Next-gen Xbox specs leak
Layout diagrams and part details uncovered for Microsoft's Durango console
Website vgleaks.com is claiming a world-wide exclusive by revealing the full spec for the upcoming next-generation Xbox, codenamed Durango. While there is obviously no official substantiation for the information posted, key elements of the spec match the overall outline of the hardware we have received from trusted sources and the leaker has come forward with proof about the origins of the information - and it appears genuine.
"The new PlayStation Orbis graphics core appears - at face value - to be significantly more powerful than the GPU in Durango"
First up, let's deal with the elements of the spec we definitely know to be true: Durango features an eight-core CPU from AMD running at 1.6GHz, just like its upcoming next-gen PlayStation competitor - Orbis. As we explained last week, these are based on AMD's new PC technology, Jaguar - built for the entry-level laptop and tablet market. The initial PC Jaguar CPUs are configured in a quad-core arrangement - this doubles for both next-gen consoles.
In the case of Durango, the CPU is married up with 8GB of DDR3 memory, working in concert with 32MB of what is dubbed "ESRAM" - fast work RAM connected directly to the GPU. The two pools of memory operate in parallel, and while we haven't confirmed overall bandwidth, the leak's 170GB/s throughput certainly seems plausible. Also interesting about the RAM set-up is that the ESRAM isn't merely connected to the graphics core as is the case with the Xbox 360's 10MB of eDRAM - in Durango, it's hooked up to the northbridge (the interconnect between all major internal components), meaning it offers general access to other components in addition to the graphics core.
The leak also offers confirmation of last week's story that the new PlayStation Orbis graphics core appears - at face value - to be significantly more powerful than the GPU in Durango. Our sources suggest that the new PlayStation offers up 18 Radeon GCN compute units at 800MHz. The leak matches older rumours suggesting that Durango features only 12, running at the same clock speed. Bearing in mind the stated peak performance metrics in the leak, there is a clear deficit between the 1.23 teraflops offered by Durango, and the 1.84TF found in Orbis.
The leaked outline of Durango tallies closely with our sources, and offers some new detail in terms of the graphics core and the input/output elements of the machine.
The leak also addresses the three mysterious hardware accelerator modules we mentioned last week in our Orbis piece. We find one of them covering audio (including echo cancellation tech for Kinect), while another appears to be an accelerated hardware video encoder - this is interesting in that we also find that the new information suggests an HDMI input as part of the design, not just an output. In theory then, users could record their TV shows direct from set-top boxes, or import their camcorder footage directly onto Durango. It's a remarkable inclusion, for sure, suggesting that Microsoft is indeed investing heavily in the media credentials of the device. The final hardware module is the most mysterious, named simply "Data Move Engines" for which there is no additional data supplied.
Other elements of the spec throw up some positive surprises too. Kinect appears to have its own dedicated input, suggesting that the problems introduced by using USB on the Xbox 360 could be mitigated. The fact there is an input at all suggests that the sensor will remain a separate and distinct unit that attaches to the console. The USB ports themselves are upgraded to the 3.0 standard - good for moving media files about and for high levels of bandwidth to game data. A large hard drive is included as standard (our sources suggest a 500GB minimum) while a 6x Blu-ray drive is also being mooted, which supports 50GB dual-layer discs. Networking is achieved with a fast gigabit Ethernet port, with both WiFi and WiFi Direct support.
So the question of the hour is, just how accurate is the information? Based on our communications with the leaker, the data appears genuine - the only real question is how recent it is. The proof presented by the source suggests that the data is at most nine months old: factoring in how long it takes to create a console, the chances are that there will not be many changes implemented since then.
The leaked spec in full:
A complete, top-to-bottom list of Durango features for your reading pleasure.
Central Processing Unit:
- x64 Architecture
- Eight CPU cores running at 1.6GHz
- Each CPU thread has its own 32 KB L1 instruction cache and 32 KB L1 data cache
- Each module of four CPU cores has a 2 MB L2 cache resulting in a total of 4 MB of L2 cache
- each core has one fully independent hardware thread with no shared execution resources
- each hardware thread can issue two instructions per clock
Graphics Core:
- custom D3D11.1 class 800-MHz graphics processor
- 12 shader cores providing a total of 768 threads
- Each thread can perform one scalar multiplication and addition operation (MADD) per clock cycle
- At peak performance, the GPU can effectively issue 1.2 trillion floating-point operations per second
- High-fidelity Natural User Interface (NUI) sensor is always present
Storage and Memory:
- 8GB of DDR3 RAM (68GB/s bandwidth)
- 32MB of fast embedded SRAM (ESRAM) (102GB/s)
- From the GPU's perspective the bandwidths of system memory and ESRAM are parallel providing combined peak bandwidth of 170GB/sec.
- Hard drive is always present
- 50GB 6x Blu-ray drive
Networking:
- Gigabit Ethernet
- WiFi and WiFi Direct
Hardware Accelerators:
- Move engines
- Image, video, and audio codecs
- Kinect multichannel echo cancellation (MEC) hardware
- Cryptography engines for encryption and decryption, and hashing
I still await an official announcement, then. We'll see.
Everyone should keep in mind this isn't about raw power at all - the PS3 is "twice as powerful as the 360" and we all know how that turned out.
1. Design a console that is more expensive than their competitor
2. ...but not powerful enough that developers bother to create different versions of their games for the two consoles. The games libraries for both consoles end up pretty much identical.
3. With identical games, it’s kind of hard to charge a higher price, even though their console costs more to make.
4. Lose money!
As for the next generation, games are becoming more expensive to produce and more difficult to charge for. So it makes ever more sense to create games that are identical across platforms, based on just a few cross-platform game engines that have to work on the lowest-spec platform. So it will be even more difficult to price one console higher than the other, making it even more certain that the console that is cheaper to produce will be the most profitable.
So are Sony really willing to do this again? Well, Kaz Hirai just said "Why go first, when your competitors can look at your specifications and come up with something better?" (IGN). This could either mean better as in higher specs or better as in “lower but in the same league.” It would be amusing if Sony actually waited until MS revealed their specs and then adjusted theirs to the sweet spot.
A core2 can issue (decode) at least 4 instructions per cycle, and the current micro architecture ivy bridge can do even better. But 2 instructions issued are *NOT* 2 instructions executed. Check out this benchmar how does it translate into the real-world :
One random benchmark
In other words : this might not even be much faster than a 360, and not really competitive with a £120 quad core Intel I5 (the cheapest quad core intel clocked at 3ghz) .
For the less technical reader : the cpu specs are weak even for a budget PC. Might have been some kind or prototype, or even fake?
"Were expecting"
I didn't realise unnanounced, unconfirmed consoles about which these rumoured specs exist were in the past tense already.
"We all need to accept"
Do we? Okay then.
I will happily return and humbly eat my words if the Premium NextBox ships with the above guts, and only the above guts, until then, this is all educated speculation.
Edited 2 times. Last edit by Dan Howdle on 22nd January 2013 7:00am
Honestly, I'm glad Sony and Microsoft are fighting it out close together. Competition is good for the industry, it will drive for better quality services, products and more competitive pricing.
Cheap laptops are more powerful than the current gen, yet the current gen exists. People that think a "video card" is something to take to blockbuster* need shit to just work. So they buy a console and watch it update throughout all of christmas instead.
Er..
(* Someone elses quote but I like it. And double so now it's topical, lol)
The irony is, they will already know each others specs without going public on them ;)
My personal perspective on all this, yeah, vaguely true but unconfirmed/early specs either way. What I'm confused about is why people are so disappointed with the projected specs.
If you want the best rendering machine in town get a PC, otherwise these systems still make the 360 and PS3 look like a real joke (GPUs in 2006 could boast as much as double the performance of the consoles back then let alone ones from the last few years), whilst having the potential to launch at an impressive price.
I also expect you will be able to achieve a bit more on an embedded system compared to the exact same hardware in a PC. Its generally what we've seen over the years but then factor in the idea DX11 features and the potential of compute shader based engines haven't been fully exploited as of yet.
Now there isn't. So what are Microsoft trying to achieve instead?:
1) Cheap to manufacture.
2) Run 1080p at 60 fps.
3) Get Kinect to work properly.
4) Optimised as a media hub for the living room that can play games.
5) Don't push technology. Go for reliability instead.
6) Take advantages of huge cost reductions in RAM and rotating memory.
7) Highly optimised for online use. App stores, the cloud etc.
Of course the box is less than half the story. What are Microsoft going to do with Xbox Live, which is the important part of the recipe?
Just being modest ;)
Power wise, one has to remember that console development is fairly different from PC development. You get much closer to the actual metal and can pull off some interesting stuff with what is otherwise considered less.
Highly optimized, in-house engines/ frameworks/ libs being doled out to game companies might offset the nightmare of balancing 8 cores + n coprocessors. Hopefully developers will have less trial-and-error phases in their development this time around and more time to focus on the actual games. Who wants to go through figuring out how to optimally offload work from/ on to the SPUs again ?
Edited 2 times. Last edit by Tudor Nita on 22nd January 2013 1:44pm
Reality is that this next gen is all about replacing the black box in your living room with one of these console. Note the HDMI inputs that both machines are sporting. The games will benefit from the graphics boost of the last 5 years so will be noticeably improved to full 1080p. Beyond this only a madman would spec to support a 4k display and expect to have the machine cost less than 600 quid. Heck the displays themselves cost 10k. Some of you should have dev kits by now and so should already know the basic levels these devices support. In that regard it's quite puzzling to see you dismissing these all be it not quite accurate spec sheets as being way off base.
I don't get why this upsets you so much. You're obviously a big console gamer, which is great. So am I, but you're deluded if you think there's ever been a time when a console has actually PUSHED graphics technology. A new console release does nothing but allow devs making multiplats to take advantage of the unused PC tech that was already out (Direct X 11 will be big this time around). PC will always be the graphics king. Modular can't be beaten by closed in the power department.
I'm not upset. Please point out to me where I am upset?
I am merely pointing out the fact that you are debating this stuff with me based on rumour, and I with you based on what we know; that none of the above is proven true.
Better we continue this discussion then when official internals are revealed, n'est ce pas? Not judge anything based on a spec sheet at best a year old, and at worst a complete fabrication.
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Dan Howdle on 23rd January 2013 9:27am
If you don't want to discuss it until an official announcement, then don't. If you do want to argue with the leak, saying that you feel it's "unlikely" (your word) to be correct, don't ask others not to debate it.
By the way, I'm in agreement with the others that the spec. both sounds plausible from a business point of view and that it's unlikely that MS would be making last-minute changes to it, since that's too disruptive of the production process.
Speaking as if this is gospel is not the same as treating it as rumour (which it factually is).
All I have asked is that my opinon be treated as such and not picked apart from the standpoint that this is fact. It's not, and so we end up having two different conversations. Tell me I'm wrong, certainly, but don't tell me 'we all need to accept' anything that thus far is apocryphal at best.
I offer my professional opinion; that is all. What Nicholas asked me to do is accept this rumour as fact, launching any further debate from that foundation, which I will not. Criticise my opinion all you like. I welcome it.
Edited 3 times. Last edit by Dan Howdle on 23rd January 2013 12:41pm
Quote: At 1:41am GMT today I sent out an email to a bunch of gaming sites claiming to be a Microsoft employee working on the new Xbox.
I made up every single word of it along with a couple of specs copied from other rumours that have been appearing on the Internet.
This was a bit of an experiment to see just how easy it is to get a fake story taken seriously. And it is shockingly easy in the games industry.
Bravo. I''d buy you a round of your choice for that one.
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Dan Howdle on 24th January 2013 5:07am
I called it... not a huge shock.