| haxxiy said: The Witcher 3 is a fairly CPU-agnostic game maximized to run on four threads. What I don't get is why you think it would be particularly relevant to console gaming. Do you think frame time and frame rate are particularly gimped by the Bulldozer architecture when most games are running at 30 fps, 60 fps tops? I haven't seen many benchmarks, but it can't be that relevant next to, say, bottlenecks on the GPU. Otherwise the engineers at Sony and Microsoft would have opted for faster CPUs and slower GPUs, if they were working strictly within the limits of a given TDP. Yes, it's quite a relevant jump. But again, not very relevant for gaming. I run an FX 8350 with a GTX 970. Run an i7 6700K (>50% IPC difference) with a GTX 960 and you'll still be way behind on frame rate on almost every single game. The lower the framerate, the larger the gap in my favour. As for matching XBO/PS4 performance without increasing their power consumption requirements... eh. The Wii-U/Wii/Gamecube ran on 20-35 Watts. That's extremely low for gaming. Even in 2016 the 15-35W Carrizo APUs won't come lose to X1/PS4, and they'll still be 28nm. That is assuming Nintendo will opt for very fresh hardware this time around, for the first time since the N64. |
That makes it even a more compelling case. The Witcher 3 is a GPU bound game, and yet CPU still matters to a point. Now lets think about games that are CPU heavy like Dragon Age, Watch Dogs, and Assasin' Creed unity. Sure the GPU is more important, but that doesn't mean the CPU isn't important at all.
Again, just because GPU optimization is more important, it does not mean that a weak CPU won't affect performance.
There will be 14nm APU's out next year. Also you aren't considering a more power efficient GPU with the r9 3xx series vs HD 7XXX. Nintendo could easily have an r7 M375 equivalent in the Wii U. That would put it equivalent to XBO for less power consumption. Also, do you mean the first time since Gamecube? There is no reason why Nintendo won't go with fresh hardware this time around considering they will be leaving the PPC architecture.
