming out :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PC's already topped that ages ago.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, well I don't really keep up with comp stuff that much, as long as mine runs I'm hanging on to it. I prefer most of my gaming on consols (esp. Xbox of course). From what I have seen so far, namely the bias opinion in the Official Xbox Magazine, is that the Xbox 360 will be on top, maybe not from being the most powerfull, but from all the functions and capabilites, my favorite being the massively upgraded Xbox live. As for the Sony fans, I'm not saying I think the PS3 will be bad, I myself was considering it at one time, but I already got hooked on Microsoft from the original Xbox. And as for Nintendo, maybe they'll do good in the generation after the 360, but they've got to be feeling the burn from 2 poor consols in a row.

[c4]

My computer can already beat out the 360 in any benchmark tests, I just wont have the games....(Below are PC stats)

[Chris]

My computer can already beat out the 360 in any benchmark tests, I just wont have the games....(Below are PC stats)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yeah but it can't do 3 things at one time. 8)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Actually 6 hardware threads in total, I'm unsure exactly on the architecture of a processor. Does that mean that it could do 6 things at once? Where the FX-55 can do ONE.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two posts this morning I've seen you bragging in and it's apparent that maybe mummy and daddy have given you too much.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edit: Grammar.

[battletrax]

hmmm DDR700 and 3 cores... None of your comps can beat a 3 core, 6 thread machine assuming we're talking about software that can utilize 6 threads, and obviously all xbox360 games will try to do this.

[____]

And as for Nintendo, maybe they'll do good in the generation after the 360, but they've got to be feeling the burn from 2 poor consols in a row.

 

 

 

The last two weren't poor. Specially not the N64 :-?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nintendo Revolution is already dead. They just haven't made their Tombstone yet.

 

 

 

Rather fresh coming from someone with no idea about the specs of the Revolution. Nintendo isn't stupid, they've been in the business for a long time. For all it's worth, I'd like to see Sony and Microsoft get beaten by a system less powerfull. Afterall, hardware doesn't make the games any better than the gameplay itself. And from the looks of things, the gameplay isn't changing much.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

None of your comps can beat a 3 core, 6 thread machine assuming we're talking about software that can utilize 6 threads, and obviously all xbox360 games will try to do this.

 

 

 

Pity you can only run 1 instruction thread per cpu. Two instruction threads running at the same time comes up to be about 1.5 single threaded running in parallel. So that pretty much puts it at 4.5, not six, AT MOST.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And on that note, I doubt it'd be running all 3 cores at the same time. It will most likely only use as many as it has to for the given tasks. So I wouldn't exect more than a single core to handle the game, and the other two most likely for the networking and whatever else functions will be in it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edit: And just for the sake of bringing if a somewhat "even" compeditor to the comparative mix:

 

 

 

http://forum.tip.it/viewtopic.php?t=259219&start=90

 

 

 

Last post on the page by Death_By_Pod

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And let us not forget about the G5's which were running the XBox 360 previews or whatever at E3.

[ShakaKhan70]

 

And as for Nintendo, maybe they'll do good in the generation after the 360, but they've got to be feeling the burn from 2 poor consols in a row.

 

 

 

The last two weren't poor. Specially not the N64 :-?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yeah that was a bit of a rash statement, I have an N64 myself, I just stopped liking nintendo as much after I got my Xbox. One thing I still like about nintendo is the games, I never could get all the way unhooked off Mario and Donkey Kong.

[ShakaKhan70]

 

And as for Nintendo, maybe they'll do good in the generation after the 360, but they've got to be feeling the burn from 2 poor consols in a row.

 

 

 

The last two weren't poor. Specially not the N64 :-?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yeah that was a bit of a rash statement, I have an N64 myself, I just stopped liking nintendo as much after I got my Xbox. One thing I still like about nintendo is the games, I never could get all the way unhooked off Mario and Donkey Kong

[battletrax]

 

None of your comps can beat a 3 core, 6 thread machine assuming we're talking about software that can utilize 6 threads, and obviously all xbox360 games will try to do this.

 

 

 

Pity you can only run 1 instruction thread per cpu. Two instruction threads running at the same time comes up to be about 1.5 single threaded running in parallel. So that pretty much puts it at 4.5, not six, AT MOST.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And on that note, I doubt it'd be running all 3 cores at the same time. It will most likely only use as many as it has to for the given tasks. So I wouldn't exect more than a single core to handle the game, and the other two most likely for the networking and whatever else functions will be in it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You're missing some stuff. First, neither of us have any idea of what it takes to code a professional video game, but I'm thinking that it wouldn't be that hard to thread it. I've used threads effectively in small programs without splitting into one thread for the main function and one for secondary tasks. I highly doubt they'd put in 2 powerful cores for such simple tasks.

 

 

 

1 thread per cpu... I'll assume that you meant per core. Microsoft has said that each core can handle 2 hardward threads... I'm not sure I understand your argument as to why this can't be done. Please explain.

[Pyro]

I find it strange that people are so fascinated by comparing the specifications when the vast majority will be unable to use resolutions higher than 800x600 in any case due to monitor (TV) limits. "Look mom, I can have 400 FPS now instead of 300!"

[battletrax]

Yes, but the real gamers will be using hdtv :)

[____]

Ah, I wouldn't say so.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Most people are stilling running Standard Definition TV's.

 

 

 

I don't know many gamers who will go out and purchase a new TV just for HD Gaming.

 

 

 

SD will work fine and very nice, moving to HD will not up the quality that much (I see it enough as it is between dvd's in HD and SD).

[insane]

This, though a mere forum post - seems to make so much sense to me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's a long read - but worth it.

[runesmithie]

I have an HDTV, but I don't care to buy the cables to get better picture, since they're expensive :(

[xyrec]

So far we only have specs to go on but if sony and microsoft are telling the truth about their systems, no computers haven't already passed them up. The PS3 has a custom made chip that sony and another company(forgot it's name) developed that is not available anywhere but the PS3 as of right now and boasts the largest number of transistors of any processor on the market at 300million transistors. The 360 isn't any small fry either, sporting 3 processors, and not puny processors either, 3.2ghz intel P4's with hyper threading.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I haven't sat down and compared all the specs(or even looked up the ones I don't understand, it's been a while since I took A+ training and most of this stuff has come into existence in the last year or months) but it looks like PS3 is ahead in some areas and behind in others, and the 360 is ahead in others. Likely I'll have had a job for a while by the time both have been out for a few months and I'll probably buy both. I may buy the revolution as well just for the ability to download old nintendo games from their archive.

[ShakaKhan70]

This, though a mere forum post - seems to make so much sense to me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's a long read - but worth it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Very interesting, makes me almost feel like I shouldn't get any console, because then I would just be like another cow in the herd, being prodded from field to field. Although it does make a lot of sense, I wonder how that guy came to all of those conclusions? I think it would be correct to call this a theory, unless anyone knows someone inside Sony who could tell us otherwise.

[dbzair]

xbox 360 is way better than most of ur comps or laptops just to tell you that