- The Wii U CPU, as we know from Nintendo, is made by IBM and is based on their POWER 7 architecture, and will be built on 45nm.
- The new details reveal that the Wii U CPU is modeled after the 710 Express IBM server processor, which as standard has 6 cores and runs at speeds of up to 3.7 GHz. The 710 Express chip can also execute 4 threads per core at the same.
- In order to save on production costs, Nintendo has scaled down the processor for the console
- The Wii U version of the CPU will scale down the cores to 4, the clock frequency to 3 GHz, and threads per core will go down from 4 to 2
- This means the Wii U CPU will be able to execute 8 threads at the same time. The current Xbox 360 CPU, also made by IBM, can execute 6 threads at the same time.
- On paper it looks like the Wii U is “around 50% more powerful than current gen systems” as analysts suggested last year, but in reality, the console is likely to be much faster than the raw numbers suggest. This is due to the new features and the architectural improvements of the POWER 7 design.
- Wii U CPU is said to be 20X faster than the IBM Broadway chip found in the Wii.
Sounds just about right what we have been expecting, too bad if true Nintendo only went for two threads per core instead of four! Damn possible 16 threads would have been a beast.