AMD has reportedly developed a 20nm Xbox One processor, could lead to slim console

Shawn Knight

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report microsoft xbox sony gpu cpu gaming apu 28nm 20nm playstation 4 gaming console xbox one

AMD has reportedly developed a smaller version of the processor found inside the Xbox One. A smaller chip would be cheaper to build (eventually) and create less heat which could ultimately translate into a slim version of Microsoft’s latest console according to a report from Eurogamer’s Richard Leadbetter.

The main processing chip inside the Xbox One today is built on a 28-nanometer manufacturing process. The new chip would be fabricated at 20-nanometer, if the rumor is to be believed.

The intel comes from the LinkedIn page of Daniel McConnell, AMD’s senior manager of System on a Chip (SoC) physical design. He mentioned that he successfully planned and executed the first APU for Microsoft’s Xbox One in 28-nanometer technology as well as a cost-reduced derivative in 20-nanometer.

report microsoft xbox sony gpu cpu gaming apu 28nm 20nm playstation 4 gaming console xbox one

Leadbetter speculates that the objective of the revised processor would be to offer the exact same performance as the current model. This opens the door to a much smaller cooling assembly which in turn could mean a thinner overall chassis. Using fewer materials to build a thinner console also means less packaging – even more savings.

He noted that a 30 percent performance boost from the chip is intriguing but not likely to materialize.

Further supporting the argument is the fact that Microsoft is looking to hire engineers to work on the overall Xbox One design. Of course, 20-nanometer chips are still cost prohibitive at this point and probably will be for a while due to high demand from smartphone manufacturers. 

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This is what Xbox One needs. That 20% will close the gap between PS4 and Xbox One. Enough to make sure 1080p in both consoles can be achieved. Also the DX12 will reduce costs for porting (I hope).
 
This is what Xbox One needs. That 20% will close the gap between PS4 and Xbox One. Enough to make sure 1080p in both consoles can be achieved. Also the DX12 will reduce costs for porting (I hope).

Even though I would love for them to increase the power of X1, I don't see them doing it unless they help people that already bought it upgrade for the more powerful version!
 
This is what Xbox One needs. That 20% will close the gap between PS4 and Xbox One. Enough to make sure 1080p in both consoles can be achieved. Also the DX12 will reduce costs for porting (I hope).

Consoles have fixed hardware performance for the lifetime of the console. The shrink is there for power usage, temperature and cost reduction, not to increase performance.
 
Yep unless they do a recall in the 6 million sold xbox ones, they are stuck with current performance for the consoles life cycle. Changing it now would be highly questionable or even suicidal.
 
I think the xbox one specs are just fine. You don't need to be the most powerful console on the market, you need to be the one with the best games. With what the xbox one has for power, shouldn't be an issue. They just need some really kick *** games. The Wii U is really under powered by comparison of the xbox one and ps4, but I really enjoy my Wii U as it has some really good games that I can't get on a xbox one or ps4. If I was just looking for a powerful console, I would be missing out on some awesome games found on the lesser powerful consoles.
 
If your going to change hardware... why would one.. stick with old performance? thats.. like... STUPID in the world of hardware..
if AMD is going to shrink die size.. why would amd.. stick with the same performance of the bigger die? thats.. like..STUPID...
does everybody think that everybody else is stupid? or.. people are so stupid that they think only the stupid things about everybody else?... and how things are going to turn out.... the world will keep going around... theres not going to be mass histeria.. mass murder.. its only a stupid console.. who cares if the new one will get 20 more fps? or less power consumption... games are going to be played either way.. yeah.. sure.. microsoft will make games only fit for the new console... thats like.. 200% garanteed.. angels are going to fall from heaven... the power consumption will be so low.. that.. if you buy the new one.. by the end of the year the old one is payed for.... sure!!....
 
If your going to change hardware... why would one.. stick with old performance? thats.. like... STUPID in the world of hardware..
Welcome to the world of game consoles. That's how things have been done since a long, long time ago. It's standard practice for console manufacturers to improve efficiency of their products while retaining the same level of performance. The hardware must remain relatively static throughout the life cycle of the product, which prevents development complications (titles released on, say, version 3.0 of the hardware must be perfectly and equally playable on version 1.0 and 2.0 of the same console). Any kind of performance improvements are reserved for successor products, a.k.a. next-gen consoles.
 
The point, as others have noted, has never been to increase performance. At that point you no longer have a console, developers would need to optimize for each iteration, and consumers would feel slighted. A smaller chip is what allows costs to come down and more people to buy your machine. Smaller chips are what allowed the Playstation 2 to carry the entirety of the PS1 onboard to allow near omplete backwards compatibility.
 
UM.. Don't need a removable hard drive.. just plug in a 3 TB external.. problem solved..
 
2 big misunderstandings that everybody keeps posting:
1. the hardware performance won't change for consoles over time.
2. DX12 does nothing for the xbox one with the exception of a few new APIs (like the one for eSRAM usage), it already supports almost everything that's included in DX12 for PCs so you won't see performance gains from it. (but this doesn't mean that normal optimisations of the APIs and drivers won't help with performance --> what happened for both last gen consoles)
 
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