Next Nintendo console to be all powered by AMD

On a conference call Friday, AMD CEO's stated that “the company had won a third contract for a semi-custom chip design that she says will be used in products that could generate billions of dollars in sales.”

The other two contracts are with Sony and Microsoft since AMD provides semi-custom chip designs for the Playstation 4 and the Xbox One consoles.

This is good news for AMD and Nintendo. Nintendo should have dumped that crap IBM processor and should have gone with a vastly superior AMD CPU and GPU to begin with and not just the GPU from AMD. In turn, AMD will get much needed cash if the Nintendo's next console (Nintendo NX?) if it sells well. I just hope that the CPU + GPU is comparable (or at least close to the power of the Xbox One/PS4). I believe that will drastically improve the graphics quality of Nintendo games or at least allow Nintendo fans to get some descent graphics on cross platform games that are comparable to the PS4/Xbox One. Also, all 3 consoles being on x86 and AMD hardware will hopefully ease cross platform porting of games.

Source:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/amd-design-chip-nintendo-nx-211009657.html

Well Nvidia turned down Sony and MS, so i doubt they would have accepted nintendo

Doesn't mean it'll be a SOC. But man, let's hope it is.

Nintendo is too late to the game. The NX is not going to sell well.

That is if AMD is still around then.

Info from another site. Please don't say too long didn't read.

http://venturebeat.com/2015/07/16/more-hints-that-amd-is-building-nintendo-nxs-processor/

We’re guessing that AMD will supply the main processor for the upcoming Nintendo machine. That’s not too much of a leap of faith, as AMD already supplies the chips for Wii U, Sony’s PlayStation 4, and Microsoft’s Xbox One. It’s an important chip project, as the processor is key to whether Nintendo’s next machine will be competitive and affordable. And for AMD, which has reported losses for a couple of quarters, it could be a safe haven for bruising competition with Intel.

Nintendo could make the leap from IBM’s PowerPC to x86-based (AMD and Intel) architecture. It would make sense for Nintendo to continue its relationship with AMD (which makes the graphics chip for the Wii U) and switch to use x86 architecture in its next-generation design, which Nintendo announced would be called the NX.

AMD classifies its game console chips as “semi-custom.” These “accelerated processing unit” (APU) chips combine a central processing unit (CPU) and graphics processing unit (GPU) on a single chip. Intel makes such chips as well, but AMD had an edge in the previous generation of consoles because it focused much more on the graphics side of the chip. AMD successfully sold custom versions of its APUs to Microsoft and Sony. AMD succeeded with the argument that it could cut out one chip from the system with its combo chip design.

confirmed to be underpowered

Im guessing Nintendo struck a deal for cheap using IBM and ARM11 as bait. AMD is in need of some money to help out their business it seems, will be cool to see what they come up with. Nintendo might have stuck gold.

It's should be better than their current solution. I have 8570M (6 CU GCN) which can still play games from Xbox One era without having to re-factor/re-code the game i.e Project Cars Wii U build problem.

Wii U's Radeon HD 4650M power is too low for simple graphics scale down.

Wii U's weak CPUs would require changes to CPU side game play modelling.

Nintendo needs a box that easily run current gen 3rd party games while supporting their exclusive Nintendo IP.

Anything better than Xbox One should be enough.

Most current arcade game machines are based on recent design X86-64 CPUs.

It's still a rumor, but it would be an upgrade for Nintendo, hopefully they choose a powerful CPU in the end.

I would like to see it have 800 SPs because then it will give the Xbox One a real run for it's money. I bet it will be <= 720 SPs which is kinda lame for a console that is coming 3 years after the Xbox One that is specifically intended for gaming.

I wonder how the Wii U owners would feel if the NX launched in 2016? The Wii U launched in 2012 which is not too long ago ( I mean we still haven't hit the 3 year mark). Most of the Wii U good games started to come out in 2013/2014 and now this year. Will they buy another console given that many of them brought the Wii U only maybe 1 - 2 years ago?

I bought a ps3 in 2009, and then a wii u when it launched. I bought an xbox in 2001, and a 360 shortly after launch. I bought an N64 in 1996, and a Dreamcast in 1999.

People love tech. If it is a good system that excites people, they'll buy it. I bought a wii u more as a means to get Nintendo games. Spec wise it was always underwhelming though. They need a console that excites people when it is revealed. They know this, too.

Did they? They burned their bridges with MS on the original Xbox, they refused to lower the prices on their chips not allowing MS to stay competitive on price, basically the entire reason the Xbox bit the dust early and jumped on the Xbox 360, so I can see why MS doesn't want to do business with them. And Sony paid out quite a bunch of money to them for their RSX chip, and I remember years back there being some unflattering articles about that. I wouldn't doubt it was Microsoft and Sony that wanted nothing to do with Nvidia. You can tell they were rather hurt by being shunned, and you could tell by the petty public statements they were making after everyone went with AMD this gen. And if Nvidia is saying that it was them that wanted nothing to do with consoles, that's like the person that gets dumped by their girlfriend but will tell other people otherwise...

Hoping for a miracle that it's stronger than my PC lol.

I heard MS might buy them.

Works for me.

Ready for it, after I get my hands on Xenoblade Chronicles X (hopefully US release dates is the same as AU - Dec) & Fatal Frame 5 don't care if they kill the Wii U...Nintendo won't be launching anymore big title after Zelda (Wii U) anyway which will most likely be NX launch title. Bought my Wii U at launch Nov 2012. :P

@lamprey263:

This is the result when Intel and NVIDIA doesn't compete for this particular market segment.

@Xtasy26:

It also depends on CU's clock speed i.e. AMD FX-8800p APU with + 4 CPU threads at &amp;gt;2.1Ghz + 8 CU at 800Mhz has 35 watts TDP.

AMD FX-8800p APU is being fab in GoFlo instead of TSMC, hence better performance per watts.

Scenario A, Doubling AMD FX-8800p APU's CU count to 16 would yield around 60 watts. This would have 1.638 TFLOPS. Based from Pitcairn Island's 20 CU GCN. PS4's GPU is based from Pitcairn Island GCN with some of Hawaii's 8 ACE unit improvement. PS4 doesn't have Tonga's ROPS delta compression and tessellation improvements.

Scenario B, Swapping out AMD FX-8800p APU's 8 CU GCN for 12 CU at 1Ghz would yield 1.536 TFLOPS. Based from Bonaire's 14 CU GCN.

Both scenarios are under PS4's 1.84 TFLOPS, but still greater than Xbox One's 1.31 TFLOPS.

AMD FX-8800p APU has Tonga GCN's improvements e.g. tessellation/register storage, ROPS Delta compression.

We don't know if NX will use a middle range Artic Islands GCN that replaces Bonaire GCN(7790, R7-260, R7-260X, R7-360, Xbox One)

The 8 CU IGP for FX-8800p APU has 8 ACE units, better tessellation and ROPS delta compression, hence newer GCN designs should have Tonga's improvements.

It'll be shit outdated hardware with performance of a 2010 high end pc and a cpu that performs like a core2 duo.

-_- not good , not good at all

@Gaming-Planet: thanks for telling me. Pre order canceled

@Gaming-Planet:

For a budget PC build, the GPU takes priority over the CPU.

Except when it struggles to play open world games and games with lots of physics and particles.

@Gaming-Planet:

They need to set the CPU clock speed higher e.g 2.1 Ghz or higher with turbo boost mode.

1.6 Ghz or 1.75 Ghz without a turbo mode would require multi threading to be a must have not an option. Desktop PC CPUs has turbo clock speeds for lesser multi threading programs.

It's unlikely Nintendo will be using Tonga GCN mobile.

Microsoft's Xbox One chip budget could have yielded Tonga level GCN ie. MS wasted their chip area budget for 32 MB ESRAM.

Yea I don't think I'll ever be buying a Nintendo console ever again tell they get off their lazy asses and get some 3rd party support, I give 0 shits how "powerful" they try to make their next console.

Something tells me that Nvidia was the one dumped by MS and Sony. This going by the extremely petty public comments Nvidia has made on the subject. Though it's likely one of those things we will only find out if someone on the inside ever decides to talk about it.

So in other words, MS eh, this gonna be gud.

Pretty pissed off, I'd imagine.

Nintendo should have never put Espresso in the Wii U, or bothered developing it for that matter. It would have been acceptable last gen, but it's not 2006 anymore. If the NX is Nintendo's next home console, which most reports are suggesting at this point, then it should be more powerful than the platforms currently out. Doesn't mean it will be, but it should.

They need to do whatever it takes to get 3rd parties back on board.

And you know this how? Neither the X1 nor the PS4 have matched the fervor caused when the Wii was released. It's another tepid gaming generation where the two twin consoles are the same and there's nothing exciting for casuals.

This is an arena ripe for Nintendo to step in with something fresh and attention grabbing. The NX could very well rise to the occasion. But you think small and that is why you are not Nintendo and Nintendo is Nintendo.

Nintendo.

Come on Nintendo 3GB DDR3 system,4GB GDDR5 or staked 2GB,and a 7950 Boost at least i know that by late 2016 that should be cheaper to make than the PS4 was on 2013.

Alto the power consumption may ruin out dreams...

Yep Nvidia screwed up MS and sony both.

MS because they refuse to lower the price of its chip landed both parties in court,and sony because the damn RSX cost more to Sony than the Xenos cost MS which is a joke since the Xenos was much more capable.

Sony should have got at least a damn 7900GTX out of Nvidia for the price they pay back then.

Well, Nintendo is doomed anyway.

Hoping its considerably stronger than the 360/ps3 this time around.

I'm pretty sure that Nintendo would go with what the competition is doing and go with 8GB "unified" since I have a feeling they are trying to win over 3rd parties yet again. Things like cost reduction of the now last generation DDR3 and GDDR5 memory as well as AMD's current financial woes play in Nintendo's favor regarding getting a good deal. It should be easy for Nintendo to put out a contender power wise while undercutting both in price. This only happens if they ditch any sort of gimmick input device, however.

Then again I could see Nintendo going under powered all together. It doesn't take beefy hardware for Nintendo to make fantastic looking first party titles. The type of games they make look good without ultra high res textures and things like that. I guess it will all depend on who the successor is and what direction they want to take the console business in.

I'm hoping for something more powerful than the PS4 to draw in some 3rd party ports. If Nintendo can somehow come out with a system that outperforms the competition while giving incentive to 3rd parties to support the console all while Nintendo delivers 1st partiy games, the machine could sell. Nintendo needs to change their thought process from thinking people don't want the cutting edge technology to the fact that they actually do. I mean it is acceptable in todays world to upgrade your phone every year to get the newest technology. People want cutting edge in their consoles these days while not having to build a PC to get it. Back when the Wii launched, people were enthralled with Wii Sports, but that novelty wore off and people aren't buying gimmicks like they were. Give us power Nintendo, so you can regain some power in the console war.

I hate to say it, but I really think I am done with Nintendo at this point, unless they release something really impressive.

They also really need to fix their online. Along with the whole buy a virtual console game and it's tied to the console or handheld, and your N.N.I.D. crap before I even look at them again.

You are engaging in what is commonly referred to as extremely wishful thinking.

I think its a lot better then engaging in hating, but dont let me stop you, hate on brother.

Hopefully it's the 14nm "Zen" tech they're working on now.

There's enough negativity in this world. There's two twin consoles that each do the same thing. They can pick either one. Why do they find Nintendo so threatening? Is Nintendo somehow taking away their precious PS4 or Xbox One?

Wii U: People are hating, Alfred. What would you have me do?

Alfred Pennyworth: Endure, Nintendo. Take it. They'll hate you for it, but that's the point of Nintendo, you can be the outcast. You can make the choice that no one else can make, the right choice.

Well, if E3 is any indication, Nintendo seems to be just about finished supporting the Wii U, so I'm not sure why Wii U owners would care if the NX launches in 2016 or 2017. They aren't getting much in 2016 either way.

You hope it's comparable to PS4? It will be coming out nearly 3 years after, it should be superior in every way.

As a Wii U owner...i sort of don't care. I'll get the PS4, X1, and then the NX. And then I'll still go back and play plenty of MK8 online on my Wii U.

Whatever...I'm too old to be fighting invisible corporate enemies.

Yeah, I agree. I'm still not sure if I'll ever get the PS4 or X1, though. The X1 looks like it might be worth a purchase soon, but the PS4 is still a long way from desirable.

@lostrib:

its other way around...nintendo, MS and sony all turned down nvidia. Nvidia is terrible bang for buck and the only thing worth mentioning for them, driver support, doesn't matter 2 shits on consoles because developers can't gimp their software intentionally without screwing themselves over. This is the one good thing about consoles that I can say with confidence is better than the pc, there is no politics, motivation is much purer.

@Xtasy26: AMD is a solid company with solid products imho. So why not ?

The question is ... what kind of hardware NX will have in order to compete the already established PS4/X1 ? If will be one of the same then ... QQ

What I don't get with Nintendo is why they didn't just release a console that was as powerful as the PS4 in the first place. Then they'd have got good versions of all the multi-platform titles as well as having their own high selling franchises, with better graphics than ever before. They could have completely dominated the console market.

Nintendo doesn't like taking a loss on each console sold. This is how they've stayed in the game for so long. They take in money they don't burn it.