News Project Cafe system specs leaked

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/gaming/2011/04/25/project-cafe-system-specs-leaked/1

 

OMG REALLY? It will outperform a 7800GTX? Run for the hills!

Boring... (Or is it just me?) I'm sure the rehashes of Mario will look great! *rolls eyes*

 

Oh wow, a last-last-generation GPU? Holy graphical processing power, Batman!

 

@ previous comments: Thats the trouble with Nintendo, there poor business ethic has got them nowhere!

 

wow...

Microsoft should really release a console with a replaceable (upgradeable) graphics card in a standard PCI-e x16 slot.

Never happen though - talk about fragmentation for the games developers...

 

Just a shame all the Nintendo properties suck.

Mario and Pokemon only needs to look so good.

 

Unless they come up with some new IP, count me out.

 

my previous PC to this one out performed a 7800 GTX, and the one before that was only just under it.

I think nintendo got lucky with the wii. I dont think they can compete with the next gen sony and microsoft consoles.

 

Well considering the ps3 is based around the 7800GTX, and it still looks pretty good
I don't think it's hopeless for nintendo, the price is just about right (little lower I would have thought)
I look forward to hearing more about it

 

R700? You'd have thought they would have gone for the more efficient VLIW-4 not 5 arch, which has been around since 2900-era.

That will be IBM fabbing it then, which means it'll probably be 32nm class = nice, small, cheap and low power for Ninty. (low power = less power hardware, less heat, less heatsink cost, less shipping cost and smaller/cheaper power brick).

At that price it'll get 512MB of mid-range GDDR5 only, and probably an 8GB NAND block for a few dollars.

It'll still be DVD too, but it'll have SD/flash space upgrade, not the hard drive route (lower failure, cheaper and can charge users for official Ninty flash upgrades). I wonder if it'll still be WiFi as standard with no Ethernet... depends who they go to for IO: MS went to SIS but the Wii used IBM (which would be more expensive).

 

Filthy double-posting there bindi.

 

sounds good,

 

Quite useless console then since it only intends to outperform a PS3. because soon MS and Sony will reveal the next gen console which, I guess, will have graphical power equivalent to a GTX 260 or GTX 460
and thus Nintendo will be pretty much a console for fake sports, again.

 

maybe the power to handle closer to par COD graphics?

 

If they had console specific cards it wouldn't fragment too much, a card released every 3 years by the console manufacturer as an upgrade for the system. That way there are specific cards that would be available and only 3-5 different cards to code for making it much easier than the PC side. And just like having low, medium and high textures in PC games, you could upgrade the gfx on your console.

 

The wii was in dire need of a hd refresh, but as others have already said, that is only one aspect of its problems. An arguably bigger problem is its lack of compelling (read non-casual) titles. This console is going to be more expensive than the slim 360, so it better bring more than hd graphics to the table.

 

Upgradable consoles is a retarded idea. There is a reason it has never happened. Consoles are so ridiculously finely tuned it would be suicide. Upgrading the graphics card (or any component for that matter) is going to leave you CPU bound, since no console manufacturer in their right mind would ship a console with a CPU that performs faster than it needs to be to match the other components. That would just add needless cost on a prodcut that they usually lose money on in the first place (bar Ninty up until now at least).

So you can either launch a console with some components more powerful than they need to be, so you can upgrade the others in the future (a truly "Wtf?" strategy if ever I saw one), or you can basically ship a PC that needs all components upgraded when any one of them is upgraded. In which case just buy a PC.

Plus, the reason console games can look so awesome considering the hardware specs is because there is no fragmentation. Any fragmentation at all is a killer, it doesn't matter how low you make it. You would end up having the same issues the PC is facing now, i.e coding for the lowest common denominator.

As for the topic at hand, I can imagine the Wii 2 being a lot closer to the Xbox 720 and PS4 than the Wii is to the 360 and PS3. Outperforming the PS3 is a big step up compared to the essentially overclocked Gamecube of the Wii. AFAIK, it hardly beats the original Xbox. The step up to R700 is quite significant and telling of Nintendo really. Clearly they look to be taking graphics more seriously.

I have no doubt the 720 and PS4 will launch with considerably more graphics power than the Wii 2, don't get me wrong, but with the baseline of the Wii 2 being relatively high, there is less room to wiggle for Sony and MS before they start hitting heat and cost issues.

@cgthomas;
A GTX 460's worth of power? Are you serious? Assuming a rough average TDP of 150W, that is already more than the XCGPU in the latest S line of Xbox 360s. And that is the CPU and GPU in one core. No way are they going to spend that much money on just the GPU, and have the issue of heat and power draw (and, like Bindi says, have to spend so much extra money on cooling solutiongs and power bricks etc).

There is the argument of a more current node (like 32nm as, again, mentioned by Bindi), but that only gets you so much improvement in power draw and heat. It doesn't magically make the chip run cool and sip power.

Lastly, there is no need for something as poswerful as a GTX 260 or 460. The 460 at least can play modern games with jacked up settings and high resolutions. I know the consoles will never match a PC in terms of sheer IQ, but look at what they are achieving with the stupidly outdated and weak hardware they are running. MS and Sony have the advantage of silly levels of optimisation. Anything too powerful brings far too many headaches when they can get away with much, much less.

Sorry for the massive rant. I have just gotten home from a 2200 - 1200 shift and despite wanting nothing more than a nap, my ****ing dog has pissed on my ****ing bed.

 

Since when has any console ever come with a graphics chip comparable to the current generation of PC hardware? It's never happened and it never will. Just the fact someone even mentioned the idiotic notion of having an upgradable graphics card in a console shows that Nintendo aren't aiming it anywhere near any of the haters here. Scoff all you like, no-one who cares is listening.

 

I'm quite confident Nintendo has what it takes to bring out a good console.

The next gen MS and Sony consoles will be fighting each other. Nintendo has decided to take a back seat, and not spend loads on cutting edge hardware, and RMA's.
I suspect the Wii was just a placeholder until this next console comes out. The innovative controller stole the limelight though, and propelled the Wii to great success.

Mario Kart has always been great, no matter which version. 4-player is awesome.

 

I see two good things possibly coming from this;

1) MS and Sony are pressured in to releasing consoles earlier than they would have liked (hey, can only help the PC gamers, right?). However, with the recent launch of the Move and Kinect, I do not see this happening as soon as I would like, since they want to milk said add ons for as much as possible, and want to avoid the backlash they would get for releasing a new console so soon after the early adopters forked out so much money.

2) Nintendo actual take core gaming seriously, and start making some impressive looking (even if they aren't as good as the new Xbox and PS will be, they will be much closer) games that appeal to the hardcore audience, rather than just one offs that try too hard to be "mature" and end up ****. Maybe I will see the need to own one of their consoles again. I just hope they get rid of the stupid motion gimmick. Real gamers generally enjoy or desire the accuracy of a controller (sure, it's no M/KB, but it's a damn sight better than waving your arm around). Just the option would be nice, in every game.