By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close
Soundwave on 16 April 2016
Edit Thread
JEMC said:
Soundwave said:

I think it's Polaris for the other reasoning that I just can't see Nintendo releasing a 100 watt+ console, and that's what you'd be looking at with a 28nm AMD GPU above a PS4. 

I actually think PowerVR would have been a good vendor for Nintendo. They are actively looking for a console maker too and the performance per watt they're getting out of their Apple GPUs is pretty astounding. The GT7900 is 800 GFLOPS and can scale even beyond that based on vendor needs, they're hoping to get that chip into micro-consoles. 

AMD probably bent over backwards and said OK when presented with the golden apple of being able to supply for the Nintendo portable. 

AMD has been basically locked out of mobile, if they can supply the portable NX with chips, that at least gets their foot in that door and would be a nice feature in their cap above Nvidia that's still struggling to get vendors for their Tegra X1. 

A +100W console would be hard to imagine with the "old" Nintendo of small consoles, but we don't know if part of their alleged change has to do with this approach.

I don't know for how long has PowerVR had that chip you mention, but we knew that AMD had won a console design since the end of 2014, and given what was happening with PS4 and X1, it was quite clear that it was going to be a Nintendo console/handheld.

The same head designer of the Wii U is still heading up the NX, so I doubt a giant 100 watt console would be permitted. 

It could simply also mean that NX is only maybe launching in the West this year, or will have a more slower roll out initially until yields get better, but the sooner you get that ball rolling the sooner your userbase grows. 

I suspect what's happened is that the portable NX is the real key to everything here, but in order to have a portable powerful enough to be viable cross-platform device to a modern home console ... Nintendo will have to wait until 2017 to release that at the price they want, with the yields they want. 

If Nintendo just wanted to slap together a standard next-gen portable, something easily 3-4x the Vita (ala the Apple 8X or A9 chip), that would be easy enough to release this year. I think they are swinging for the fences this time out and going balls to the wall with this cross platform ideal, and that only works as much as the portable will allow. 

But that's why likely the console seems to be on the front burner ... it's easier to make a console, even a powerful one, that just has to plug into a wall and has active cooling. 

Likely neither AMD or Nintendo were really keen on going elsewhere. AMD still will remember the Wii and they are smart enough to see how well Nintendo portables sell, giving a little on the console initially to gain the portable contract is a fair trade off.