IGN did some more digging with sources today and posted some more hardware power rumors.
They did benchmarks with the system afterwards, but they're kind of non-sensical since the games aren't designed for them and these aren't exact parts.
The 4850 is actually a fairly significant R700 card, which speaks well to the system's power level.
I would consider this a notable sign pointing to IGN's "significantly more powerful" rumor than Game Informer's "barely more powerful" rumor.
Since people seem to want more explanation:
If someone wants to do a very extensive tech comparison between the base hardware and what's in the 360 and PS3, I'll edit that in here too, with a note that the Cafe's will be modified.
They did benchmarks with the system afterwards, but they're kind of non-sensical since the games aren't designed for them and these aren't exact parts.
Source: http://gear.ign.com/articles/116/1168222p1.htmlIGN said:Earlier this month, we published a report about Nintendo's next console (otherwise known as Wii 2 or Project Cafe) including details regarding the design as well as specific hardware specs. Based on the information we received and with help from our sources, we found retail PC components comparable to the ones Nintendo is expected to use in their new system and built a mock console of our own.
Building the System
IGN's sources originally informed us that Nintendo would be calling upon a custom triple core CPU, similar to what is being used in the Xbox 360, for their next system, as well as a graphics processor built upon AMD's R700 architecture. We called upon our trusted sources to help us determine the retail products with the closest possible clock speed and power, as well as fill in some of the blanks for other components, like finding a suitable motherboard and appropriate amount of RAM.
*I'm removing the list because the general statements from developers make far more sense to go off of.*
Though the parts we used are comparable, our sources say there will be some significant variation in the final product. For one, the CPU is likely to be clocked above 3.2GHz and the GPU will feature a tweaked design but a similar speed to the HD 4850 we used. Most importantly, the Wii 2/Project Caf�'s total RAM is likely to be 1GB, but we added an extra GB to offset the Windows 7 OS, which is pretty taxing otherwise.
Finally, we assembled the system in a MyOpenPC DOMA Pro acrylic case so we could clearly display the components.
In total, our system cost $423.93, which, of course, accounts for retail markup. In the case of Nintendo, hardware and production costs will be drastically lower given the high volume at which the components will be produced, though the final retail price could be upwards of $300.
The 4850 is actually a fairly significant R700 card, which speaks well to the system's power level.
I would consider this a notable sign pointing to IGN's "significantly more powerful" rumor than Game Informer's "barely more powerful" rumor.
Since people seem to want more explanation:
Nirolak said:Very favorably.canadian crowe said:How does this compare to 360/PS3 specs?
The RAM bottleneck and what tweaks they are making are important for making a final call though.
As an example however, The Witcher 2 uses that graphics card as its "Recommended" card, which is generally what you use for full settings sans stuff like high amounts of AA.
If someone wants to do a very extensive tech comparison between the base hardware and what's in the 360 and PS3, I'll edit that in here too, with a note that the Cafe's will be modified.