Wednesday, June 8th 2011
IBM Microprocessors to Power the New Wii U System from Nintendo
IBM today announced that it will provide the microprocessors that will serve as the heart of the new Wii U system from Nintendo. Unveiled today at the E3 trade show, Nintendo plans for its new console to hit store shelves in 2012.
The all-new, Power-based microprocessor will pack some of IBM's most advanced technology into an energy-saving silicon package that will power Nintendo's brand new entertainment experience for consumers worldwide. IBM's unique embedded DRAM, for example, is capable of feeding the multi-core processor large chunks of data to make for a smooth entertainment experience.IBM plans to produce millions of chips for Nintendo featuring IBM Silicon on Insulator (SOI) technology at 45 nanometers (45 billionths of a meter). The custom-designed chips will be made at IBM's state-of-the-art 300mm semiconductor development and manufacturing facility in East Fishkill, N.Y.
The relationship between IBM and Nintendo dates to May 1999, when IBM was selected to design and manufacture the central microprocessor for the Nintendo GameCube system. Since 2006, IBM has shipped more than 90 million chips for Nintendo Wii systems.
"IBM has been a terrific partner for many years. We truly value IBM's commitment to support Nintendo in delivering an entirely new kind of gaming and entertainment experience for consumers around the world," said Genyo Takeda, Senior Managing Director, Integrated Research and Development, at Nintendo Co., Ltd.
"We're very proud to have delivered to Nintendo consistent technology advancements for three generations of entertainment consoles," said Elmer Corbin, director, IBM's custom chip business. "Our relationship with Nintendo underscores our unique position in the industry -- how we work together with clients to help them leverage IBM technology, intellectual property and research to drive innovation into their own core products."
Built on the open, scalable Power Architecture base, IBM custom processors exploit the performance and power advantages of proven silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology. The inherent advantages of the technology make it a superior choice for performance-driven applications that demand exceptional, power-efficient processing capability - from entertainment consoles to supercomputers.
The all-new, Power-based microprocessor will pack some of IBM's most advanced technology into an energy-saving silicon package that will power Nintendo's brand new entertainment experience for consumers worldwide. IBM's unique embedded DRAM, for example, is capable of feeding the multi-core processor large chunks of data to make for a smooth entertainment experience.IBM plans to produce millions of chips for Nintendo featuring IBM Silicon on Insulator (SOI) technology at 45 nanometers (45 billionths of a meter). The custom-designed chips will be made at IBM's state-of-the-art 300mm semiconductor development and manufacturing facility in East Fishkill, N.Y.
The relationship between IBM and Nintendo dates to May 1999, when IBM was selected to design and manufacture the central microprocessor for the Nintendo GameCube system. Since 2006, IBM has shipped more than 90 million chips for Nintendo Wii systems.
"IBM has been a terrific partner for many years. We truly value IBM's commitment to support Nintendo in delivering an entirely new kind of gaming and entertainment experience for consumers around the world," said Genyo Takeda, Senior Managing Director, Integrated Research and Development, at Nintendo Co., Ltd.
"We're very proud to have delivered to Nintendo consistent technology advancements for three generations of entertainment consoles," said Elmer Corbin, director, IBM's custom chip business. "Our relationship with Nintendo underscores our unique position in the industry -- how we work together with clients to help them leverage IBM technology, intellectual property and research to drive innovation into their own core products."
Built on the open, scalable Power Architecture base, IBM custom processors exploit the performance and power advantages of proven silicon-on-insulator (SOI) technology. The inherent advantages of the technology make it a superior choice for performance-driven applications that demand exceptional, power-efficient processing capability - from entertainment consoles to supercomputers.
26 Comments on IBM Microprocessors to Power the New Wii U System from Nintendo
I work at IBM Burlington and my cousin works at Fishkill actually.
Xbox 360 GPU - Xenos based on the X1900/X1950 PC gpu's ;)
PS3 - RSX based on the GeForce 7800 PC gpu's :rolleyes:
Wii U - judging from released specs its based on the Radeon HD4800 series PC gpu's
Now to me that equals pure win, hopefully it should have decent RAM and a good custom IBM CPU to back it up...^_^
I would quite like the concept of a "console in your pocket or bag" the size of an ipod case or similar (those white transparent plastic boxes iPods come in)
About 20x more or so.
We've got a long way to go.
Unless you don't mind the games being $100-$120 .
Most games probably would fit on an 8GB memory stick and those can be had for 9euros or so(probably $9 in the US). But thats price for end consumer, the companies making the games wont even pay the third of that and thats a pretty cheap pricetag to negate pirating.
It is so successful that AMD is still making them as the HD6700 series.
But if this drives M$ and Sony to get off their butts...still a win. Just hope they pick their GPUs right. Sony pretty much botched the PS3 from the beginning by going a G70. M$ at least planned a little ahead and got a better chip out of ATI.
Also, anyone know if the new IBM processor will have out-of-order execution? That's a huge hang up for the 360 CPU (and probably why they added SMT support to it because of constant pipeline stalls).
Laughing at disabled people now, are you?
Tsk tsk tsk.
Where has it been stated -or even hinted- that the GPU will be based on the 4800 series ? I thought console makers use low end GPUs to control thermal output an keep the price range as low as possible.