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Forums - Microsoft - Former AMD exec: Xbox One APU project worth over $3 billion

Imaginedvl on 27 May 2013
VGKing said:
Great deal. I imagine the Sony deal is similarly priced.

Wasn't R&D for the Cell processor alone in the Billions of dollars? LOL

yah this deal was absolutly insane. Very good for the industry in general I would say.



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ironmanDX on 27 May 2013
Jared19 said:
ironmanDX said:
Jared19 said:
Yea well fact is Sony's is Better who cares how much it costs!



It might not be, especially after hearing this. This could be "just another rumor," but if true, I doubt a company that has been in the PC busines for decades would invest 3 billion into something like this and only have it coming off second best. They would have been better off going with a weaker APU and putting the price of the Xbox ONE down instead to be more competitive/under-cut Sony further that case. There are rumors and nothing has been 100% confirmed. Best wait till E3 or later before we make those,  "my APU is better than yours" talks.

id still go with what i said remember what AMD said and they also said Ps4 will be the most powerful of its kind but even so i say it is better than the xbox!


The Sony fan base needs to come to terms with what the X1 actually is!! Is it a console or a cable box?!? Hmm? Now I'm even confused!

If it's a cable box, well, then if the PS4 is the "most powerful of it's kind" then the X1 isn't exactly it's kind!



kitler53 on 27 May 2013
zarx said:
3+ years of R&D and 7+ years of royalties with MS projecting 30%+ higher sales over this generation. Yup $3b sounds about right, if not a little on the low side. Not really gonna mean much for AMD's bottom line tho sadly.


i couldn't quite figure the article out exactly.  is MS on the hook for $3B?  ..as in if by some change xbone sells 10 units total do they still owe AMD the 3B?  or is the $3B based on sales projections?



tres on 27 May 2013

amd probably gave microsoft shit apu lol.. it was funny considering how they were talking up the ps4 chip. microsoft wouldve did better going the arrogant nvidia route and one upping sony with dx 12.



zarx on 27 May 2013
kitler53 said:
zarx said:
3+ years of R&D and 7+ years of royalties with MS projecting 30%+ higher sales over this generation. Yup $3b sounds about right, if not a little on the low side. Not really gonna mean much for AMD's bottom line tho sadly.


i couldn't quite figure the article out exactly.  is MS on the hook for $3B?  ..as in if by some change xbone sells 10 units total do they still owe AMD the 3B?  or is the $3B based on sales projections?


Well without seeing the actual contract it's hard to say but considering the fact that it's $3b+ I would say it a projection so could be more or less depending on how it does. I would imagine most of it would have been already spent on the R&D tho.



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drkohler on 27 May 2013
Imaginedvl said:
VGKing said:
Great deal. I imagine the Sony deal is similarly priced.

Wasn't R&D for the Cell processor alone in the Billions of dollars? LOL

yah this deal was absolutly insane. Very good for the industry in general I would say.

Cell wasn't that expensive to develop, around $400mio, shared by IBM, Sony, Toshiba.



zarx on 27 May 2013
tres said:
amd probably gave microsoft shit apu lol.. it was funny considering how they were talking up the ps4 chip. microsoft wouldve did better going the arrogant nvidia route and one upping sony with dx 12.


DX12 doesn't exist yet and MS said they deliberately did not aim for the most powerful hardware. It's not like AMD just gave them an APU it was developed in collaberation with MS, the source it's self states “This required the coordination of multiple functional teams within AMD, as well as regular customer meetings with leadership teams responsible for handling the challenges of complex, muti-year deals. This project is valued at $3+B.” which should make it clear that MS was well aware of what they were getting through the project. 



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Check out my hype threads: Cyberpunk, and The Witcher 3!

Netyaroze on 27 May 2013

I think 3 Billion is based on sales projection. Maybe 500 Mil a year for 6 years or something.



Adinnieken on 27 May 2013
tres said:
amd probably gave microsoft shit apu lol.. it was funny considering how they were talking up the ps4 chip. microsoft wouldve did better going the arrogant nvidia route and one upping sony with dx 12.

Your post is completely ignorant of the fact that both AMD and Microsoft share a long relationship.  Microsoft wrote support for the AMD x64 CPUs long before anyone else did.  They've maintained a close relationship on DirectX for a number of years.  I don't think AMD is going to piss on their relationship with Microsoft.

The Xbox 360 had an engineered CPU and GPU.  Both were highly specialized.  Neither was off the shelf.  The highly specialized nature of both allowed the Xbox 360 provide the same level of performance as the unquestionably supperior in raw power PS3. 

The Xbox One CPU and GPU I don't doubt are less specialized than the Xbox 360's.  Based on what we've learned so far, especially during the Architectural panel for the Xbox One, it is an extremely specialized CPU/GPU.  It'll be interesting to find out just how much.

That came about because of their relationship. 



tres on 27 May 2013
Adinnieken said:
tres said:
amd probably gave microsoft shit apu lol.. it was funny considering how they were talking up the ps4 chip. microsoft wouldve did better going the arrogant nvidia route and one upping sony with dx 12.

Your post is completely ignorant of the fact that both AMD and Microsoft share a long relationship.  Microsoft wrote support for the AMD x64 CPUs long before anyone else did.  They've maintained a close relationship on DirectX for a number of years.  I don't think AMD is going to piss on their relationship with Microsoft.

The Xbox 360 had an engineered CPU and GPU.  Both were highly specialized.  Neither was off the shelf.  The highly specialized nature of both allowed the Xbox 360 provide the same level of performance as the unquestionably supperior in raw power PS3. 

The Xbox One CPU and GPU I don't doubt are less specialized than the Xbox 360's.  Based on what we've learned so far, especially during the Architectural panel for the Xbox One, it is an extremely specialized CPU/GPU.  It'll be interesting to find out just how much.

That came about because of their relationship. 

if your girlfriend or boyfriend was bragging on how sexy your neighbor was  would you question your relationship? lol