IGN claims to know 3DS hardware specs

[wolfmanz51]

IGN claims to know 3DS hardware specs.

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.

 

[geoflcl]

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!

 

[SparkFenix]

Wasnt there gonna be a PICA?

 

[Fluganox]

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 >.

 

[brooks]

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.

 

[ChuckBartowski]

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?

 

[Deleted_171835]

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.

--
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.

 

[wolfmanz51]

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.

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.

--
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.

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

 

[TM2-Megatron]

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

 

[Slyakin]

I don't trust it.


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

 

[raulpica]

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.

 

[monkat]

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.

----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?

 

[Slyakin]

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.

----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?

Well, with the 3d POWAZ, of course!

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

 

[TM2-Megatron]

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.

 

[dinofan01]

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.

 

[Slyakin]

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.

 

[dinofan01]

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.

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

 

[wolfmanz51]

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.

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.

 

[TM2-Megatron]

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.

 

[wolfmanz51]

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.

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.