Navi Made in Colab with sony, MS still Using it?

[EricHiggin]

thismeintiel said:

EricHiggin said:

Lisa started with PS, and said they are using a semi custom solution for their next gen console. She didn't say much about it. When she talked about Project Scarlett, she did say the goal for MS is to build the ultimate gaming machine or something like that. Sounded a lot like an XB1X level of no compromises.

Since Phil said at the MS show that the XB1X team is the one working on Scarlett, sounds to me like it will end up with the most overall performance. Hard to say though. Phil said it'll their most powerful console ever, which is a far cry from the world's most powerful console. Phil clearly ain't so sure it's going to be the highest performer and is being careful not to oversell it.

As for PS5, is PS keeping tight lipped because they are purposely making a weaker console to be able to sell at a lower price, or is it going to actually outperform Scarlett and absolutely blow people away?

Overall Lisa didn't say much about either, other than they are both semi custom and both are using the same tech for the most part, but in a very general manner, so we really don't know exactly. AMD and MS have talked a lot about their overall partnership lately however, and AMD is doing a lot of work with MS in the server and cloud space, so in terms of costs, XB may be getting just as good a deal as PS, if not better possibly.

Scarlett launches holiday 2020, and PS5 not for another year, so likely after E3 2020 sometime, probably holiday as well. Based on the differences between the 2013 consoles, and how they've become much more alike mid gen, if both launch holiday 2020, we're probably looking at two super similar consoles.

One thing that's got me wondering, is that Scarlett sounds like just one console. There wasn't any Scarlett family talk at E3, so did MS decide to pick one or the other, or split the difference and find the middle? If PS is going to keep the PS4's around with PS5, there isn't much reason for XB Lockhart. Might as well just keep making XB1X. 

You're right about the careful wording.  Not only that, but they only revealed the exact info that Sony did.  I would think they would at least announce the Tflops, like they did with the X.  My guess is that they may know they are only matching Sony or may be a little weaker, so aren't going to announce anything, just for Sony to announce the same or better performance.  Or MS doesn't have any idea how powerful the PS5 is going to be, so aren't saying anything until it is fully revealed for the same reasons as the former.  If they do end up being very similar in power, or PS5 is more powerful, I'd say Sony has next gen on lock.

As for Lockhart, if it was the 4Tflops Lockhart that was leaked, I can see why they would do away with it.  Even if the GPU would still be pretty close to the X's perfomance because of the improvements Navi brings, having a much smaller number just isn't good for PR.  Sure, it has a much better CPU, but your average consumer isn't going to know that.  But they will do a little research, or it may be printed on the box, and seeing the old one being 6 and the new one being "only" 4 would turn them off.  I think it also just causes confusion.  I mean, according to rumors there were 4 separate SKUs.  The Lockhart and Anaconda, both with discless versions.  An average consumer trying to work out which one they should get, sees 4 versions of the XB2 and only one for the PS5, is probably going to go for the PS5.

If PS5 and Anaconda were very similar, then MS could have some serious hardware problems in terms of sales. If they can't say we're clearly the best by far, they have to rely on being the cheapest, and that's continuing to try and sell XB1S(AD) and that's already not working out for them. XB1X would be the only thing they could make a move on and subsidize it to match Pro, but how would existing XB1X owners feel when their super high end console just drops in price like that? Will they be willing to pay top dollar for Anaconda and it's later X edition? This is something that makes me think that Lockhart makes sense. If Lockhart basically matches Pro specs and price yet uses state of the art tech, that's a way in which MS can please everyone. Just drop XB1X and for those that take the time to wonder why Lockhart is weaker on paper, well, hope they also take the time to watch DF explain why I guess.

If both are using Navi, even if XB was willing to subsidize Anaconda, there's only so much more powerful they can make the GPU if PS also shoots for high end. Would MS try and use more CPU cores to market performance superiority? 12TF Navi with 12 Ryzen cores, and maybe a 4TF Navi with 8-12 Ryzen cores?

Last edited by EricHiggin - on 11 June 2019