Nintendo Squares Off
[ THIS ARTICLE WAS ORIGINALLY POSTED BY JOHN PHILLIPS BENGERO ON NOVEMBER 6th 2000 ]
Nintendo finally reveals the specs of their next-generation console. Let's see how it stacks up.
Nintendo also released images and information on the different peripherals that will be available for the Nintendo GameCube
Game Boy Advance Adapter
You can use the Game Boy Advance as a private color screen for the Gamecube. Just plug it into a controller slot and you're ready to go. One of the uses specifically mentioned in Nintendo's presentation was the ability to use the GBA as a separate screen for selecting plays privately in sports games such as football.
Digicard
There are two slots at the front of the machine for Digicards—Nintendo's Gamecube memory card. It stores 4 Megabits of information into a card that's smaller in size than a PlayStation memory card. While there are only two Digicard slots on the machine, Nintendo says there will be a way to swap them so four people can load data.
SD-Digicard Adapter
With this adapter, you can use Panasonic/Matsushita's postage stamp-sized SD (Secure Digital) Memory Card, compatible with digital cameras and music players, to store Gamecube data. To give you an idea of the increased storage capacity, one 64 Megabyte SD card holds about 128 times the data of one standard Digicard.
Modem Adapter
Gamecube has a slot on the bottom for a 56k modem, although it will not include one out of the box. Nintendo has not announced specific plans for Gamecube's online connectivity, but said they will do so when it makes sense to use as a tool in games. It's truly plug 'n' play—just snap it into the bottom and you're ready to go.
Broadband Adapter
Not to be left in the 20th century, Nintendo has also announced a Broadband Adapter to connect to future "fat pipe" networks such as cable modems and DSL. This allows for high-speed data transmission. The bottom of the system has two other ports—a high-speed parallel and a second serial. Uses for these haven't been specified.
Wireless Receiver
You no longer have to deal with a cumbersome cord, allowing you a more creative style of play. An RF system is being used. The transmission distance is about 10 m.
Digital Video Cable
In addition to the same A/V out connection that Nintendo's been using since the Super NES days, the back of the GC sports a Digital Video Out. This will support the D Terminal standard, compatible with the advanced digital broadcasting environment for DTV and HDTV. You can also see the handle on the back of the machine for easy carrying.
[ THIS ARTICLE WAS ORIGINALLY POSTED BY JOHN PHILLIPS BENGERO ON NOVEMBER 6th 2000 ]
Nintendo finally reveals the specs of their next-generation console. Let's see how it stacks up.
Manufacturing Process: 0.18 microns Copper Wire Technology
Clock Frequency: 405 MHz
CPU Capacity: 925 Dmips (Dhrystone 2.1)
Internal Data Precision: 32-Bit Integer & 64-Bit Floating-point
External Bus Bandwidth: 1.6GB/second(Peak)
(32-Bit address, 64-Bit data bus202.5MHz)
Internal Cache: L1: Instruction 32KB, Data 32KB (8 way), L2: 256KB (2 way)
System LSI "Flipper"
Manufacturing Process: 0.18 microns, NEC Embedded DRAM Process
Clock Frequency: 202.5MHz
Embedded Frame Buffer: Approx. 2MB
Sustainable Latency: 5ns (1T-SRAM)
Embedded Texture Cache: Approx. 1MB
Sustainable Latency: 5ns (1T-SRAM)
Texture Read Bandwidth: 12.8GB/second (Peak)
Main Memory Bandwidth: 3.2GB/second (Peak)
Color, Z Buffer: Each is 24 Bits
Image Processing Function: Fog, Subpixel Anti-aliasing, HW Light x8, Alpha Blending, Virtual Texture Design, Multi-texture Mapping/Bump/Environment Mapping, MIPMAP, Bilinear Filtering, Real-time Texture Decompression (S3TC), etc.
Other
Sound Processor: Special 16-Bit DSP
Instruction Memory: 8KB RAM + 8KB ROM
Data Memory: 8KB RAM + 4KB ROM
Clock Frequency: 101.25 MHz
Maximum Number of Simultaneously Produced Sounds ADPCM: 64ch
Sampling Frequency: 48KHz
System Floating-point Arithmetic Capability: 13.0GFLOPS (Peak) (MPU, Geometry Engine, HW Lighting Total)
Actual Display Capability: 6 million to 12 million polygons/second (Display capability assuming actual game with complexity model, texture, etc.)
System Main Memory: 24MB
Sustainable Latency: 10ns or lower (1T-SRAM)
A-Memory: 16MB (100MHz DRAM)
Disc Drive Constant Angular Velocity (CAV) System Average Access Time: 128ms
Data Transfer Speed: 16Mbps to 25Mbps
Nintendo also released images and information on the different peripherals that will be available for the Nintendo GameCube
Game Boy Advance Adapter
You can use the Game Boy Advance as a private color screen for the Gamecube. Just plug it into a controller slot and you're ready to go. One of the uses specifically mentioned in Nintendo's presentation was the ability to use the GBA as a separate screen for selecting plays privately in sports games such as football.
Digicard
There are two slots at the front of the machine for Digicards—Nintendo's Gamecube memory card. It stores 4 Megabits of information into a card that's smaller in size than a PlayStation memory card. While there are only two Digicard slots on the machine, Nintendo says there will be a way to swap them so four people can load data.
SD-Digicard Adapter
With this adapter, you can use Panasonic/Matsushita's postage stamp-sized SD (Secure Digital) Memory Card, compatible with digital cameras and music players, to store Gamecube data. To give you an idea of the increased storage capacity, one 64 Megabyte SD card holds about 128 times the data of one standard Digicard.
Modem Adapter
Gamecube has a slot on the bottom for a 56k modem, although it will not include one out of the box. Nintendo has not announced specific plans for Gamecube's online connectivity, but said they will do so when it makes sense to use as a tool in games. It's truly plug 'n' play—just snap it into the bottom and you're ready to go.
Broadband Adapter
Not to be left in the 20th century, Nintendo has also announced a Broadband Adapter to connect to future "fat pipe" networks such as cable modems and DSL. This allows for high-speed data transmission. The bottom of the system has two other ports—a high-speed parallel and a second serial. Uses for these haven't been specified.
Wireless Receiver
You no longer have to deal with a cumbersome cord, allowing you a more creative style of play. An RF system is being used. The transmission distance is about 10 m.
Digital Video Cable
In addition to the same A/V out connection that Nintendo's been using since the Super NES days, the back of the GC sports a Digital Video Out. This will support the D Terminal standard, compatible with the advanced digital broadcasting environment for DTV and HDTV. You can also see the handle on the back of the machine for easy carrying.
[ THIS ARTICLE WAS ORIGINALLY POSTED BY JOHN PHILLIPS BENGERO ON NOVEMBER 6th 2000 ]
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