Xbox Scorpio Presentation Spotted at AMD’s CES 2017 RYZEN/Vega Booth

[Solid-Stark]

Pemalite said:

Solid-Stark said:

I've been wanting to ask someone about this and you are very knowledgeable. Why didn't Sony/Cerny go with Puma+ on the PS4 Pro?

I recall reading that it was more straightforward to keep Jaguar since the logic wouldn't change. Developers woud be tasked with accomodating the extra GPU resources. Since it was a lighter job they would be more likely to support the Pro. Doesn't this imply (assuming Scorpio doesn't keep Jaguar) that it's more tedious to support Scorpio?

I also recall reading that a higher frequency probably would have meant an external power supply. But I'd take a 2.5GHz Puma+ for stable framerates..

Likely cost. Jaguar is a small chip, takes time and money to thoroughly test and verify the CPU blocks in these monolithic SoC's, so you are right, they get to keep allot of the logic.
It allowed Sony a shorter time to market by sticking with a known quantity and keeps everything cost efficient.

Also ensures complete compatability with the Playstation 4.

Microsoft's case is a little different though.
Microsoft already has to do some massive changes to it's SoC, such as the new Memory Controller to adopt the GDDR5 standard... And likely removal of the eSRAM (Unless they retain for compatability purposes and use it like an L4 cache in Scorpio mode. - Which still requires changes.) which took up a massive % of the Xbox One chip.

Plus Microsoft won't be just doubling it's GPU and making some alterations to a few of the blocks, they will likely be taking advantage of the new Architecture found in Vega which is a massive overhaul to Graphics Core Next.
Microsoft is probably more willing to eat the development costs to get the leg-up over Sony... And will use software to bridge the compatability gap.

And nope. Puma+ is just as energy efficient as Jaguar. In-fact more so, it has a massive reduction in power leakage, so it wouldn't have required an external PSU... You would be surprised how powerful a PSU can be made to fit inside Slim ITX cases these days anyway.

Thanks for the input!

Cost is one factor taken lightly in all this Scorpio speculation. It's hard to see this console priced less than $499 unless MS takes a loss, assuming it has a Vega GPU and a Ryzen cpu (unlikely imo). It will end up being the most powerful console but it wont help the brand in terms of marketshare.