Wii U "Latte" GPU details revealed

[Deleted_171835]

Some users at Neogaf purchased a die photo of the Wii U GPU from Chipworks in order to get more info on the chip.

The die is exactly 11.88 x 12.33mm (146.48mm²). It's manufactured on a 40nm process.

There are a total of 40 logical blocks on the GPU die, excluding memory and I/O. These seem to be composed of 25 different types.

Diigital Foundry claims that the GPU has a 320:16:8 core config. Even including the ROPs, ARM, DSP, Video codec and command processor this only accounts for 18 out of the 40 logical blocks on there, leaving the majority of the GPU logic unexplained.

The GPU is thought to have 40 ALUS per SPU leaving it at 352GFLOPS. For comparison, the 360's GPU is at 240GFLOPS.

A professional from Chipworks, Jim Morrison commented on the GPU.

Been reading some of the comments on your thread and have a few of my own to use as you wish.

1. This GPU is custom.
2. If it was based on ATI/AMD or a Radeon-like design, the chip would carry die marks to reflect that. Everybody has to recognize the licensing. It has none. Only Renesas name which is a former unit of NEC.
3. This chip is fabricated in a 40 nm advanced CMOS process at TSMC and is not low tech
4. For reference sake, the Apple A6 is fabricated in a 32 nm CMOS process and is also designed from scratch. It’s manufacturing costs, in volumes of 100k or more, about $26 - $30 a pop. Over 16 months degrade to about $15 each
a. Wii U only represents like 30M units per annum vs iPhone which is more like 100M units per annum. Put things in perspective.
5. This Wii U GPU costs more than that by about $20-$40 bucks each making it a very expensive piece of kit. Combine that with the IBM CPU and the Flash chip all on the same package and this whole thing is closer to $100 a piece when you add it all up
6. The Wii U main processor package is a very impressive piece of hardware when its said and done.

Trust me on this. It may not have water cooling and heat sinks the size of a brownie, but its one slick piece of silicon. eDRAM is not cheap to make. That is why not everybody does it. Cause its so dam expensive.

http://www.chipworks.com/blog/technologyblog/2013/02/04/looking-at-the-wii-u-graphics-processor/
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=511628
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/df-hardware-wii-u-graphics-power-finally-revealed

Well if there's one thing to gain from this, it's that the GPU is ridiculously efficient. It may not be extremely powerful but this amount of power from less than 33 watts is certainly an engineering feat. And even with this, we still don't know about the other half of the GPU.

 

[emigre]

My reaction upon reading the thread title:

 

[TripleSMoon]

*SNIP*


But in all seriousness, this is really cool. If the GPU alone is that expensive, I wonder how much it actually costs to manufacture the whole console...

 

[Gahars]

It's good to know this "Latte" isn't a load of crap-puccino.

 

[TripleSMoon]

It's good to know this "Latte" isn't a load of crap-puccino.

You never disappoint, good man.

 

[Foxi4]

I never had any doubts that the GPU is more than appropriate for a console, really. My only worry with the WiiU is the current state of the SDK and whether or not development issues will be resolved - that was the PS3's biggest problem for almost a half of its life cycle, Nintendo really needs to step it up with ironing out the issues there.

Now, fair play, the PS3 had a wicked CELL you had to wrap your head around, so here the SDK should be easy to update and master.

 

[zanfire]

so for the people who don't always get all the tech talk (I know a decent amount, but its still hard to grasp sometimes)

how does it compare to current consoles? how about to the leaked possible ps4/720? Do you think it will be good enough that after a couple years 3rd party games wont skip it completely like the wii because it was so underpowered?

 

[Deleted_171835]

so for the people who don't always get all the tech talk (I know a decent amount, but its still hard to grasp sometimes)

how does it compare to current consoles? how about to the leaked possible ps4/720? Do you think it will be good enough that after a couple years 3rd party games wont skip it completely like the wii because it was so underpowered?

Moderately more powerful but not exactly a next-gen leap. It's a bit too early to say though as there is still a significant portion of the GPU that we don't know about.

 

[raulpica]

Half of the GPU is still unexplained? The WiiU might have some hidden potential, it seems.

 

[Maxternal]

As far as the SDK, with this little bugger it SHOULD include good, relatively easy to use 3DTV and GPGPU support, giving developers an easy way to squeeze the juice out of the hardware. Hope that at least happens before the competition comes out with their next gens.

 

[Gahars]

Half of the GPU is still unexplained? The WiiU might have some hidden potential, it seems.

Are you saying it still has lattent potential?

 

[zanfire]

Moderately more powerful but not exactly a next-gen leap. It's a bit too early to say though as there is still a significant portion of the GPU that we don't know about.

That might be a bummer for some, i know people might only get the 1 system, so it would suck if the ps4/720 are a good chunk better, it will be the wii all over again when it comes to 3rd party, making it yet again just the "nintendo box" that collects dust until an exclusive comes out (though i can see that anyways since the online is pretty poor compared to its rival consoles)

glad i have a good PC and a bad addiction to buying all the consoles (...last part might be a bad thing...)

 

[kristianity77]

From having a read of that id put the Wii U at about 50% more powerful that the 360 / PS3. Not exactly what Nintendo were spouting before it came out.

Stands to reason then I guess that nothing during the release window looks better than current gen if thats the case. Things should get better over the coming years, but on paper, the Wii U is going to trail badly when new Xbox / PS4 comes to town.

 

[chartube12]

Don't forget Nintendo choose a program language originally meant for super computers and mainframes. Making the programming the system have a hard learning curve. But it does seem devs are getting used to it fast, based on some of the most recent reviews.

This chart renewals my possible thought of Nintendo analyzing the world's cheapest super computer from 2011 (a million dollar machine. Don't remember it's name right now) Then scaling down as much as possible for consumer use as a game console (the Wii-U)

 

[chyyran]

Don't forget Nintendo choose a program language originally meant for super computers and mainframes. Making the programming the system have a hard learning curve. But it does seem devs are getting used to it fast, based on some of the most recent reviews.

This chart renewals my possible thought of Nintendo analyzing the world's cheapest super computer from 2011 (a million dollar machine. Don't remember it's name right now) Then scaling down as much as possible for consumer use as a game console (the Wii-U)

Nope
Nintendo chose an IDE that was meant for supercomputers and mainframes. Coding is still done in C(++), usually. Learning an IDE is incredibly easy, just gotta know where to type, and where the menus are. The problem is with the whole SDK, I imagine that the documentation isn't the greatest.

 

[chartube12]

Nope
Nintendo chose an IDE that was meant for supercomputers and mainframes. Coding is still done in C(++), usually. Learning an IDE is incredibly easy, just gotta know where to type, and where the menus are. The problem is with the whole SDK, I imagine that the documentation isn't the greatest.

Thanks for clarification. Been working fill-in hours and didn't have time to research further.

 

[the_randomizer]

It's good to know this "Latte" isn't a load of crap-puccino.

I see what you did there.

From having a read of that id put the Wii U at about 50% more powerful that the 360 / PS3. Not exactly what Nintendo were spouting before it came out.

Stands to reason then I guess that nothing during the release window looks better than current gen if thats the case. Things should get better over the coming years, but on paper, the Wii U is going to trail badly when new Xbox / PS4 comes to town.

More powerful mostly likely, but there's no way in hell they're going to be <$300 at launch.

 

[Guild McCommunist]

Took them a while to finally release the specs, but you know what they say, better latte then never.

 

[heartgold]

Took them a while to finally release the specs, but you know what they say, better latte then never.

This costs $2500. But they did if for free. They are currently doing a CPU scan too.

We don't have a 3DS one yet and it's been out for nearly two years.

 

[the_randomizer]

Took them a while to finally release the specs, but you know what they say, better latte then never.