# IGN claims to know 3DS hardware specs



## wolfmanz51 (Sep 21, 2010)

IGN claims to know 3DS hardware specs.



			
				QUOTE said:
			
		

> IGN has learned that the Nintendo 3DS will pack not one, but two 266MHz ARM11 CPUs, along with a 133MHz GPU, 4MBs of dedicated VRAM, 64MBs of RAM, and 1.5GBs of flash storage. The information comes from persons familiar with the hardware who spoke to us under the condition of anonymity.


It seems to me the 3DS may just launch with a $200 price tag after all. Which would make sense as Nintendo would not want to charge more for its handheld than its console.

Source

EDIT: ok i decided to add this as many people seem disappointed at the specs but i think they are misunderstood.

See 2 266MHz ARM11 processors are quite fast. Typically in todays electronics market devices run on x86 processors xbox, PCs, macs, ect which are the kind we hear about most often, and usually need high Clock speeds (like 3GHz) to do anything remotely fast because they can only handle one line of code in the pipe line at a time. The trend has been to make them multi core, so they can do more than one thing at a time. The downside to this is they use a lot of power (not good for a hand held).
OR devices run on ARM based processors GBA, DS, 90% of cell phones, ipods, iphones, and even Apples A4 uses the ARM instruction set. The reason why is because they can run multiple lines of code at once (much denser code too). They rely less on clock speed and more on architecture, which is smarter because this uses less power to do much more. Also don't forget that the 3DS has a GPU which is ARM based too. Something not usually seen in smartphones or the ipod/phone line. look here ARM_architecture and here ARM11 for more info regarding the way arm processors function.
Edit 2: also for comparison mobile chipsets these days tend to use only 1 processor for everything, and without using a GPU producing Graphics on those is Quite Process Intensive. So using 2 266MHz ARM11s is better than using one 532MHz processor, and using 2 266MHz ARM11s and a amazing GPU like the pica 200 even at 133MHz is way more capable than using Even the most powerful ARM11 which maxes out at 1GHz.


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## geoflcl (Sep 22, 2010)

Uh oh. I smell another Spec debate a-coming 'round the mountain! 

ONTOPIC: Well, if these specs are correct, it gives us a much bigger insight as to what the 3DS holds within its sexy, 3D-ish seams!


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## SparkFenix (Sep 22, 2010)

Wasnt there gonna be a PICA?


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## Fluganox (Sep 22, 2010)

Wasn't one of the features the ability to copy games to the hardware, so you don't need to take cartridges everywhere with you? If there's only 1.5GB of internal memory, and games are up to 2GB, that means Nintendo are screwing us into buying SD Cards >.


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## brooks (Sep 22, 2010)

I've read somewhere that ARM has developed some kind of hardware based AP.  Might those processors support it?  I think it has something to do with dual arm processors.


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## ChuckBartowski (Sep 22, 2010)

This doesn't seem right. DMP Pica200 is 200mhz. So no, they are wrong.
EDIT: Read the article from the source, and why the hell would they scale it back? Do they mean scale it back as in under-clock it, or scale it back as in made a completely slower iteration for their own purposes. Both of which, are dumb ideas.
EDIT2: After researching more, there is a 166mhz pica200, so maybe they are using that and IGN got their numbers mixed?


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## Deleted_171835 (Sep 22, 2010)

SparkFenix said:
			
		

> Wasnt there gonna be a PICA?QUOTE[As we learned in June, the 3DS' GPU has been named DMP's PICA200, which features a maximum processing speed of roughly 200MHz, though it seems Nintendo is scaling it back a bit for use in the 3DS.


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Interesting. I wish it had more storage space. 1.5GB isn't that much. 10GB would have been better and with the price of flash storage these days, it wouldn't be too expensive. IGN did lie before about the 3DS, though so this may not be true.


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## wolfmanz51 (Sep 22, 2010)

ChuckBartowski said:
			
		

> This doesn't seem right. DMP Pica200 is 200mhz. So no, they are wrong.
> EDIT: Read the article from the source, and why the hell would they scale it back? Do they mean scale it back as in under-clock it, or scale it back as in made a completely slower iteration for their own purposes. Both of which, are dumb ideas.
> its more likely to save power and in the case of arm processor's the clock speed may seem low but this should be quite sufficient.
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well external flash memory may be cheep, but the kind that is used internally is faster (required for games apps settings ect) and different from external(good for movies photos and music). So therefore more expensive. for a good example just look at apples iPod touch line up's price difference's based on internal flash memory (which wont even a low you to expand it with external memory like the 3DS). 
I'm just glad I have all ready got a 32GB class 10 SDHC card for my DSi


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## TM2-Megatron (Sep 22, 2010)

I hope they're lying again.  Just more regular ARMs, a bit faster?  Not enough, IMO.


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## Slyakin (Sep 22, 2010)

I don't trust it.


IGN is a terrible news site, and they gets their facts screwed up all the time.


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## raulpica (Sep 22, 2010)

TM2-Megatron said:
			
		

> I hope they're lying again.  Just more regular ARMs, a bit faster?  Not enough, IMO.


I can't see regular ARMs and a 166Mhz GPU doing all those fancy things we've seen in the demos.
Nor Kojima saying "the 3DS is powerfulz and haz almost PS3-level models" with an hardware like that.


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## monkat (Sep 22, 2010)

raulpica said:
			
		

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----Disclaimer: I don't know what I'm talking about-------

Well, if it's going to have backwards compatibility, doesn't it *have* to have ARMs? Also, without arms, how will it eat sammiches?


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## Slyakin (Sep 22, 2010)

monkat said:
			
		

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Well, with the 3d POWAZ, of course!

On Topic, I have no technical mind to this stuff... Heh, sorry.


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## TM2-Megatron (Sep 22, 2010)

monkat said:
			
		

> Well, if it's going to have backwards compatibility, doesn't it *have* to have ARMs? Also, without arms, how will it eat sammiches?



A lot of nice chips use ARM instruction set/architecture/whatever.  The Tegra line from nVidia uses various types of ARMs (ARM11's and ARM Cortex) ranging from 600MHz to 1GHz.  The 3DS doesn't have to go with some generic ARMs alone to get ARM architecture.  I sincerely hope this is fake, as 2x266MHz seems mind-bogglingly slow compared to what stuff like the Tegra and others can pump out.


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## dinofan01 (Sep 22, 2010)

All i know is i dont care. All the speculation on hardware caused a shit storm. So long as i get the 3ds in my hands with some good looking games i could care less whats inside. but i do have to admit the 1.5 GB of memory sounds terrible. i do want to see the wii problems were devs are restricted by what users can download without an sd card that nintendo will surely make no use of.


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## Slyakin (Sep 22, 2010)

dinofan01 said:
			
		

> All i know is i dont care. All the speculation on hardware caused a shit storm. So long as i get the 3ds in my hands with some good looking games i could care less whats inside. but i do have to admit the 1.5 GB of memory sounds terrible. i do want to see the wii problems were devs are restricted by what users can download without an sd card that nintendo will surely make no use of.


I'm assuming you care if those games run, right?

These specs are rather slow compared to what Nintendo has stated.


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## dinofan01 (Sep 22, 2010)

Slyakin said:
			
		

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....your trolling right? if you say nintendo says itll be stronger guess what itll be stronger!


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## wolfmanz51 (Sep 22, 2010)

raulpica said:
			
		

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well look a little further cause with hardware like that Kojima did use High Polly models in the Naked sample and that was only with 3 Months of working with the Hardware and a very small team imagine how good MGS 3DS will look when it hits shelves next year. Those Numbers are deceiving to someone with little knowledge of ARM processors. which is prolly why nintendo did not want to release the hardware specs to the general public.


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## TM2-Megatron (Sep 22, 2010)

wolfmanz51 said:
			
		

> well look a little further cause with hardware like that Kojima did use High Polly models in the Naked sample and that was only with 3 Months of working with the Hardware and a very small team imagine how good MGS 3DS will look when it hits shelves next year. Those Numbers are deceiving to someone with little knowledge of ARM processors. which is prolly why nintendo did not want to release the hardware specs to the general public.



You're talking like IGNs rumours are fact.  We've no idea it was "that" hardware, because at this point it's just IGN saying so.  ARMs are powerful, sure; but mobile chipsets these days (going by the Tegra and others that use ARM) tend to be faster than 266MHz.


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## wolfmanz51 (Sep 22, 2010)

TM2-Megatron said:
			
		

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Thats because mobile chipsets these days tend to use only 1 processor for everything, without using a GPU producing Graphics on those is Quite Process Intensive.
So using 2 266MHz ARM11s is better than using one 532MHz processor and using 2 266MHz ARM11s and a amazing GPU like the pica 200 even at 133MHz is way more capable than using Even the most powerful ARM11 which maxes out at 1GHz.


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## DiscostewSM (Sep 22, 2010)

I usually take anything IGN says with a grain of salt. I've read articles there that made me feel they were made for the sole purpose of bringing up debate among groups of people, so they'd continually get hits each day because of people visiting the site to voice their input on arguments brought up.


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## Ssx9 (Sep 22, 2010)

IGN + 3DS = No.

They just don't know anything about the 3DS. Sides, I only see IGN for videos. Don't take what they say seriously.


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## wolfmanz51 (Sep 22, 2010)

Ssx9 said:
			
		

> IGN + 3DS = No.
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> They just don't know anything about the 3DS. Sides, I only see IGN for videos. Don't take what they say seriously.


well they did have the wii specs before launch and those were right so this is likely to be true, but i Agree they have gone way down hill.
on a side note why use ign for video they suck at that (try to make u pay for HD fuck that) use Gametrailers


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## DiscostewSM (Sep 22, 2010)

wolfmanz51 said:
			
		

> well they did have the wii specs before launch and those were right so this is likely to be true



Was that before or after announcing the wii release data and price? You post makes it sound like after, but before the actual launch. The 3DS situation is before pricing and date.


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## wolfmanz51 (Sep 22, 2010)

DiscostewSM said:
			
		

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why does it really matter? it was before launch. ign likely got this info from a DEV under NDA with Nintendo, who has a 3DS dev kit.


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## Painguy (Sep 22, 2010)

I just want to remind people that just because something is 133mhz or so doesn't mean its the same as a GC clocked at 133mhz. these numbers are relative to the architecture of the hardware. Its like comparing an Intel Pentium 3 at 333mhz to an intel pentium 2 at 333mhz (this is just an example). obviously the pentium 3 is better. This logic applies with every peice of hardware including RAM. I personally feel that the 3DS is within the xbox 1 levels.


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## Midna (Sep 22, 2010)

You guys seem underwhelmed. You do all realize that the DS was rocking a 67MHz ARM9 and a 33Mhz ARM7, with no dedicated GPU and 4 MB of RAM, right? This is _worlds_ better.

Edit: And as for the GPU, the PSP had a 333MHz rated CPU, which was usually underclocked to 222MHz for power, except when needed. This will likely be the case with the GPU here.


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## DiscostewSM (Sep 22, 2010)

My main concern is the fact that they say it is using ARM11 CPUs. Why? Because Nintendo specifically states that the 3DS will play DS games. If that is true, then wouldn't they require having an ARM9 and ARM7 for compatibility reasons? I mean, the DS could play GBA games, but that was because it had an ARM7 in it *(and the Z80 for audio compatibility)*. The GBA could play GB/C games because it had a Z80 in it. Even the Wii could play GC games because they had compatible PowerPC chips. The only difference was that the next-gen chip was either exactly the same, or was clocked higher and needed to be underclocked. All in all, the ARM7, ARM9, and ARM11 are all from a different family of ARM processors, and instruction sets for each are different.

The only other way they could achieve backward compatibility with ARM11 CPUs is by emulation.

EDIT: Had to recheck my facts, forgot the DS even has the Z80 (though I'm sure the DSi does not since it doesn't play GBA games)


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## Midna (Sep 22, 2010)

ARM11s can run ARM9 code. And I imagine the ARM7 could be tacked on, or just emulated.


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## TM2-Megatron (Sep 22, 2010)

Hell, they can probably pick up some ARM7s and 9s in the bargain bins, these days.  Maybe they're all in there, along with the 3DS' regular CPU and GPU.

I'm still calling BS on this, though.  Wasn't IGN the one that (not long before the 3DS reveal) claimed it had specs somewhere between the 360 and PS3?  They tend to be full of it, and put out info without really knowing if its accurate.


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## wolfmanz51 (Sep 22, 2010)

Midna said:
			
		

> ARM11s can run ARM9 code. And I imagine the ARM7 could be tacked on, or just emulated.


more than likely this. Also I speculate that we will see an increase in the previously announced screen resolution on the final hardware to allow 2x scaling of DS games on the 3DS. this speculation is based on the My garden Screens released by EA which are higher rez than the Original 3DS screens we saw at e3, in fact the Resolution matches up with what would be needed for 2x scaling.


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## Midna (Sep 22, 2010)

I edited, but i meant the ARM7 could be tacked on or emulated.


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## DiscostewSM (Sep 22, 2010)

Midna said:
			
		

> ARM11s can run ARM9 code. And I imagine the ARM7 could be tacked on, or just emulated.



I had to check this up myself, but you're right, it can do that. Must have been a recent development with the ARM processor, yeah? As for the 33Mhz ARM7, one thing I do remember is that Nintendo did not let developers have direct access to that CPU. They had to go through Nintendo's APIs for it, so perhaps Nintendo can handle that without having an actual ARM7 in the device.

EDIT #1:

To expound on this, the DS "roms" contain 2 binaries with the game assets. An ARM9 and ARM7 binary. If what I said above is true, then the 3DS could simply throw away the ARM7 binary (after examining it for authenticity?) and load it's own custom binary specifically tailored to work like the ARM7 binary did, only be based on ARM11. Communication of the ARM9 and ARM7 was through main RAM anyways in a general sense, so I see no reason why they couldn't go with this approach.

EDIT #2:

Hopefully this is my last edit for this post, but if they use their own custom ARM11 binary to replace the ARM7 functionality, then the possibility of continued DS homebrew on the 3DS in DS mode is gone, because current homebrew use a custom ARM7 binary of their own, not one supplied by Nintendo.


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## Midna (Sep 22, 2010)

In any case, I don't think too many people were hopeful that their R4s would still work.


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## TM2-Megatron (Sep 22, 2010)

More incentive to crack it, so new homebrew can be developed and people are once again able to exercise their fair use rights.

Would it kill them to tack the GBC's Z80 workalike on there and give us full backwards compatibility again, though?  I mean, what would that cost now... $0.00001 per 10,000 units?  Damned if I won't end up having to buy all those again on the 3DS' inevitable virtual console type thing.


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## DiscostewSM (Sep 22, 2010)

Midna said:
			
		

> In any case, I don't think too many people were hopeful that their R4s would still work.
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Tacking on a Z80 processor won't help with no GB/C cartridge slot.


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## Midna (Sep 22, 2010)

Nonono, I said R4 as a generic example. I highly doubt DSi carts will work either.


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## wolfmanz51 (Sep 22, 2010)

Midna said:
			
		

> Nonono, I said R4 as a generic example. I highly doubt DSi carts will work either.


but lets hope they do work cause i want to use my AK2i


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## Midna (Sep 22, 2010)

You guys really think, or even hope that Nintendo, when going all out to improve security, isn't even gonna pop a DS flashcart in to make sure they've blocked it? It's gonna be blocked, period. The question is, will it be unblocked? Personally, i doubt it.


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## TM2-Megatron (Sep 22, 2010)

DiscostewSM said:
			
		

> Tacking on a Z80 processor won't help with no GB/C cartridge slot.



The addition of the slot is implied.


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## wolfmanz51 (Sep 22, 2010)

Midna said:
			
		

> You guys really think, or even hope that Nintendo, when going all out to improve security, isn't even gonna pop a DS flashcart in to make sure they've blocked it? It's gonna be blocked, period. The question is, will it be unblocked? Personally, i doubt it.


Nintendo more than likely can prevent piracy for 3DS games, but if they cant come up with something better than what they do on the DSi than no, another flashcart will just fool the 3DS into thinking its loading a DS game. then bam DS flashcart running on 3DS


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## DiscostewSM (Sep 22, 2010)

wolfmanz51 said:
			
		

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IMO, it all depends on how Nintendo deals with the ARM7 situation. If the flashcard uses nothing else but the "official" ARM7 binary (to trick the device into thinking it's a real DS game), then emulation or an ARM11 binary replacement wouldn't make a difference. But, the moment it has to replace it to do "other" stuff, that's when only emulation could possibly keep it running, since an ARM11 replacement binary would have been tailor-made by Nintendo to handle only operations the "official" ARM7 binary did. This would definitely end homebrew because of the use of a custom ARM7 binary, as well as any flashcards that do the same thing.


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## heartgold (Sep 22, 2010)

Why complain, I don't get it, lower MHz doesn't mean it won't perform well, you seen how it does. It depends on the architecture and Two cpu's are better than one at the same MHZ, not to mention it has a powerful GPU. Anyways since its IGN, I don't trust them.


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## gacktgacktgackt (Sep 22, 2010)

Sure sounds like IGN are trying to drum up a load of needless controversy with MORE exclusive news (see : bullshit) in the run up to the announcement next week. Its just guesswork guys, calm down.


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## Rydian (Sep 22, 2010)

wolfmanz51 said:
			
		

> EDIT: ok i decided to add this as many people seem disappointed at the specs but i think they are misunderstood.Actually a way more readable (and correct >>) way to explain it is something like this...
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> Older Processors.
> The "Intel Pentium 4" 2.26ghz processor scores 288.
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## Rydian (Sep 22, 2010)

raulpica said:
			
		

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I've heard that, but nobody was ever able to show me the article.  The only thing I got shown was relating to it's graphical power, which... as I just explained above, is not directly related to specs when you're on a totally different platform.


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## OrGoN3 (Sep 22, 2010)

Who would be disappointed with the specs? The original DS (and Lite) had no dedicated GPU. The video was done via the 67MHz ARM9 processor and audio via the 33MHz ARM7 processor. The DSi upped that with a 133MHz ARM9 processor.

It doesn't take much. The PSP is 333MHz, and my SCDSTwo is a 400MHz.

The 3DS processor has twice the speed of the DSi, and two of those processors. On top of that, they aren't even using the ARM for graphics anymore, so there'll be real 3D graphics. So a GPU combined with 2x ARM11's (or more likely a dualcore ARM11)?? A million times better than the DSi.

@Rydian
Yes, 2 million pixels per frame for 1080p for the PS3. But there's only a few games that actually render at 1080p. Most others are 640p-720p and upscale to 1080p. Same with X360.


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## BlueStar (Sep 22, 2010)

I'd really hoped we'd moved on from console numberwang once people finally wised up and they stopped going on about consoles being "8-bit, 16-bit, 32-bit, 64-bit, 128-bit" etc.

Here's an idea, how about rather than looking at numbers you don't understand and extrapolating them into how good the 3DS will be by comparing them to something irrelevant like the processor you have in your PC we just look at what the actual games are like?


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## Bladexdsl (Sep 22, 2010)

BlueStar said:
			
		

> I'd really hoped we'd moved on from console numberwang once people finally wised up and they stopped going on about consoles being "8-bit, 16-bit, 32-bit, 64-bit, 128-bit" etc.?


so what's the 3ds bit


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## abel009 (Sep 22, 2010)

wtf? 1.5 of memory? the pspgo has 16 this better aint true


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## heartgold (Sep 22, 2010)

Thanks Rydian for that, Few people seem to think higher GHZ means better processor


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## Zeroneo (Sep 22, 2010)

abel009 said:
			
		

> wtf? 1.5 of memory? the pspgo has 16 this better aint true


That's really the only part I'm disappointed with...


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## MADKATZ99 (Sep 22, 2010)

BlueStar said:
			
		

> I'd really hoped we'd moved on from console numberwang once people finally wised up and they stopped going on about consoles being "8-bit, 16-bit, 32-bit, 64-bit, 128-bit" etc.
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My windows is only 32bit, so technically my nintendo 64 is twice as good?


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## OrGoN3 (Sep 22, 2010)

MADKATZ99 said:
			
		

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Nah. Although N64 was 64bit (with a 32bit bus) there were rarely any games that actually used 64bit instructions. Nearly all were 32bit. And no, it wasn't a funny joke.


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## MMX (Sep 22, 2010)

Fluganox said:
			
		

> Wasn't one of the features the ability to copy games to the hardware, so you don't need to take cartridges everywhere with you? If there's only 1.5GB of internal memory, and games are up to 2GB, that means Nintendo are screwing us into buying SD Cards >.


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## BlueStar (Sep 22, 2010)

MADKATZ99 said:
			
		

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Yep, so is the Atari Jaguar.


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## indask8 (Sep 22, 2010)

Not so impressive finally for the cpu/ram part (looks similar to the psp specs (2x 333mhz mips cpu, one of them is the media engine)).

Only the gpu will make the difference.


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## thedicemaster (Sep 22, 2010)

boudincaca: little thing to keep in mind:
the CPU used in the PSP is as far as i can tell based on the mips R4000, which is from 1991.
ARM11 is from around 2002.

other things to keep in mind: indeed the CPU's together hardly keep up with what's currently in high-end phones.
however those phones are built to multi-task and run a heavy OS, the 3DS however will run a very light OS which is likely to "shut down" mostly when a game is running, so the game has 95-100% of the resources available.(funny note: despite having 1/8th of the RAM most new android phones have, 3DS games will have 4 times as much RAM available as android games)

EDIT: completely forgot to mention something:
i heard from some PSP homebrew devs that despite the PSP having 2 333mhz CPU's it might as well be considered as 1, and most devs(both homebrew and licensed devs) avoid using the 2nd cpu because it's missing debugging features.


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## Searinox (Sep 22, 2010)

I must say though... I understand many aspects of single vs dualcore processing power but one fact has always escaped me. How does dual core 266 inside one processor compare to TWO 266 PROCESSORS on the same board?


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## Rydian (Sep 22, 2010)

Searinox said:
			
		

> I must say though... I understand many aspects of single vs dualcore processing power but one fact has always escaped me. How does dual core 266 inside one processor compare to TWO 266 PROCESSORS on the same board?


Computationally worse, because a processor is more than it's core.
It's like a two-headed guy versus two guys.  There's some shit you can do with two bodies that you can't do with two heads on one body.


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## Escape (Sep 22, 2010)

Rydian said:
			
		

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## iNFiNiTY (Sep 22, 2010)

Rydian said:
			
		

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This is a kinda misleading comparison though because 2 processors is actually harder to code for, can see the Sega Saturn for an example of this.


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## Juanmatron (Sep 22, 2010)

My reaction:


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## Pliskron (Sep 22, 2010)

64 meg of ram? I don't think so.


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## Sterling (Sep 22, 2010)

I sadfaced when I saw that they weren't using a fast[er] processor combination and a rumored 2 Pica 200s. :/ I am just going to ignore IGN and wait for official release/conformation.

EDIT: Clarification.


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## pachura (Sep 22, 2010)

If these specs are true, 3DS will have:

the same amount of memory as the original Xbox
the same amount of VRAM as PS2
3 times more flash memory than Wii
...and you guys still complain ?


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## wolfmanz51 (Sep 22, 2010)

Rydian said:
			
		

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thats a really bad example, Because a core 2 duo 2GHz has micro core architecture so it comes out way more powerful than one with Pentium architecture 2.2 GHz not to mention those are x86 processors and we are talking ARM architecture, and the car thing is more confusing imo. perhaps mine is not that readable but is your explanation really that much better?


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## monkat (Sep 22, 2010)

wolfmanz51 said:
			
		

> thats a really bad example, Because a core 2 duo 2GHz has micro core architecture so it comes out way more powerful than one with Pentium architecture 2.2 GHz not to mention those are x86 processors and we are talking ARM architecture, and the car thing is more confusing imo. perhaps mine is not that readable but is your explanation really that much better?



I think you're just confused...


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## Satangel (Sep 22, 2010)

Not believing this a single bit, just going to wait till Nintendo brings something out, read somewhere they'll give a press conference around the end of September?


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## wolfmanz51 (Sep 22, 2010)

Edit: actually now that i think about it I technicaly know very little myself but i seem to know more than anyone else around here. so we all should prolly stop worrying i mean 
just look at the fucking sweet graphics guys they are FUNKING SWEET.

Edit 2: kylehyde over at 3DS blog had this to say which is important to note:


			
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> On the GPU, if the specifiactions about the pica 200 in the MIT presentation are true (2008), then this run 40 millions of polygons at 100 MHz, so if the CPU will run at 133 MHz, then it will display 53.2 milloins of polygons, wich is more than the 33 millions that the psp could do.


and thats just the GPU by itself so yeah i think its safe to say tis is much more powerful than a PSP Not that it matters as most others have said its silly to compare them.


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## pachura (Sep 22, 2010)

Satangel said:
			
		

> Not believing this a single bit



Why ? Knowing Nintendo the specs seem very realistic, apart maybe for a very generous VRAM amount.


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## wolfmanz51 (Sep 22, 2010)

pachura said:
			
		

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that extra VRAM is likely for the 3D/dual screens so even that makes sense


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## Rayder (Sep 22, 2010)

One thing we can all agree on is that when using such lo-res screens, GPU's don't have to work nearly as hard to produce great graphics like HD resolutions require.  

I think the 3DS will have some quite impressive graphics that, while they won't be HD, they'll look just as good considering the lo-res screens...and the 3D effect is simply a cool bonus. 

But it's still outputting to relatively lo-res screens, so just how much CPU/GPU power do you really need to make it look good and run well?    

As for the underclocking thing.....Nintendo did that with the regular DS.  The ARM9 in a DSlite is actually capable of 133mhz, but Ninty underclocked it to 66mhz.  It not only saves battery life, it also helps the chips live linger by not pushing them too hard.  They don't get hot as they run when underclocked....stuff like that.

I'm sure most of the chips in the 3DS will be underclocked, it's the Ninty way.

It really doesn't matter what the 3DS specs are, it's a new Nintendo handheld, it WILL sell many millions and we all know it.  I just hope there's a better balance of games on the system this time......a little less kiddie and a little more cool....or badass if you will, you know what I mean?   I also hope it doesn't end up flooded with a bunch of FPS games.  They have their place, but we don't need TOO many.   They need to try and maintain a good balance of genre's so it doesn't slip back into the "kiddie system" category like the DS has.


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## monkat (Sep 22, 2010)

Rayder said:
			
		

> I just hope there's a better balance of games on the system this time......a little less kiddie and a little more cool....or badass if you will, you know what I mean?   I also hope it doesn't end up flooded with a bunch of FPS games.  They have their place, but we don't need TOO many.   They need to try and maintain a good balance of genre's so it doesn't slip back into the "kiddie system" category like the DS has.



I think that's a bigger problem with the Wii than the DS - the DS has a pretty balanced catalog, in my opinion, and even the "kiddy" games are enjoyable for adults. The good ones, anyway.


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## playallday (Sep 22, 2010)

.


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## MelodieOctavia (Sep 22, 2010)

I call bullshit on anything that comes from IGN until it's been proven by another source.


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## PerfectB (Sep 22, 2010)

The specs certainly sound believable.  Although this thread is proof as to why companies are a bit hesitant to reveal specs for their systems, especially prior to launch.  "WTF the 3DS only runs as many MHz as a Pentium II! And Nintendo wants to charge how much for this?!"

Personally I blame the marketing push of desktop CPU manufacturers convincing consumers that clock speed is the be-all end-all of processor performance stats (probably had something to do with AMD chips with lower clock speeds outperforming Intels for a while)


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## shakirmoledina (Sep 22, 2010)

its still good if this is what they have made it of... nintendo systems are usually not THT powerful as rival consoles of the same gen eg. wii and ps3/xbox360 (lol ben 10 vilgax attacks is on wii and PS2... can u believe it? its the same graphically as far as i know)
but ppl like the way what is available is used by nintendo esp on handhelds... ofcourse there could be exceptions like for gamecube and nintendo 64 (if they were better)
considering ppl's opinion on the power of the hardware... they say
4.) Ps1 
3.) N64 
2.)PS2 
1.) GC

if u were to analyze it (not tht i can) u can deduce tht PS1 was sold more than n64 and ps2 much much more than GC (and maybe any other console to date). Hardware doesnt always matter, its the strategy to apply and support it

infact if u go further, the DS outsold the PSP (or rather is outselling, albeit the DS is weaker)... does it mean, the weaker system wins sales? And this is further proven by the wii over the xbox360 over the PS3 (which are inversely in the order of the power they POSSESS).
The only inconsistency obviously seen is between the xbox and GC... by 3 million sales count

You gotta love the facts
Source - Console Wars and Console Sales

i find this thread very informative...


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## Fabis94 (Sep 22, 2010)

64MB RAM wtf even my phone has more.


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## cosmiccow (Sep 22, 2010)

pachura said:
			
		

> If these specs are true, 3DS will have:
> the same amount of memory as the original Xbox
> the same amount of VRAM as PS2
> 3 times more flash memory than Wii
> ...and you guys still complain ?



Well said. But not only that. The 3DS would also have

* TWO CPUs that EACH have FOUR TIMES the processing power of the original DS' main CPU (ARM9)
* a GPU that has FOUR times the power of the sub CPU of the original DS (ARM7)


...I just want to point out that:

a) You can't compare different CPU architectures solely on MHZ (especially with desktop).
b) It will be enough.


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## Satangel (Sep 22, 2010)

wolfmanz51 said:
			
		

> pachura said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I just don't IGN with those leaks and I'd rather wait another week to hear it from Nintendo there selves than to be disappointed/enthusiastic about these specs.


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## monkat (Sep 22, 2010)

Satangel said:
			
		

> wolfmanz51 said:
> 
> 
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No one is asking you to.


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## BlueStar (Sep 22, 2010)

Rayder said:
			
		

> One thing we can all agree on is that when using such lo-res screens, GPU's don't have to work nearly as hard to produce great graphics like HD resolutions require.
> 
> I think the 3DS will have some quite impressive graphics that, while they won't be HD, they'll look just as good considering the lo-res screens...and the 3D effect is simply a cool bonus.
> 
> ...



The DS had a wider variety of games and more mature games than any other system of its generation, handheld or home console.  When people say "mature" however, they usually mean "games aimed at teenage boys involving space marines and gangsters and shit."

Which happen to be the same kind of games, with their muddy, overworked graphics, long missions and unintuitive controls, which simply don't work on the handheld as a medium.


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## thedicemaster (Sep 22, 2010)

Fabis94 said:
			
		

> 64MB RAM wtf even my phone has more.


that might be, but your phone probably won't let any single application/game have more than 16MB RAM.
this 64MB all goes to the game currently running.


Rayder: remember, if earlier spec leaks are correct the gpu needs to be powerful enough to at least draw 1x 2D on QVGA and 2x 3D on WQVGA
that is 3 screens(the 3D screen is essetnially 2 WQVGA screens smashed together)


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## Satangel (Sep 22, 2010)

monkat said:
			
		

> Satangel said:
> 
> 
> 
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Exactly, but some people asked my opinion on me not believing this announcement so I shared it.
My first reaction was just to clarify to people that you should take this news with a little grain of salt, and shouldn't believe everything IGN says.


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## Ringo619 (Sep 22, 2010)

weird  specs i mean ive seen phones smaller than the 3ds and has way better  specs   i think IGN is high on crack


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## Sarvesh50 (Sep 22, 2010)

arm 11 was rated 1 ghz speed Ofcourse in mobile world
On your pc it would be like 266 or something....


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## DiscostewSM (Sep 22, 2010)

Like others have said, the phones "require" having such high CPU frequencies because of everything that is running underneath, such as a full-fledged OS, multiple applications running at the same time, etc.


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## tatripp (Sep 22, 2010)

I wish i knew what some of this meant. could someone compare this to the ds, gamecube, or wii so i can have some kind of understanding. ie It is 2 times as powerful as the ds or it is as powerful as the gamecube.


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## Rydian (Sep 22, 2010)

Escape: Thanks. ^^



			
				iNFiNiTY said:
			
		

> This is a kinda misleading comparison though because 2 processors is actually harder to code for, can see the Sega Saturn for an example of this.And it's harder to fit two guys in one office chair? X3
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I was explaining that ghz is not a measurement of power by using real-world examples.


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## wolfmanz51 (Sep 22, 2010)

sorry for being a dick Rydian i woke up in the middle of the night and posted that only to latter edit and remove it i see what u did and thats cool u seem to understand this well enough


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## ACDCGAMER (Sep 22, 2010)

This looks pretty damn impressive. Can't wait!


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## macgeek417 (Sep 22, 2010)

> IGN

Nuff said.


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## TM2-Megatron (Sep 22, 2010)

Rydian said:
			
		

> TM2-Megatron said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Well, there was a thread here on the article, even... however looking back through my own posts (as I did post in it), I can't see it.  Cover-up of IGN's idiocy?

EDIT: Ah, finally:

http://gbatemp.net/t231324-rumor-ign-devs-...o-ps3-360-specs

Basically, though I wouldn't have minded believing what IGN said _then_, pretty much everything they say should be taken as BS until confirmed by someone else.  Even if the MHz alone isn't a good indicator of power, I still say if the Tegra can pack ARM11's (same type as reported here, so comparisons between these two at least, must be valid) at 600-800MHz, perhaps the 3DS should've featured two at around those speeds, instead.  Too much, perhaps; but I'd rather see too much overhead than not enough.


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## Bladexdsl (Sep 22, 2010)

MADKATZ99 said:
			
		

> BlueStar said:
> 
> 
> 
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my computer is 64bit yet it's more powerful than a 360 and ps3 combied but it's only a n64?! i'm confused


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## Gnargle (Sep 22, 2010)

The 3DS is more powerful than a PS2.
My pants have exploded in joy.


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## Fabis94 (Sep 22, 2010)

IGN is cool stop ripping on it. Most likely this will end up true since it's not really that unbelievable.


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## Hadrian (Sep 22, 2010)

Don't give a shit about what is supposed to be inside it on paper, we've seen screens and footage that show its good enough.  Face it before we even saw what the games looked like people were hoping for something near Gamecube quality at best, quit bitching already.

Wouldn't want it to be any better, games should look like games.


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## taktularCBo (Sep 22, 2010)

am I the only one to think that this specs are really impressive?
it could be the first portable game-sys with two cpus (dual-core?).

People saying with this specs it can't have ps3 or even wii quality...you could see this on E3, the preview picture didn't look like a ps3, so what? still for sure a good system.


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## Midna (Sep 22, 2010)

Summary of thread:

"it dont hav 1ghz cpu therfor suck!"


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## Gnargle (Sep 22, 2010)

Midna said:
			
		

> Summary of thread:
> 
> "it dont hav 1ghz cpu therfor suck!"


Exactly. The people in this thread don't understand how powerful the console really is. As I said before: the 3DS is more powerful than a PS2. I imagine it's gonna be on a par with at least the Wii.


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## thedicemaster (Sep 22, 2010)

taktularCBo said:
			
		

> am I the only one to think that this specs are really impressive?
> it could be the first portable game-sys with two cpus (dual-core?).
> 
> People saying with this specs it can't have ps3 or even wii quality...you could see this on E3, the preview picture didn't look like a ps3, so what? still for sure a good system.


first? hell no.
GBA already had 2, though only 1 active at a time.
DS/DSi has 2 active AT THE SAME TIME
PSP has 2, though 1 is mostly unused because it's hard to work with.


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## Deleted User (Sep 22, 2010)

1.5GB? Well, to cut costs, I suppose. Ninty's gotta have some slack on the price. I mean £220 instead of £200 if you want more memory? I, even though I am a scrounger, would probably choose the cheaper option.


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## Midna (Sep 22, 2010)

jet™ said:
			
		

> 1.5GB? Well, to cut costs, I suppose. Ninty's gotta have some slack on the price. I mean £220 instead of £200 if you want more memory? I, even though I am a scrounger, would probably choose the cheaper option.


Flash memory is pretty much the only thing I would sacrifice for price. Especially given there should be a SD card storage system.


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## taktularCBo (Sep 22, 2010)

thedicemaster said:
			
		

> taktularCBo said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



do you know the difference between a cpu and gpu/ppu?
No other handheld had two main processor before, one of them was the GPU and one the CPU or even a GPU/CPU combination like for the DS, where the second CPU is used for audio only .

If you count like you do, 3ds has 3.


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## Rydian (Sep 22, 2010)

TM2-Megatron said:
			
		

> Even if the MHz alone isn't a good indicator of power, I still say if the Tegra can pack ARM11's (same type as reported here, so comparisons between these two at least, must be valid) at 600-800MHz, perhaps the 3DS should've featured two at around those speeds, instead.  Too much, perhaps; but I'd rather see too much overhead than not enough.I'll take a system with more than half an hour of battery life that doesn't burn my hands after using it for 5 minutes and doesn't need it's own internal fans over that, thank you very much.


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## Bladexdsl (Sep 22, 2010)

who really gives a fuck how powerful it is the games i've seen so far on it all like fine and awesome to me plus it's 3d with NO glasses!


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## SlashSpeed (Sep 22, 2010)

I just hope this is gonna cut it for the next 6 years. PSP2 is gonna hit it hard.


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## TM2-Megatron (Sep 22, 2010)

SlashSpeed said:
			
		

> I just hope this is gonna cut it for the next 6 years. PSP2 is gonna hit it hard.



And the PSP is more powerful than the DS... how exactly did that help it other than not totally dying?


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## Rommstain (Sep 23, 2010)

TM2-Megatron said:
			
		

> SlashSpeed said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Well I for one do hope the PSP2 has even better software support than the PSP, strong competitions is always good. 

Those concerned with low amount of internal storage shouldn't worry too much, if this becomes an issue the next hardware revision will fix that.


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## DiscostewSM (Sep 23, 2010)

Or just use an SD card?


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## Alato (Sep 23, 2010)

This makes me still wonder why the Wii only has like, 128 MB of storage.


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## redact (Sep 23, 2010)

Alato said:
			
		

> This makes me still wonder why the Wii only has like, 128 MB of storage.


512mb


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## Arwen20 (Sep 23, 2010)

Any news about the nintendo 3ds is exciting to me. I just can't wait until next Wednesday when I can finally go place my pre-order for it.


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## JonthanD (Sep 23, 2010)

Seems pretty cool to me, I await to see what the battery life of this will be. 

Any guesses on play time? 

I will venture my guess of active play time at 3 hours, but I hope its more like 5-6. That way after a year or two it will still have 3 hours of play time due to the battery getting "tired"

Other then that looks to be the ultimate portable system to me, sure you can jack the specs up through the roof but what good is a portable game system when you need to keep it plugged into an outlet to play it?


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## DigitalDeviant (Sep 23, 2010)

I call Bull shit till Nintendo releases the info, maybe next week?


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## jbruckus (Sep 23, 2010)

I'm looking forward to the 3ds, the specs released by IGN are imo probably accurate. I have faith in the homebrew community, and I expect there will definitely be various mods available for the 3ds, I just hope its sooner than later. Graphics will probably be close to the Wii , but probably not better as the system is banking on the 3d effect for sales/advertising so I'm sure that aspect will probably be the most impressive thing as far as graphics go.

I hope they don't do what psp-go did and make all games download only. That will put a damper on mods/hacks.


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## DigitalDeviant (Sep 23, 2010)

@ Jbruckus

Nintendo has stated that the 3ds will use game carts as its primary storage medium for games.


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## Brainy142 (Sep 23, 2010)

not liking the outlook on this at all...

I am not a pro, and my info isn't 100% accurate the specs ARE TRUE however.

for comparison
the 1st IPOD TOUCH had a single arm 11 cpu @ 620mhz (it was underclocked to 412 though)
now, lets factor in that nintendo is smart and isn't running a full os at the same time so it wont matter
and for games the gpu wasn't well made for it (1 mil polly's a second) it was clocked at 50mhz
the 2nd gen had the same gpu with a 533mhz processor and it worked a bit nicer

now the fun stuff.
the ipod touch 3rd gen has a 833mhz processor (underclocked to 600)
but WHY is it faster? it's an CORTEX A8 meaning it is equivalent to over a* ghz* of an* arm 11 core*. (engadget had a really nice explanation)
the gpu in the 3rd and 4th is 200mhz powervr.
and the cpu in the 4th gen touch is a whopping 1ghz (cortex a8)

now consider this arcitecture means A LOT
powervr in the 1st and 2nd gen = 1million pollys @50mhz
powervr in the 3rd in 4th 28 MILLION @ 200mhz
do the math


so what does this mean
cpu - seems to be a bit slow, but if leveraged well can produce some nice games
gpu - since the bottom screen is such low pixels, it wont take much power to render. HOWEVER, it has to render 800x480 pixels (for the 3d effect). I think the main issue is the cpu.... just doesn't seem fitting.... the gpu should be fine (if anyone's seen "epic castle" you know what I mean 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	




) plus add that too the faxt the ds doesn't have to store icons and crap in ram
ram, would like to see a little more packed in but as long as we are running ONE APP at a time we should be fine.
nand size 1.5gb is pitiful,  it's probably 2gb with a 512 "system partition"

wish's
opengl ES 2.0 (gpu)
cortex cpu
more space
maybe more ram....


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## pachura (Sep 23, 2010)

Brainy142 said:
			
		

> HOWEVER, it has to render 800x480 pixels (for the 3d effect)
> 
> Why the hell is this 800x480 figure popping up every now and then ?
> 
> ...



For downloadable games I guess it's OK. And for full-game installs I will use my 16 Gb MicroSD and I'm happy Nintendo is not forcing me to buy theirs.


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## thedicemaster (Sep 23, 2010)

the reason 800x480 keeps popping up is because the screen is 800 pixels width, and the majority of devices with that width have 480 height.
they forget though that it is a 3D screen, which means it actually needs twice the "width" as a regular screen to achieve the same viewable resolution(which is WQVGA, 400x240)


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## DiscostewSM (Sep 23, 2010)

pachura said:
			
		

> You realise that it's the GPU which is doing 90% work in games ? Basically CPU loads stuff, pushes it to GPU and that's it.



Kinda going extreme with that assumption, eh? I would say more like 50/50, because displaying graphics isn't the only thing happening under the hood of a game engine.


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## silverbullet1080 (Sep 24, 2010)

Considering how the system has a great GPU and is using modern pipelines- making it easy for devs to use their HD engines on the system, the two ARMs are more than enough, same with the RAM considering it's not running a full OS in the backround unlike Android or iOS devices.


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## silverbullet1080 (Sep 24, 2010)

Alato said:
			
		

> This makes me still wonder why the *Wii only has like, 128 MB of storage*.
> gtfo.
> 
> QUOTE(Brainy142 @ Sep 23 2010, 01:58 AM) not liking the outlook on this at all...
> ...


Jesus, how the hell are you comparing this to the iPod touch/iphone?  Both devices including the Zune HD are multimedia devices running full mobile OSs, they NEED a CPU that powerful.  Then you have a game on the iPhone4 like Epic Citadel which looks great of course, but running it would drain the battery in well under 3 goddamn hours.  RAM is fine too as the original xbox was using it too, so having more wouldn't be really useful.

As a system that needs to be running what devs are calling games that look like PS360 games on a smaller screen for about *10 hours*, this is really the best thing to do with the CPU.  A game like audiosurf tilt cannot- will not run on a Zune HD for as long as a game on a 3DS would.  So like I said, iPod/iPhone comparisons are asinine and useless once you bring gaming battery life into the equation.


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## Painguy (Sep 24, 2010)

i cant believe people are complaining. You guys basically have a portable Xbox/Wii.


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## DiscostewSM (Sep 24, 2010)

They're complaining that because of the devices out now have "superior" specs when they don't understand why they require them. The games we've seen already for the 3DS look amazing, and will only get better when developers understand the hardware more.


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## silverbullet1080 (Sep 24, 2010)

DiscostewSM said:
			
		

> They're complaining that because of the devices out now have "superior" specs when* they don't understand why they require them*. The games we've seen already for the 3DS look amazing, and will only get better when developers understand the hardware more.


Pretty much this.  Not to mention it doesn't seem to occur to them, when gaming they wouldn't last half as long as a dedicated gaming handheld would.


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## chartube12 (Sep 24, 2010)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/20100923/t...respecsanalyzed

the ign specs analyzed


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## Emu (Sep 25, 2010)

Isn't there an ARM11 that has multi-core support? If it's dual multi-core 133 mhz processors we're talking like dual low power core i3s. I doubt it has hyperthreading in that sense but I wouldn't undermine 2 dual core 133 mhz processors, that's almost a collective 600 mhz albeit small, the multitasking power would make a lot of sense on the category of the 3d they're going for.


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## silverbullet1080 (Sep 25, 2010)

Emu said:
			
		

> Isn't there an ARM11 that has multi-core support? If it's dual multi-core 133 mhz processors we're talking like dual low power core i3s. I doubt it has hyperthreading in that sense but I wouldn't undermine 2 dual core 133 mhz processors, that's almost a collective 600 mhz albeit small, the multitasking power would make a lot of sense on the category of the 3d they're going for.


It's 2 266MHz ARM11s, not 2 133s.


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## chartube12 (Sep 29, 2010)

An article a few days ago on gizmondo annouced a P1300 chip. This chip is capable of near ps3 graphics and small enough for a smartphone, netbook or tablet. Yet the company never released what this new decated gpu was going to be used for. Could it be the gpu for the 3DS?


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## Rydian (Sep 29, 2010)

chartube12 said:
			
		

> An article a few days ago on gizmondo annouced a P1300 chip. This chip is capable of near ps3 graphics and small enough for a smartphone, netbook or tablet. Yet the company never released what this new decated gpu was going to be used for. Could it be the gpu for the 3DS?


No, because the 3DS has been in development for a lot longer than that.


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