Could Nintendo's Mysterious 'NX' Console Run On An AMD Zen APU?

[kcarbotte]

Nintendo revealed the projected launch window for its upcoming "NX" gaming console, but not much else is known about the company's next video game platform.

Could Nintendo's Mysterious 'NX' Console Run On An AMD Zen APU? : Read more

 

[Warsaw]

Can't wait to see what this will look like. I have actually enjoyed the Wii U a great deal since getting it ~2 years ago or a little longer. To date it is actually my favorite console with it's game library. I have had numerous friends agree with me that there is a lot of negative stigma regarding the console. My angle is that is a very different machine and for a lot of the games on Xbox One & PS4 (which of both I own), I can play majority of those games on my PC. Wii U however not only are different games but a different experience with it's controller. I can't say how many times especially in the beginning I wasn't sure of the pad controller but have grown to love it (especially in a RPG type game), it allows you to use it as a map, inventory, screen switching if you want to play off of it. Hopefully this NX continues what I have enjoyed so much in your current console, especially with the games (this is the most I've owned games on a specific console ever).

 

[alidan]

Can't wait to see what this will look like. I have actually enjoyed the Wii U a great deal since getting it ~2 years ago or a little longer. To date it is actually my favorite console with it's game library. I have had numerous friends agree with me that there is a lot of negative stigma regarding the console. My angle is that is a very different machine and for a lot of the games on Xbox One & PS4 (which of both I own), I can play majority of those games on my PC. Wii U however not only are different games but a different experience with it's controller. I can't say how many times especially in the beginning I wasn't sure of the pad controller but have grown to love it (especially in a RPG type game), it allows you to use it as a map, inventory, screen switching if you want to play off of it. Hopefully this NX continues what I have enjoyed so much in your current console, especially with the games (this is the most I've owned games on a specific console ever).

i want a ps4 for bloodborne
i want a bone for forza (i like real cars with rewind feature that respects my time and money by not telling me "then get a 700$ wheel setup" or "yea the race is hours long, but eff your family when they need you to do something, you got a game to play")
but the wiiu... i want almost every single one of the first party line ups, on top of a few of the more unique third party.

sure the gamepad isnt the best for every game, and with starfox, out right breaks some games, but many that use it as an inventory management or map, i appreciate not needing to take up screen space with that.

other then that, almost everything else worth a damn is on the pc anyway.

unless consoles go full exclusives, they are dead.

it wouldn't shock me if we see sony and microsoft branded computers in the next few years with a locked os, or a locked os setting to give gamers the most hardware power they can.

 

[P1nky]

AMD is working on many projects right now to have time to release a Zen APU this early:

- 2 new Polaris GPU dies
- Zen CPUs
- new GPU architecture + HBM2 - Vega
- new APU for PS4K
- probably a 14nm die refresh for Slim PS4
- probably a 14nm die refresh for Slim XBOX One (Microsoft needed a Slim version since day 1)
- probably a new APU for future XBOX One upgrade (like PS4K)

Plus they just released Fiji with a new memory standard.

Too many things on AMD's plate and it's team is not as large as it once was.

 

[P1nky]

I forgot future release of AMD Bristol Ridge.

 

[Samer1970]

After the VR gaming entered the business I doubt Nintendo can bring anything original to the gaming experience ...

Nintendo allways won because they made semi VR controller FIRST ...

They made the first analog stick (N64) and then they made the wii controllers ..

and now ? we have VR now and I doubt that Nintendo can add something bigger to the gaming industry , so from now on all will be the same nothing special about any single console.

The NX however has an advantage , it is a new machine and will be more powerful to handle VR better than Xbox one and PS4 ... I just hope Nintendo build a powerful console (GTX 970 power)

 

[ammaross]

AMD is working on many projects right now to have time to release a Zen APU this early:

- 2 new Polaris GPU dies
- Zen CPUs
- new GPU architecture + HBM2 - Vega
- new APU for PS4K
- probably a 14nm die refresh for Slim PS4
- probably a 14nm die refresh for Slim XBOX One (Microsoft needed a Slim version since day 1)
- probably a new APU for future XBOX One upgrade (like PS4K)

Plus they just released Fiji with a new memory standard.

Too many things on AMD's plate and it's team is not as large as it once was.

You talk as if AMD isn't compartmentalized into teams working on various products... The GPU team doesn't work on Zen you know. They can work on more than one project at a time.

 

[ammaross]

it wouldn't shock me if we see sony and microsoft branded computers in the next few years with a locked os, or a locked os setting to give gamers the most hardware power they can.

This is almost the definition of a console....

 

[zblade]

After the VR gaming entered the business I doubt Nintendo can bring anything original to the gaming experience ...

Nintendo allways won because they made semi VR controller FIRST ...

They made the first analog stick (N64) and then they made the wii controllers ..

and now ? we have VR now and I doubt that Nintendo can add something bigger to the gaming industry , so from now on all will be the same nothing special about any single console.

The NX however has an advantage , it is a new machine and will be more powerful to handle VR better than Xbox one and PS4 ... I just hope Nintendo build a powerful console (GTX 970 power)

I dont know, Nintendo is not a company that is afraid to be bold and they are usually rather creative. They had some major fails in the past but majority of the time, they have came out to be the winner. When ever Nintendo mentions the word "New Concept" this always makes me excited, in the past their "New Concept" consoles has completely changed the history of gaming. The original Nintendo, Gameboy and the Wii. The Wii U is a brilliant console, anyone who owns one would tell you this but unfortunately, there isnt that much people (and companies) supporting it.

Not sure about other people here but I am far more interested in this new concept than the NX itself.

 

[nitrium]

If this actually happens AMD will be 3 for 3 across all the major consoles that, when you think about it, is actually pretty impressive. It also all but guarantees the company will continue to receive sufficient capital to continue operation. Any competition (albeit a bit lame at the moment) to Intel is a good thing.

 

[pjc6281]

Too bad Nvidia is too expensive to get into the console market

 

[David_24]

Do you think that this late release suggests amd will have delays in optimizing it's production of the higher end and mid end chips?

 

[skippyboy92362]

Rumor has it Nintendo has all ready signed a contract to use AMD's APU's for there next console and the all ready have a team there. Same with Sony and Microsoft. I used to think AMD was in the crapper but after reading a few articles and watching a few YouTube video's this might not be the case. You would have to watch these 2 videos to understand AMD direction.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ktLeS4Fwlw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSYBO1BrB1I

From watching this and putting Intel's recent layoffs and NVidia's delays and jumping into the Auto Industry, things are not what they seem to GPU market.

 

[bboiprfsr]

Too bad Nvidia is too expensive to get into the console market

nvidia's already in the mobile department, especially tablets and smartphones. On top of that, it has investments in the automotive industry. nVidia prefers innovation to stand out.

 

[David_24]

[quotemsg=17885147,0,270677]Rumor has it Nintendo has all ready signed a contract to use AMD's APU's for there next console and the all ready have a team there. Same with Sony and Microsoft. I used to think AMD was in the crapper but after reading a few articles and watching a few YouTube video's this might not be the case. You would have to watch these 2 videos to understand AMD direction.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ktLeS4Fwlw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSYBO1BrB1I

From watching this and putting Intel's recent layoffs and NVidia's delays and jumping into the Auto Industry, things are not what they seem to GPU market. [/quotemsg]

Great video's. But what make's nvidia's die size so much bigger than amd's? Couldn't they change it to be cheaper and smaller like amds?

 

[alextheblue]

I'd be mildly shocked if it was Zen-based with that timeline. I would bet it's still a Cat-core APU similar to current consoles but with higher clocks. Especially given that a die-shrink would improved headroom. They already have embedded Puma quad-cores running at 2.4Ghz base clock, and Puma+ has better headroom (the lower-TDP models turbo that high just fine). So something like Puma+ at 14nm should be about to hit something in the 2.5-3.0 range with 8 cores if they want.

I'm also curious as to what gen GCN this will be based on. If it's fourth-gen like Polaris, that would be interesting - particularly if they have a lot of shaders and good bandwidth (regardless of how they accomplish it, HBM, large cache, GDDR5X with a wide bus). But I doubt it. I suspect Nintendo will be content to be on par with PS4K, rather than leapfrogging it.

 

[alidan]

AMD is working on many projects right now to have time to release a Zen APU this early:

- 2 new Polaris GPU dies
- Zen CPUs
- new GPU architecture + HBM2 - Vega
- new APU for PS4K
- probably a 14nm die refresh for Slim PS4
- probably a 14nm die refresh for Slim XBOX One (Microsoft needed a Slim version since day 1)
- probably a new APU for future XBOX One upgrade (like PS4K)

Plus they just released Fiji with a new memory standard.

Too many things on AMD's plate and it's team is not as large as it once was.

gpu and cpu teams are most likely different
likely wont be a weak ps4 14nm

a major part of amd is its semi custom, which has separate teams for every custom.

 

[amk-aka-Phantom]

Honestly surprised anyone still buys from Nintendo. They are riding on a bunch of overrated obsolete franchises locked to their proprietary platform. Yet another console... this is some sort of necrophilia, they should have been out of business years ago.

 

[ohim]

Too bad Nvidia is too expensive to get into the console market

nvidia's already in the mobile department, especially tablets and smartphones. On top of that, it has investments in the automotive industry. nVidia prefers innovation to stand out.

Actually Nvidia is not doing that well .. Tegra kinda failed .. manufacturers still prefer other chipsets.

The current market is quite strange, on PC Nvidia has an 80% marketshare, but if you add the 3 consoles in the gaming mix you`ll get AMD having almost all market share.

This could be a time just like 3DFX back in 2000 .. they were the best in their game but being stubborn and expensive made them loose everything and be bought by Nvidia .. Large companies can go down very fast, it`s been done many times over the years..

 

[BulkZerker]

nvidia's already in the mobile department, especially tablets and smartphones. On top of that, it has investments in the automotive industry. nVidia prefers innovation to stand out.

The only standing out I heard of was how power hungry their SOC offerings are.

 

[Martell1977]

Too bad Nvidia is too expensive to get into the console market

I don't think it's so much about cost as it is about simplification. Going with nVidia means dealing with them for a GPU and AMD or Intel for the CPU. By going with AMD, they only have to deal and work with a single vendor/partner and that simplifies the design and any troubleshooting needed. Going with Intel or nVidia required working with 2 companies that would likely blame each other whenever a issue arose.

nVidia tried to play off the fact that AMD took the contracts for PS4 and XBone as if they weren't interested, but it's widely believed that it came down to a lack of a X86 CPU.

 

[alidan]

[quotemsg=17886079,0,216536]

Too bad Nvidia is too expensive to get into the console market

nvidia's already in the mobile department, especially tablets and smartphones. On top of that, it has investments in the automotive industry. nVidia prefers innovation to stand out.

Actually Nvidia is not doing that well .. Tegra kinda failed .. manufacturers still prefer other chipsets.

The current market is quite strange, on PC Nvidia has an 80% marketshare, but if you add the 3 consoles in the gaming mix you`ll get AMD having almost all market share.

This could be a time just like 3DFX back in 2000 .. they were the best in their game but being stubborn and expensive made them loose everything and be bought by Nvidia .. Large companies can go down very fast, it`s been done many times over the years..[/quotemsg]

nvidia may want out of the pc gamer market completely. instead focusing on pro applications,

[quotemsg=17887051,0,367869]

nvidia's already in the mobile department, especially tablets and smartphones. On top of that, it has investments in the automotive industry. nVidia prefers innovation to stand out.

The only standing out I heard of was how power hungry their SOC offerings are.[/quotemsg]

from what i remember, power hungry, hot, and considering the downsides, unacceptable considering how close their competitors are.

there may be something to say about how powerful a gpu it had, but considering nothing absolutely needs it to run, its hard to justify.

 

[Zapin]

Could the game console (that we know nothing about yet and will not be released until 2017 sometime) run on the Zen APU which we also have no hard data on its capabilities..... ummm.. maybe.... I guess.

Might as well ask what brand of phones will be best for integration with your flying car.

 

[WatchingUser]

Too bad Nvidia is too expensive to get into the console market

nvidia's already in the mobile department, especially tablets and smartphones. On top of that, it has investments in the automotive industry. nVidia prefers innovation to stand out.

Too bad Nvidia is too expensive to get into the console market

nvidia's already in the mobile department, especially tablets and smartphones. On top of that, it has investments in the automotive industry. nVidia prefers innovation to stand out.

Actually Nvidia is not doing that well .. Tegra kinda failed .. manufacturers still prefer other chipsets.

The current market is quite strange, on PC Nvidia has an 80% marketshare, but if you add the 3 consoles in the gaming mix you`ll get AMD having almost all market share.

This could be a time just like 3DFX back in 2000 .. they were the best in their game but being stubborn and expensive made them loose everything and be bought by Nvidia .. Large companies can go down very fast, it`s been done many times over the years..

Too bad Nvidia is too expensive to get into the console market

nvidia's already in the mobile department, especially tablets and smartphones. On top of that, it has investments in the automotive industry. nVidia prefers innovation to stand out.

Actually Nvidia is not doing that well .. Tegra kinda failed .. manufacturers still prefer other chipsets.

The current market is quite strange, on PC Nvidia has an 80% marketshare, but if you add the 3 consoles in the gaming mix you`ll get AMD having almost all market share.

This could be a time just like 3DFX back in 2000 .. they were the best in their game but being stubborn and expensive made them loose everything and be bought by Nvidia .. Large companies can go down very fast, it`s been done many times over the years..

The Terga chip isn't really that great. If you look they never compare it side by side against an actual console. There was one comparison (Offical Nvidia ad mind you) showing XB1 vs the server farm...

 

[alidan]

[quotemsg=17888378,0,2142817]Could the game console (that we know nothing about yet and will not be released until 2017 sometime) run on the Zen APU which we also have no hard data on its capabilities..... ummm.. maybe.... I guess.

Might as well ask what brand of phones will be best for integration with your flying car.[/quotemsg]

well, you could make an educated guess, if zelda is a launch game, or at least one version on wiiu and nx, which appears to be the case, they will launch it in 2017, given that, they also appear to FAR favor the later half of the year into the holiday season, the last two coming out close to if not firmly in the christmas buying season

this is also when many are assuming that apus on zen will come out

now in the current consoles i have no idea how cpu bottlenecked they are, in fact i assume they are more gpu bottlenecked then cpu, but would nintendo hold back on getting the best apu this time around and settle for less?

given the time frame im looking at for its launch, its more likely then not going to have some form of zen apu in it, the real question would be how strong is the gpu? are they going to go a multi small gpu apu or all on one die?

[quotemsg=17889366,0,1996241]

Too bad Nvidia is too expensive to get into the console market

nvidia's already in the mobile department, especially tablets and smartphones. On top of that, it has investments in the automotive industry. nVidia prefers innovation to stand out.

Too bad Nvidia is too expensive to get into the console market

nvidia's already in the mobile department, especially tablets and smartphones. On top of that, it has investments in the automotive industry. nVidia prefers innovation to stand out.

Actually Nvidia is not doing that well .. Tegra kinda failed .. manufacturers still prefer other chipsets.

The current market is quite strange, on PC Nvidia has an 80% marketshare, but if you add the 3 consoles in the gaming mix you`ll get AMD having almost all market share.

This could be a time just like 3DFX back in 2000 .. they were the best in their game but being stubborn and expensive made them loose everything and be bought by Nvidia .. Large companies can go down very fast, it`s been done many times over the years..

Too bad Nvidia is too expensive to get into the console market

nvidia's already in the mobile department, especially tablets and smartphones. On top of that, it has investments in the automotive industry. nVidia prefers innovation to stand out.

Actually Nvidia is not doing that well .. Tegra kinda failed .. manufacturers still prefer other chipsets.

The current market is quite strange, on PC Nvidia has an 80% marketshare, but if you add the 3 consoles in the gaming mix you`ll get AMD having almost all market share.

This could be a time just like 3DFX back in 2000 .. they were the best in their game but being stubborn and expensive made them loose everything and be bought by Nvidia .. Large companies can go down very fast, it`s been done many times over the years..

The Terga chip isn't really that great. If you look they never compare it side by side against an actual console. There was one comparison (Offical Nvidia ad mind you) showing XB1 vs the server farm...[/quotemsg]

tegra at one point in time was one of the most powerful you can get, now, gpu wise it may still be, but no one wants it.