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curl-6 on 11 November 2013
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fatslob-:O said:
curl-6 said:
fatslob-:O said:

They weren't exactly unique for the most part because the ati flipper had alot in common with PC GPUs compared to what was in the PS2 and N64. BTW ATI back in the day (Which is now AMD because they got bought out by them.) had alot of money to do it but the reason I say AMD didn't modify the GPU architecture for the WII U was because AMD ain't doing so hot compared to it's older days. Amd would be willing to create a new architecture IF they had the money. 

A console GPU deal is a lucrative prospect; the amount of money they must have made on Wii's GPU, printed over 100 million times, was no doubt strong incentive to make a GPU for its successor. Flipper may have been less alien than PS2's Graphics Synthesizer, but it was still a unique part, not off the shelf.

Ahhhhh but even after the fact that AMD made made lots of money manufacturing GPUs for console manufacturers they are still losing money. Like nvidia said, "Consoles have low profit margins." and their statement holds true for the most part because over time these GPUs get cheaper to manufacture so the profit margins reduce over time. The exact reason as to why AMD sought out every console manufacturer is so they could get developers to tailor their development towards GCN based GPUs to gain a performance advantage over nvidia in the PC market space so that they can get more people to buy their GPUs where there's higher profit margins. AMD mantle and hUMA are the stepping stone to gain alot of market share and I have hopes that they can redeem themselves by doing this. Your right about the flipper being slightly unique but it's much closer to PC GPUs than you think.

Flipper had some elements in common with DX7 PC GPUs, but it wasn't off the shelf, they made the chips specifically for the Gamecube, and didn't use/sell them for anything else. By the time Wii rolled around, this architecture was long gone from the PC space, Wii's Hollywood GPU was and is the only register combiner era GPU still being made.