Will the Xbox 360 beat the PlayStation 3 in terms of performance?
What we know about the PlayStation 3 architecture is a little hazy - so some
of the data is really just best guesses.
We do know they are targeting a 550MHz graphics core and we know that it will
be based on NVIDIA's forthcoming G70 graphics chip.
That's bad news for the PlayStation 3. Current informed opinion is that the
G70 will have at most 24 pixel shader pipes and much of the time they will run
at low efficiency. It's a PC based design - which means that all the key
customisation for a console is missing, and it's based on some relatively old
PC-based graphics architectures from NVIDIA, whereas the Xbox 360 is an all new
design based on what console developers have been asking for.
Because of all this I think that in every important way the Xbox 360 graphics
chip is better suited to the task, and more powerful than what we expect in
PlayStation 3. But this is a business that isn't only about technology. In the
end the success or failure of a console is decided by the games that come out on
that hardware. So, we understand that just because the Xbox is better than the
PlayStation 3 need not necessarily mean that Xbox 360 will win the next round.
But ATI for its part has given Microsoft everything they need to succeed in
the console wars. And I believe that Microsoft is really serious about making
Xbox 360 the ultimate gaming machine. Microsoft's chances now lie in their own
hands. And I'm very much looking forward to the contest - my money is on
Microsoft!
Updated:12:03 AM CEST Sep,22
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