haxxiy said:
How so? It will be hardware on the same 28nm process. The later Puma APUs are at best a 10-15% boost over the Jaguar architecture, so Nintendo would still need to come very close to the X1's power envelope to match it. It's going to be either an Oland XT GPU (the same on current AMD APUs) or a rather underclocked, undervolted Bonaire PRO, which at best places them within some 80% of the X1. |
10-15% might just be enough to remove bottlenecks. Actually 10-15% extra CPU power is pretty significant in the grand scheme of things.
I think you are greatly understimating what GPU they can put in for $300, and Nintendo's priorities. While Nintendo has never lit the hardware charts, they've always had consoles that matched the predecessor (Wii matched XBOX, Wii U matches PS3.) For less than a $100 /per console cost of production + AMD profit (in bulk) Nintendo could get Pitcairn, Tobago or Bonaire XTX (surpasses XBOX ONE and matches PS4.) The only thing that will limit this is power consumption, but I am sure they will work out the specifics. That leaves $150-200 for the rest of the components.
The only way I would see Nintendo going for an Oland XT is if they are trying to reduce the price of their console to the $200-250 range.
