What GPU are all the new concoles using?

[holden j caufield]

Wondering if AMD or Nvidia is making the gpu for these newer consoles?

 

[Oyeve]

The PS4 and Xbone use AMD. Similar to the 7870 or 7790. The wiiU uses AMD as well, e6760 or so.

 

[Pheran]

The PS4 and Xbone use AMD. Similar to the 7870 or 7790. The wiiU uses AMD as well, e6760 or so.

The PS4 GPU is fairly similar to a 7870. The Xbox One GPU is quite a bit worse than that.

 

[Blitzvogel]

PS4 graphics array is essentially Pitcairn (Radeon 7870) with two Compute Units disabled for yields, making for 1152 Stream Processors, 72 Texture Units, 32 ROPs. Clocked at 800 MHz for ~1843 GFLOPS.

Xbone graphics array is essentially Bonaire (Radeon 7790) with two Compute Units disabled for yields, making for 768 Stream Processors, 48 Texture Units, 16 ROPs. Clocked at 853 MHz for ~1310 GFLOPS.

Along with a vast disparity in GFLOPS, each APU uses a different overall memory setup. The PS4 APU uses GDDR5 memory with a 256-bit bus. Xbone APU uses DDR3 memory on a 256-bit bus, with 32 MB of integrated embedded SRAM right on the APU die that is much faster than the DDR3. Each setup has it's strengths and weaknesses.

Bringing the Wii U into the conversation. The Wii U has separate CPU and GPU dies: Wii U GPU is reportedly based on AMD's Radeon 4000 Series architecture, which was already 4 years old by the time of the Wii U's release. It has 320 Stream Processors, 16 Texture Units, and 8 ROPs. Clocked at 550 MHz for 352 GFLOPS. I don't know what Nintendo was thinking there, but at least it's not as bad as the Wii U CPU. The GPU also contains the GPU used in the Wii (and by extension the one in the Gamecube) which includes 3 MB of framebuffer and texture cache.

As for the Wii U memory setup, it's functionally very similar to the Xbone (or rather the Xbone is similar to the Wii U), while being integral for Wii/Gamecube game backwards compatibility. The GPU contains 32 MB of eDRAM that serves to operate in substitute of the 24 MB of 1T-SRAM found in the Wii and Gamecube consoles when running in backwards compatibility mode. In Wii U mode, it's a very fast cache, used for the framebuffer and texture caching primarily (I would assume). There is 2 GB of DDR3 main memory connected via a 64 bit bus. Developers have access to 1 GB of it, while the rest is for the OS and background tasks.

 

[jeff_rigby]

Wondering if AMD or Nvidia is making the gpu for these newer consoles?

AMD from ekim on NeoGAF.

 

[Sonikku]

The PS4's gpu is passable for what it is, though I wish its cpu wasn't so sluggish.

 

[sm625]

I dont buy the rumors of a 2016 NX using a 14nm gpu. It would mean AMD is delaying its own higher margin products in favor of producing a low margin volume-sapping part for very little profit. I doubt even a 2017 NX would be 14nm. But at least that is somewhat plausible if they delay production until spring 2017.

 

[EightySix Four]

I dont buy the rumors of a 2016 NX using a 14nm gpu. It would mean AMD is delaying its own higher margin products in favor of producing a low margin volume-sapping part for very little profit. I doubt even a 2017 NX would be 14nm. But at least that is somewhat plausible if they delay production until spring 2017.

I buy they will use a 14nm GPU for NX. All indications we have from AMD point to midrange chips being the biggest push at 14nm launch and considering they are the smaller player on the market right now, the guaranteed $ from those sales would be hard to turn down.

 

[RussianSensation]

I dont buy the rumors of a 2016 NX using a 14nm gpu. It would mean AMD is delaying its own higher margin products in favor of producing a low margin volume-sapping part for very little profit. I doubt even a 2017 NX would be 14nm. But at least that is somewhat plausible if they delay production until spring 2017.

Why would you conclude that? AMD can produce 14nm for Nintendo and 14nm Polaris concurrently. Nothing stopped AMD from doing the same with 28nm HD7000 series and PS4/XB1. The demand for both of those consoles was greater in the first 12 months than what will likely be for the NX. This is because many people already got a current gen console without waiting for NX, while when PS4/XB1 launched, there was a lot of pent up demand for them. I do not see why AMD has to sacrifice it's 14nm product roll-out of NX is also based on 14nm AMD tech.

 

[Lil Frier]

Why would you conclude that? AMD can produce 14nm for Nintendo and 14nm Polaris concurrently. Nothing stopped AMD from doing the same with 28nm HD7000 series and PS4/XB1. The demand for both of those consoles was greater in the first 12 months than what will likely be for the NX. This is because many people already got a current gen console without waiting for NX, while when PS4/XB1 launched, there was a lot of pent up demand for them. I do not see why AMD has to sacrifice it's 14nm product roll-out of NX is also based on 14nm AMD tech.

Remember that the PS4 and XB1 launched with 7000-series cards 2+ years after those cards had been launched.

 

[Fallen Kell]

The power saving 16nm part for the NX also seems to be in line with what Nintendo has already hinted at for the system. Some have been saying it is attempting to be a hybrid between handheld and console, while others are still saying just a console. A partially disabled low power 16nm polaris (for being able to use the chips which had defects) would make a lot of sense and should easily be on par with the chips in the PS4 and XB1, which is one of the few things that Nintendo has been pretty solid on confirming. Given that Nintendo also wants the system to be very easy to port games to from PS4 and XB1, I suspect it will also be a x86 architecture CPU. This, however, means backwards compatibility is gone, but that was already suspected.

Again, I don't see this as being something out of line performance wise, price wise, or power wise with any of the speculations and knowns for the NX. By using the cut down dies from the lower power polaris, AMD has a market win for many of the chips that don't pass full qualification tests which I think otherwise, would have been too low a performance for use in much else other than as a step-up on from integrated APUs on the entry level systems.

 

[Graze]

I suspect it will also be a x86 architecture CPU. This, however, means backwards compatibility is gone, but that was already suspected.

Emulation can be via software.

 

[Sonikku]

If AMD's recent contract with Nintendo is any indication the NX could be looking at Polaris 11. It should be great for the low power consumption Nintendo is always so big about.