Hardware WiiU's CPU weaker than 360/PS3

[Ykr1113]

Sometimes I think Nintendo Gets a little cheap when making there consoles, I'll still keep killing my wallet for them though.

 

[JulietStMoon]

Sometimes I think Nintendo Gets a little cheap when making there consoles, I'll still keep killing my wallet for them though.

I think it's less to due with them being cheap, and more with them following this philosophy (credit to @Soulx for making me aware of this)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunpei_Yokoi#Lateral_Thinking_with_Withered_Technology

 

[Kikirini]

I think we all pretty much expected that the Wii U wasn't going to be better at everything than last gen... but it does balance itself out and definitely won't be left in the dust, like the Wii was in the last gen. And that's what's important to me.

 

[Walker D]

Sometimes I think Nintendo Gets a little cheap when making there consoles, I'll still keep killing my wallet for them though.

Maybe ..if you only see the WiiU as a pure computacional upgrade, or a straightforward improvement in specs ( like other game companies use to do when releasing a new console). It's also easier to analise a straightforward improvement like that cause you can compare the new hardware with the previous one.. ..but that's not exactly what Nintendo is used to do.

The basic things that are in the new hardware can't have its specs compared with the previous hardware, cause they are different (the base of the hardware have been changed, different from what Sony and Microsoft usually does, that is: keep the base and add stuff to it) ...that's why Nintendo is always saying "a new way to play games" I guess..

So, in my view, is not like they are getting too cheap ( even though they do have the intention to have a accessible price) ...is more like if they like to have a change of values, applying its money in different things that will compose the new hardware base in 1st place, and also the other things that will support it.

Ex: the wii had the motion thing as its new base. I believe that for the time, it was a not so cheap investment... so it would make sense to invest more money on it then on the other specs.


I like this "change of values" strategy that Nintendo has. But not that much when it is applied in a extreme way (like the wii was). It needs a bit of the other companies strategy too I think ("keep the base and add stuff to it") to avoid a high estrangement from customers and third-party developers.

The Wii U seems to be made by this major Nintendo strategy, but has a bit of the other one too ...so by that, it can maybe have a good rate of acceptance.

Did I made myself clear? o.o maybe hehe

 

[slingblade1170]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcnsG11MRE8

I watched this video about a week ago and as far as the GPU/CPU of the Wii this guy explains it best!

 

[koji2009]

First gen Wii U average power draw: 40 watts Max draw 75 watts.

Second Generation PS3 slim (ugly new model coming out and actually the third redesign of the sytem): Average draw 190 watts Max draw 230 watts.


Low wattage CPUs have several benefits... Besides the obvious benefit of energy savings (something INCREDIBLY important to Japan right now since they are still dealing with power black outs from shutting down nuclear power plants) there are also several secondary benefits such as lower heat, smaller cases, and better longevity in parts (better hardware reliability means less hassle for people who own it, and less money nintendo has to spend repairing systems under warranty). It's not just about lower cost (though that's ultimately a factor) but rather Nintendo's entire design philosophy.

 

[JulietStMoon]

Second Generation PS3 slim (ugly new model coming out and actually the third redesign of the sytem): Average draw 190 watts Max draw 230 watts.

Second redesign, actually. Third overall version, but second redesign.

 

[tronic307]

Warriors Orochi 3 Hyper on Wii U:


Warriors Orochi 3 (Musou Orochi 2 in Japan) on other platforms:


The Wii U version seems to have less enemies and more slowdown. This is not a graphical problem; this usually points to developer inexperience and/or a slow CPU. With a small form factor, a 40W typical power draw, and the GPU likely consuming half that, there's not much room in the Wii U's power budget for a blazing fast CPU. It might be a good idea to forget about Power7. With only 500-1500 MFLOPS per watt, Power7 just doesn't fit the bill here. Not to say IBM lied, though: They could have meant that the Wii U processor uses the same cutting-edge fabrication process as Power7. IBM spoke of Watson technology and people just read Power7 into that, IMO.

Spoiler

The SNES had a similar strengths and limitations and I still loved it. I'll see you guys at the midnight launch for Wii U! I'm getting the black one.

 

[DiscostewSM]

*snip*

Or maybe they should try using the WiiU CPU the way it was meant to operate than to try and have it work like the PS3/X360. The WiiU uses Out-of-Order execution, while the PS3/X360 use In-Order execution.

 

[Foxi4]

*snip*

Or maybe they should try using the WiiU CPU the way it was meant to operate than to try and have it work like the PS3/X360. The WiiU uses Out-of-Order execution, while the PS3/X360 use In-Order execution.

DiscostewSM, they can't just "make" their code perform that - they just write code and expect the SDK to do their work for them. If the SDK is imperfect, and I'm guessing that it is so early on, it's not going to give full performance and good results.

 

[KingVamp]

They said they are still working on it, so I wouldn't worry to much. While we would be sweet with more enemies,I'm mostly worry about the frame rate/drops. If they can do more enemies as well, that would be awesome.

 

[Maxternal]

Or maybe they should try using the WiiU CPU the way it was meant to operate than to try and have it work like the PS3/X360. The WiiU uses Out-of-Order execution, while the PS3/X360 use In-Order execution.

Actually, in-order and out-of-order execution don't have to be programmed any differently, not even assembled any differently. The order is changed inside the processor to make better use of each clock cycle. In-order it still all gets done but it's just a little slower and the processor's cheaper to make. the instructions are fed to the processor in the same order either way.

 

[hksrb25s14]

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=OcnsG11MRE8

I watched this video about a week ago and as far as the GPU/CPU of the Wii this guy explains it best!

Specs are Specs , I'm Basing it on Warriors Orochi 3 and I can see the Wii U Having a Hard time running it and having less shaders,
The only reason Why I want one is the gamepad, Nintendo is only going to release JAVA looking games on it, wasteful, and once in a blue moon they will release Mario,Zelda,Metriod,
and Third-parties are going to release the same games as on PS3 and XBOX360, But the Wii U is going to have a extra word next to the title like Warrior Orchi 3 Hyper edition, to make it feel special cuz it's a waterdowned version. look at Batman... Armored edition. They are doing what the Wii did on multi platform games.

 

[JulietStMoon]

oh boy

 

[DiscostewSM]

*snip*

Or maybe they should try using the WiiU CPU the way it was meant to operate than to try and have it work like the PS3/X360. The WiiU uses Out-of-Order execution, while the PS3/X360 use In-Order execution.

DiscostewSM, they can't just "make" their code perform that - they just write code and expect the SDK to do their work for them. If the SDK is imperfect, and I'm guessing that it is so early on, it's not going to give full performance and good results.

Ah, my mistake. I thought it was something that required programmer(s) to change up their code a little to take advantage of it.

 

[the_randomizer]

Clock frequency isn't the be-all end-all factor in making or breaking a system. If it were, the Genesis would have outsold the SNES and the Xbox would have outsold the PS2.

 

[qlum]

the issue for the wii u against the ps3/360 is that those systems basically have an overkill cpu compared to the rest of the console, the wii u is a lot more balanced in this matter and because of this there may be issues with games optimized for the overkill cpu on the 360 and especially the ps3.

 

[10_0ARMY]

It's simple. The WiiU is a more advanced system than the PS360 so even if on paper it is weaker in any area, all the content on it will be better and smoother on it than on PS360.

 

[tronic307]

Hope that reports that the Wii U's CPU is basically three Broadways (Wii CPU) cobbled together are not true. Broadway is based upon the PowerPC G3, which is technology from 1997, and far below the performance of POWER7.

I don't believe it would be that simple, but remember, the Wii U CPU would have to run Wii code flawlessly. Wouldn't that hint at a scaled up Wii-like architecture?

 

[DiscostewSM]

Well, as others have pointed out, the capability of the GPU to perform general purpose operations that the CPU would normally do (deemed GPGPU) may be why the CPU isn't as great as we hoped for. I wonder if the developer of Warriors Orochi 3 Hyper is using it and not just "lazily porting" their engine to the Wii U....