here is some interesting reading about PS2's vs. GameCube

Sephiroth_IX

Diamond Member
Oct 22, 1999
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I am damned impressed with the hardware in the Gamecube. I had no idea that the graphics chip had an 8 texel pipeline. What are the raw specs on it?

Either way, the Nvidia chip in the Xbox will be probably twice as powerful, or more with their hidden surface removal techniques. How will the texture compression support be, though? GC does it in "hardware." I'm truly not worried about the Xbox not having more power, but the Gamecube certainly stunned me.

What i want to know is how many pix's per pass does it do? Is it 1pix/4tex pipeline with two pipelines? Is it 1/8?
 

zippy

Diamond Member
Nov 10, 1999
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<< There is much more to factor in, though, than just CPU speed and graphics chip architecture. Eggebrecht points to Gamecube's RAM set up, as well as its texture and lighting capabilities, as further proof of its power. &quot;Another important area is the RAM,&quot; he says. &quot;RAM is where your game and data are living in and being moved through and what really determines the speed and power of a system to a large degree. Anybody who ever programmed a N64 knows that Rambus RAM is especially problematic for game purposes when CPUs have to randomly access tiny chunks of data in a very fast manner. The PS2 has that same Rambus RAM. The more you use the CPU to randomly move chunks of data, the more speed problems you get. >>



BUWAHAHAHAHAHAHHHAHAHH!!!!! :D

Anyway, looks like the gamecube's hardware is faster and easier to program for. Therefore, better, faster games coming out at a faster rate than for PS2 once it comes out. At least that is what I would assume by way of a lil logic.
 

gregor1

Junior Member
Jun 30, 2000
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Last time round I bought an N64. I was happy with that, but I do regret not buying a Playstation. I've repeatedly been impressed by the Playstaion and what it can do, even though the N64 was suppose to be technically superior to it. This time around it looks like history is going to repeat itself. I've bought a Dreamcast already (I bought one cause it was cheap and I love Ferrari 355 Challenge). That will tide me over until the GameCube arrives. I don't plan to get a Playstation 2 at all and in a few years time I'll probably regret it. I am loyal to Nintendo and Sega. I grew up with them and nothing will change that.
 
Jun 18, 2000
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It seems the people developing for the PS2 thought it was superior. Those developing for the GC thought it was superior. A little bias perhaps?

I think the PS2 will one-up the GC in polygon pushing power. I can see the latest games on the GC pushing 12million per second and 20 for the PS2. The ArtX chip on the GC, OTOH, is vastly superior to the graphic synthesizer on the PS2. The bump mapping on the Zelda trailer is astounding.
 

geno

Lifer
Dec 26, 1999
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It comes down to game quality. If it was all about graphics quality, the 1st PS wouldn't have made it this far.
 

Deeko

Lifer
Jun 16, 2000
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Gamecube will be better graphicially, I think, and they have plenty of devoloper support. They lost alot of 3rd party support in the early stages of the N64, because it wasn't as great as it was made out to be. They started to gain some of it back is N64's power was more realized. They will get even more back with the GameCube, and they also have very good 1st and 2nd party developers, so games are not a problem. Xbox, I dunno how good it will really be. Everyone says it will be so wonderful, but think of it this way. The DC bests the PC in games graphics, and megahertz wise it is slower than the PC. But because it is highly optimized solely for 3D games, it is better. And since the Xbox uses PC parts, and they are closer to the other next gen consoles in megaherz, I don't think it will be as technologically superior as everyone thinks. But they will have great game support, because they are microsoft, and making PC-Xbox and vice versa ports will be fairly simple.