Nintendo 3DS specs 'leaked', packs dual processors

[Matthew DeCarlo]

IGN has reportedly received an early rundown of the Nintendo 3DS hardware via anonymous sources familiar with the device. The site says that Nintendo's forthcoming 3D-enabled handheld will carry two 266MHz ARM11 processors -- though the precise variation of ARM11 is unclear. The new portable console will also pack a 133MHz graphics core with 4MB of dedicated VRAM, 64MB of RAM, and 1.5GB of flash storage along with SD card support.

It's anybody's guess how accurate these specs are, but the ARM11 architecture is widely used by other mobile devices, including early iPhone and iPod Touch models, all Kindles, the Palm Pixi, as well as the Kin One and Zune HD, so its presence is plausible enough. Engadget notes that nothing conflicts with the leaked 3DS FCC shots. IGN has pinged Nintendo for an official comment, but we're guessing the company won't share too many details.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/40363-nintendo-3ds-specs-leaked-packs-dual-processors.html

 

[mattfrompa]

It may be "yet another DS" but at least this one actually improves upon graphics instead of just making the screen bigger and brighter. I wish the screen size would have at least matched the DSi XL though (3DS will supposedly be larger than DSi but smaller than XL). Then again, I'm someone who would buy one netbook sized : P

 

[princeton]

So basically nintendo still is far behind in terms of performance and graphics on any system?

 

[veedubguy]

it sure doesn't seem to slow them down much though now does it?

 

[LinkedKube]

I just want to say that this is a horrible spot for a power button.

 

[ElShotte]

Okay... Nintendo needs to step it up a little. I just looked at the specs and they are 3-4 years behind. They're "new" hardware looks like the hardware of the PSP. PSP had a 450 Mhz CPU, 64 Mb of RAM (for the later versions, initial one had 32 Mb) and 4 Mb of VRAM from what I remember, bear in mind this is years ago...

 

[ElShotte]

But then again, kids don't really mind the "worse" graphics, and their games are intuitive, not to mention the fact that they're probably going for an affordable handheld and won't end up loosing money on the initial units. Also, these are "leaked" so chances are they're not final. Any info on the release date?

 

[Guest]

@supersmashbrada I agree hopefully that is just an artist picture and thats not where it really is.

I think Nintendo realizes that the smartphone market is its competition and not the PSP. It has to make affordable handhelds and affordable games to compete. Where so far PSP strategy or at least there marketing one is to say smartphone games isn't for big boys like the PSP is.

The whole time they have been way behind in raw specs for the DS and Wii. DS is king of the handheld market and until just recently Wii was the top selling console in the states every month.

I don't have a handheld because I really don't like carrying around that and them my phone. I would really like to see a DS phone. Where the DS comes first and the phone second. Have things like a profile with settings per group of contacts with options with what to do with a text like, display across screen like some phones do, show a little icon, or save the msg until i am done with the level or go to the start menu. Have those same others for phone calls.

 

[DokkRokken]

princeton said:
So basically nintendo still is far behind in terms of performance and graphics on any system?

Obviously the PSP's superior graphics are why it has been the sales success of the century.

 

[achromicia]

I don't think most of you get it. This is specialised hardware so it doesn't need 2GB of VRAM and 8GB of RAM the system doesn't require much more than the software to handle the hardware and the game itself.

It also makes developers think about what they are using and optimise the game. The specs sound pretty good especially with the dual core there could be some awesome parallel processing happening I just seriously hope that Nintendo DON'T release another Super Mario 64...

 

[ET3D]

Hardware-wise I agree it's somewhat disappointing. The GPU is clocked lower than the based speed advertised for the chip, and people had speculated it'd be double that. So it's lower than PSP speed.

Still, I believe Nintendo knows what it's doing. It has proven this time and again in recent years. The Wii is the only thing that got me playing a little with consoles, and the 3DS might also get to be the first real portable console I own (I owned an N-Gage, but that doesn't count). Not sure I will, but it certainly looks more exciting to me than what was before it.

 

[Sunny87]

There is more to this than people realize, the GPU is currently clocked at 133MHz firmware updates could unlock more speed where needed or if the games from the carts/downloads request it kind of like the N64 when some games needed the extra RAM chip but GPU speeds instead, this is to save battery power in the main menu and using basic dashboard functions.

The CPU is not just one dual core CPU there are two working with each other 266 MHz and 266 MHz = 532 MHz total processing power and thats not to bad I just want to know what the other specs of the CPU what it has for L1 and L2 cache and FSB and stuff! I'm not to familiar with the ARM CPU's, but from what I can understand via the specs we will see at least Gamecube level graphics on the 3DS.