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[HardtopMental1]

Not sure where you got that from. That type of memory has been readily available for years.



Not sure why any of that is getting to you as much as it is. A lot has leaked about Durango. And it's painting a pretty clear picture of Microsoft's intent both with hardware and services. Sony fanboys will look at that and tell you next gen is all about power. Xbox fanboys will say it isn't, it's all about moneyhats, services, XBL etc. It really just comes down to which company markets their box the best and gets the most third parties on board to vocally support it.

that's all speculation no one knows what xbox is doing i think this is Microsoft biggest console investment to date i think they wont half ass it as people seem to be assuming knowing how much ground they have made up and how much branding they have now before people only knew nintendo and playstation now xbox is a huge house hold name so ill wait till they reveal and im sure a lot of people will be wrong.

 

[Rösti]

Hopefully we'll get some new information next week (on the 7th of March presumably) when Microsoft's START (Strategies, Tactics and Regional Targets) FY14 event is held in Seattle. As if it wasn't obvious already that they will be unveiling the new Xbox to personnel from various departments at that event, they have increased security even more to almost insane levels. I'm not expecting much but perhaps hotel staff (Sheraton Seattle Hotel) will sneak something or maybe some Seattle GAF member can get into that party at Q Nightclub.

Also, the http://www.xboxevent.com domain (discussed here) no longer features that template page or the "under construction" message.

Anyway, just for a fun discussion, if we exclude DDR3, DDR4 GDDR5 and HMC, what's the craziest thing Microsoft could go with? Z-RAM and TTRAM, with the former being more reasonable, are the only two other alternatives I can think of in a next generation context. Or maybe they could choose something experimental such as NVMalloc. But that would leave only the hard drive and flash memory (which was described by Kotaku as "a small amount of flash memory for system tasks") and probably wouldn't allow for any greater performance improvements. Flash memory doesn't feature that high bandwidth. Anyway, without letting these things go too far, if it's not DDR3, GDDR5 or HMC, what could they could be using?

 

[dragonelite]

Wizardy cube jizz sauce confirmed!

Ballmer first has to steal it from the wizard.

 

[iMax]

this is a bit different. People are basing this off an article posted in early 2012 that states that MS, along with 9 other companies, are developing a new type of RAM. All the leaks, and all the "insiders" have not mentioned anything other than DDR3 RAM at 68gb/s and 32 MB ESRAM at 100gb/s. We also have have a lot people confirming that nothing has changed from the document leaks from the Fen 2012 summit(coincidentally right around the time this article about this new type of RAM was publish.)

So, it is quite a stretch, and some people do seem to be in "fantasy land" at the moment, getting way too excited over this. With that said it is an interesting find, and sounds like its interesting bit of new tech, but there nothing to say at the moment it has any connection to the next Xbox.

Where has anyone said this?

 

[Ol No Bones]

So Microsoft is ditching memory for a tesseract solution. Isn't it also rumored that the gpu will just a large pool of midichlorians?

 

[HardtopMental1]

Your posts have fewer periods than a menopausal woman. Dial it back a bit. You're kinda on the cusp of meltdown territory.

.............................im doing this from my phone i have no time for proper educate or sentence construction professor

 

[Proelite]

Esram is there to help with alleviate bandwidth usage to main ram and help maintain GPU throughput.

Tile based deferred rendering is going to used prevalently on Durango because of Esram.

 

[Osiris]

.............................im doing this from my phone i have no time for proper educate or sentence construction professor

I'll be honest, I'd hide the phone if I was you, I hear 3rd grade teachers get a bit gnarly when they find pupils hiding them in their lunchbox. xD

 

[Liquidsnake]

You guys are scaring me a little, are you telling me that I have to be jumping around my room waving my hands around in order to play games on the next box?

I don't want to do that. I never used kinect, I like to chill with my controller and barley move for hours on end. I'm not in the mood to fkn jump around my living room.

 

[JohnnySasaki86]

Where has anyone said this?

Thuway and Reiko said it multiple times, based on some sort of up to date document they got. This is where the "MS is aiming for 100% GPU efficiency compare to 360 GPU" came from. Proelite did you confirm this as well?

Esram is there to help with alleviate bandwidth usage to main ram and help maintain GPU throughput.

Tile based deferred rendering is going to used prevalently on Durango because of Esram.

exactly. So why would they need to do that, if they had RAM that was just as, or faster than GDDR5? Make no sense for them to waste all that silicon on the ESRAM.

 

[Baconsammy]

You guys are scaring me a little, are you telling me that I have to be jumping around my room waving my hands around in order to play games on the next box?

I don't want to do that. I never used kinect, I like to chill with my controller and barley move for hours on end. I'm not in the mood to fkn jump around my living room.

The only next gen console that we know for sure has a wavey camera is the PS4.

 

[Raide]

You guys are scaring me a little, are you telling me that I have to be jumping around my room waving my hands around in order to play games on the next box?

I don't want to do that. I never used kinect, I like to chill with my controller and barley move for hours on end. I'm not in the mood to fkn jump around my living room.

Won't Someone Think Of The RAMCUBES!

 

[XtremeXpider]

You guys are scaring me a little, are you telling me that I have to be jumping around my room waving my hands around in order to play games on the next box?

I don't want to do that. I never used kinect, I like to chill with my controller and barley move for hours on end. I'm not in the mood to fkn jump around my living room.

Next hulk game with Kinect:

 

[TheLegendary]

Esram is there to help with alleviate bandwidth usage to main ram and help maintain GPU throughput.

Tile based deferred rendering is going to used prevalently on Durango because of Esram.

So now that Super Hyper Cube Ram Cubed has been confirmed, how do you think Sony will react?

 

[Phonomezer]

Next hulk game with Kinect:

I fear for the little brothers and sisters of the world.

 

[Osiris]

I fear for the little brothers and sisters of the world.

True story, I accidently punched my 3 year old daughter in the face whilst playing Wii Bowling over Christmas. (She walked behind me at an in-opportune moment)

She still gets all arsey about it if I approach the Wii to play it again, can't say I blame her

Motion controls need to be purged from the Earth!

 

[dragonelite]

So now that Super Hyper Cube Ram Cubed has been confirmed, how do you think Sony will react?

16gb gddr6 in torusform ?

 

[PatientRain]

I'm surprised at how late that is (given the PS3 announce) and how close it will be to E3.

I guess that's why I'm a teacher and not a CEO.

 

[Biggzy]

exactly. So why would they need to do that, if they had RAM that was just as, or faster than GDDR5? Make no sense for them to waste all that silicon on the ESRAM.

And ESRAM is a lot of silicon to waste.

 

[clashfan]

And the thread enters tech fantasyland, which means I'm out, have fun daydreaming

Take a chill pill. This is a internet forum. What do you expect? Fact checking like Woodward and Bernstein?

 

[Rösti]

16gb gddr6 in torusform ?

I don't know about any torus form or how densities will work for GDDR6, but that type of memory is suggested for 2014 so maybe that could be included in a potential cloud computing offering for when the next Xbox is starting to become a legacy product or when it simply needs to get a face lift. As mentioned in the leaked document from 2010.

 

[Satchel]

Well, it's not like we haven't been there before...

...and that's just from the first page.

I was called crazy a few times for suggesting 2-4GB with another 2 dedicated to the OS as a possibility.

Funny how that works.

 

[Rat Salad]

You guys are scaring me a little, are you telling me that I have to be jumping around my room waving my hands around in order to play games on the next box?

I don't want to do that. I never used kinect, I like to chill with my controller and barley move for hours on end. I'm not in the mood to fkn jump around my living room.

Well you shouldnt worry too much. If Kinext 2.0 is successful you'll have Sony following with a rip off soon. That eye toy might actually live off those bread crumbs eh? Cant wait for ps4 innovation! Kaz youre doing a great job!

 

[Piggus]

PC gamers will be PC gamers. Microsoft isn't going after you - they've already hooked you in with Windows.

My point is, they have an opportunity to bring in PC gamers in the same way the PS3 and Wii brought in a lot of PC gamers... by having a lot of compelling exclusives. Framerate and graphics aren't the only thing us PC gamers care about, believe it or not. We want great games to play. And due to their third party focus, Microsoft hasn't provided a compelling reason in the past several years for PC gamers to buy an Xbox. For Microsoft, that's a lost opportunity. The PC market isn't THAT insignificant.

 

[HardtopMental1]

My point is, they have an opportunity to bring in PC gamers in the same way the PS3 and Wii brought in a lot of PC gamers... by having a lot of compelling exclusives. Framerate and graphics aren't the only thing us PC gamers care about, believe it or not. We want great games to play. And due to their third party focus, Microsoft hasn't provided a compelling reason in the past several years for PC gamers to buy an Xbox. For Microsoft, that's a lost opportunity. The PC market isn't THAT insignificant.

Microsoft's been building their studios so they never put out any new games and its too late in the generation for new exclusives they have been destroying the ps3 in sales so they've moved everything over to the next xbox. Just wait they always go games and core first every generation so the games will come my friend.

 

[Wynnebeck]

Microsoft's been building their studios so they never put out any new games and its too late in the generation for new exclusives they have been destroying the ps3 in sales so they've moved everything over to the next xbox. Just wait they always go games and core first every generation so the games will come my friend.

It's almost like you are putting your fingers in your ears and going "LALALA! I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" The last couple of years from Microsoft's perspective are pretty telling with their push towards making the 360 a living room hub with Kinect in tow. No one is doubting they'll have games but the whisperings that we are hearing about Durango have people worried and for good reason. As for your constant ramblings about "It doesn't matter! Xbox destroys Sony and Nintendo in sales!", you might want to scale it down. Also, I'm using a phone to type this. No excuse to write run-on sentences.

 

[Miles X]

Have any MS staff acknowledged this either way on twitter?

The date I mean.

 

[HardtopMental1]

It's almost like you are putting your fingers in your ears and going "LALALA! I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" The last couple of years from Microsoft's perspective are pretty telling with their push towards making the 360 a living room hub with Kinect in tow. No one is doubting they'll have games but the whisperings that we are hearing about Durango have people worried and for good reason. As for your constant ramblings about "It doesn't matter! Xbox destroys Sony and Nintendo in sales!", you might want to scale it down. Also, I'm using a phone to type this. No excuse to write run-on sentences.

Just because they've been successful at multi media doesn't mean they wont make games anymore Its too late in the cycle for them to be investing in new games for 360 when third party games are doing good and they are going out on halo and gears. And those rumors have no proof behind them actually this is the first time no one really knows what msoft is doing with their platform they have boosted security well this time just wait and see at the reveal you will be happy.

 

[Arkham]

Ballmer first has to steal it from the wizard.

That's so cute!

Let's see one with Kaz unmasking Ballmer, Mission Impossible-style! That'd be NEAT!

 

[m23]

Have any MS staff acknowledged this either way on twitter?

The date I mean.

I don't believe so. No one from MS will utter a word or hint about it until they are ready.

 

[Ramblin]

True story, I accidently punched my 3 year old daughter in the face whilst playing Wii Bowling over Christmas. (She walked behind me at an in-opportune moment)

She still gets all arsey about it if I approach the Wii to play it again, can't say I blame her

Motion controls need to be purged from the Earth!

Geeks need to be more aware of their surroundings

 

[Four_Chamber]

Have any MS staff acknowledged this either way on twitter?

The date I mean.

Microsoft has been on lockdown. I mean, there still hasn't even been any acknowledgement that the Durango even exists (which is why I am skeptical of all these "sources"). I doubt we'll get confirmation of an announcement before mid-March or so. There's no real benefit to affirming this date- the benefits of building up hype for an announcement 1.5 months away is minimal.

Microsoft has made me an incredibly happy gamer with both the Xbox and the 360. I'm excited to see what Microsoft has to offer.

 

[CLEEK]

Microsoft has made me an incredibly happy gamer with both the Xbox and the 360. I'm excited to see what Microsoft has to offer.

If you love Microsoft so much, why don't you marry it?

 

[Osiris]

Geeks need to be more aware of their surroundings

You are right, she should consider it one of life's lessons, maybe next time she'll move quicker or duck.

 

[ascii42]

Microsoft's been building their studios so they never put out any new games and its too late in the generation for new exclusives they have been destroying the ps3 in sales so they've moved everything over to the next xbox. Just wait they always go games and core first every generation so the games will come my friend.

Certainly a possibility. If so, they'd better have a hell of a line-up prepared.

 

[ThisWreckage]

I'm interested to see what Microsoft has cooking. Sony could be a complete dick and show the actual PS4 box and release some more gameplay footage the day of this event, however. In fact, if I were them that is precisely what I'd do.

 

[bigtroyjon]

I'm interested to see what Microsoft has cooking. Sony could be a complete dick and show the actual PS4 box and release some more gameplay footage the day of this event, however. In fact, if I were them that is precisely what I'd do.

Terrible idea, every relevant media person will be at the Microsoft event, PS4 stuff would get no coverage.

 

[Arrogant Menace]

It's almost like you are putting your fingers in your ears and going "LALALA! I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" The last couple of years from Microsoft's perspective are pretty telling with their push towards making the 360 a living room hub with Kinect in tow. No one is doubting they'll have games but the whisperings that we are hearing about Durango have people worried and for good reason. As for your constant ramblings about "It doesn't matter! Xbox destroys Sony and Nintendo in sales!", you might want to scale it down. Also, I'm using a phone to type this. No excuse to write run-on sentences.

Last couple of years was microsoft trying to lenghten the consoles lifespan. 360 came out in 2005 on the other hand PS3 2006/2007 depending where you're located.

 

[Unspeakable Evil]

If you love Microsoft so much, why don't you marry it?

The sex is bad because it's .................screw this joke.

 

[McHuj]

exactly. So why would they need to do that, if they had RAM that was just as, or faster than GDDR5? Make no sense for them to waste all that silicon on the ESRAM.

From a GPU compute capability the ESRAM will not only help you with bandwidth but latency as well. I bet that's where a lot of the efficiency comes from. I would not be surprised if Durango's GPU out performed an similar ~1.2 Tflop GPU in realworld benchmarks/games. How close it comes to the PS4 GPU, no idea, but I bet the PS4 GPU will still be stronger.

The other considerations are power consumption and cost related. Using ESRAM and DDR3 is probably overall cheaper to that using no ESRAM, although I'm not certain of that. It might be a bigger cost factor once, we under go a die shrink or two. Long term Durango should be capable of reaching lower cost than PS4, imo.

Using ESRAM + DDR3 should consume less power than using GDDR5.

 

[Xbudz]

MS is part of a consortium to design a Hybrid Memory Cube that significantly increases DDR3 ram into a powerhouse of RAM awesomeness. Some think this is the ram that'll be in Durango, despite the fact that the cube won't be going into production until 2014 at the earliest.

I can see Microsoft getting first dibs at mass production if the plan was to stick HMC into Durango. That would be garanteed profit for the consortium.

 

[HardtopMental1]

Certainly a possibility. If so, they'd better have a hell of a line-up prepared.

Well im sure they will their internal studios have really been hiring hard and they have more studios now then they've ever had so im sure they will plus all the second party collaborations they like to do im sure they will have a ton of games to start with only core gamers buy platforms early and they know that xbox as a brand was built on core gamers.

 

[HardtopMental1]

Last couple of years was microsoft trying to lenghten the consoles lifespan. 360 came out in 2005 on the other hand PS3 2006/2007 depending where you're located.

well they've been out longer by a year not that much and this generation has extended 2 years more then the normal five year cycle in xbox case 8 yrs so im sure they are aware of whats going on which is why they moved all major development to next gen and let third party close out the xbox halo 4 and gears judgment are basically the last march for xbox.

 

[enzo_gt]

You guys are scaring me a little, are you telling me that I have to be jumping around my room waving my hands around in order to play games on the next box?

I don't want to do that. I never used kinect, I like to chill with my controller and barley move for hours on end. I'm not in the mood to fkn jump around my living room.

You don't have to. I think Kinect might tell you to stop flailing, take your meds and actually stay still so it can use your identity to auto-recognize your profile.

 

[statham]

If you love Microsoft so much, why don't you marry it?

Microsoft is a corporation with thousands of people, who is he going to marry? I love my galaxy Sii, but I'm not going to marry it. I bet you have some sneaks you love, you going to marry it?

 

[CLEEK]

Microsoft is a corporation with thousands of people, who is he going to marry? I love my galaxy Sii, but I'm not going to marry it. I bet you have some sneaks you love, you going to marry it?

I bet you were great fun to hang around with in Middle School.

 

[JaggedSac]

You guys are scaring me a little, are you telling me that I have to be jumping around my room waving my hands around in order to play games on the next box?

I don't want to do that. I never used kinect, I like to chill with my controller and barley move for hours on end. I'm not in the mood to fkn jump around my living room.

Yes. And Kinect has a projector that will project separate ads into each eye ball using facial and eye tracking.

 

[Aquamarine]

Hopefully we'll get some new information next week (on the 7th of March presumably) when Microsoft's START (Strategies, Tactics and Regional Targets) FY14 event is held in Seattle. As if it wasn't obvious already that they will be unveiling the new Xbox to personnel from various departments at that event, they have increased security even more to almost insane levels. I'm not expecting much but perhaps hotel staff (Sheraton Seattle Hotel) will sneak something or maybe some Seattle GAF member can get into that party at Q Nightclub.

It'd be cool if something gets leaked...just so the world can finally know for sure what Microsoft is up to (can't wait to see how GAF reacts).

Good luck to the guy who releases the information.

 

[Baconsammy]

I'm interested to see what Microsoft has cooking. Sony could be a complete dick and show the actual PS4 box and release some more gameplay footage the day of this event, however. In fact, if I were them that is precisely what I'd do.

And people would yawn. Microsoft announcing a new console will overshadow anything Sony does.

 

[CLEEK]

And people would yawn. Microsoft announcing a new console will overshadow anything Sony does.

Unless the final PS4 design is in the shape of A MASSIVE PAIR OF TITS.