AfterDawn: News

Rumor: Xbox 360 successor to have 16 CPU cores

The latest rumor for the Xbox 360 successor is here.

Microsoft's upcoming console, code-named Durango is rumored to be powered by a 16-core processor, says Xbox World magazine.



The magazine says devkits have already been sent to developers, following "secret" meetings held in London. Of course, the Durango kits will not resemble the final device, but the internals should match (at least similarly) what is expected to be in the final console.

All rumors point to a holiday 2013 release and the sources claim the devkits have "a 16-core IBM Power PC CPU with a graphics processor on par with AMD's Radeon HD 7000-series graphics cards."

If accurate, the console will certainly be forward-looking, as the business market saw its first 16-core processor (from AMD) just last November. Adds the magazine: "It's a ridiculous amount of power for a games machine - too much power, even. But remember, Kinect 2 could chew up four whole cores tracking multiple players right down to their fingertips, so it'll need a lot of power."

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 11 Apr 2012 12:54

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• 23 comments

• SGSeries2

  I would like to see them make Kinect 2 the sole input device for their next console. Not that I'd buy one, rather just so I could put on a giant smirk across my face when I see it.

  11.4.2012 13:22 #1

• hearme0

  Not sure I believe this.

  11.4.2012 14:45 #2

• RichardvonBacon

  Xbox 360? Didnt that came out like 6 years ago...

  11.4.2012 15:21 #3

• Clownzill

  They need to use one of the cores to process your credit card info on all the DLC purchases you will have to make.
  

  11.4.2012 15:53 #4

• A5J4DX

  would be epic
  

  11.4.2012 16:42 #5

• i1der

  Originally posted by Clownzill: They need to use one of the cores to process your credit card info on all the DLC purchases you will have to make. awesome!
  

  11.4.2012 16:43 #6

• statomike

  16 processor cores means you can run about 8 games or programs at once. I'm sure someone out there will find it incredibly useful when 12 of the cores are forced to run Dashboard all the time.
  
  And it will have a 2012 PC graphics card in it?
  
  This isn't news if it doesn't matter to anyone.

  11.4.2012 16:43 #7

• djkorn

  Originally posted by statomike: 16 processor cores means you can run about 8 games or programs at once. I'm sure someone out there will find it incredibly useful when 12 of the cores are forced to run Dashboard all the time.
  
  And it will have a 2012 PC graphics card in it?
  
  This isn't news if it doesn't matter to anyone. amen to that
  

  11.4.2012 16:50 #8

• elitepunk

  16 cores...sounds liek ''ASS'' now but maybe when graphics get beter n shit it will materr perhaps...top pc's are like 8 cores now, so i suppose it is not unreasonable..

  11.4.2012 16:57 #9

• bobiroc

  Originally posted by statomike: 16 processor cores means you can run about 8 games or programs at once. I'm sure someone out there will find it incredibly useful when 12 of the cores are forced to run Dashboard all the time.
  
  And it will have a 2012 PC graphics card in it?
  
  This isn't news if it doesn't matter to anyone. You do realize that there is a difference between a closed system like a game console designed to do specialized functions and only run the software specificially written for it compared to a full featured computer running an Operating system that has to be more open to what a user will do with it and what hardware will be used on it right?
  
  I only say this because some like to reference how consoles run an older video card and are not spec for spec compared to a much more expensive gaming PC.
  

  AMD Phenom II 965 @ 3.67Ghz, 8GB DDR3, ATI Radeon 5770HD, 300GB 10,000RPM Raptor, 2TB Additional HDD, Windows 7 Ultimate.
  
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  11.4.2012 18:04 #10

• xaznboitx

  I'm only worried about download games only and can't used games on other consoles.

  12.4.2012 00:13 #11

• xtago

  Originally posted by bobiroc: Originally posted by statomike: 16 processor cores means you can run about 8 games or programs at once. I'm sure someone out there will find it incredibly useful when 12 of the cores are forced to run Dashboard all the time.
  
  And it will have a 2012 PC graphics card in it?
  
  This isn't news if it doesn't matter to anyone. You do realize that there is a difference between a closed system like a game console designed to do specialized functions and only run the software specificially written for it compared to a full featured computer running an Operating system that has to be more open to what a user will do with it and what hardware will be used on it right?
  
  I only say this because some like to reference how consoles run an older video card and are not spec for spec compared to a much more expensive gaming PC. the 360 runs a gimped windows vista OS, gimped so the only thing that works is the dashboard and the games it, it uses directx etc for handling the GPU it's nothing special.
  
  The reason why devs find it easy is that all the dev stuff already made for any windows OS will also work on the 360.
  
  The next xbox will probably just run window 8 but probably not gimped in the same way seeing as windows 8 is more like a phone/xbox OS with the extras being able to do files etc stuff on the side.
  
  it's caused a stir with some people.

  12.4.2012 05:15 #12

• Mr_Bill06

  I can see the Xbox next having a lot of cores, as Kinect may use a few and they may allocate a few for various tasks. I just don't want to see them go heavy on the CPU side and leave the GPU side light. The 360 and PS3 is still a good machine and it's more the GPU side then CPU side that is showing the age and limits of the console. That should tell both MS and Sony not to go light here if they want there console to last as long if not longer this time around.
  

  12.4.2012 11:15 #13

• djkorn

  I think that microsoft should run Mac OS X. I mean after all they did rip off apple :)
  

  12.4.2012 11:55 #14

• LordRuss

  I don't see how any of this would have any relevance whatsoever. Unless I'm grossly behind, other than multiple graphics processors, I'm led to believe that no games to date are still capable of using multicore processing. So unless your Xbox is going to serve as a media cruncher I see little else for a dual core (possibly a quad core) system at best.
  
  I think they're just throwing hardware at this thing now like they used to do us older PC nerds when it came to gaming. the higher the numbers, the more likely it just had to 'had' to be better. This being despite programming had actually caught up with utilizing the technology or not. Or that it would even use it at all.
  
  I think we're just hearing the back blast of a design goon's good idea bomb going off.
  

  http://onlyinrussellsworld.blogspot.com

  12.4.2012 12:19 #15

• bobiroc

  Originally posted by LordRuss: I don't see how any of this would have any relevance whatsoever. Unless I'm grossly behind, other than multiple graphics processors, I'm led to believe that no games to date are still capable of using multicore processing. So unless your Xbox is going to serve as a media cruncher I see little else for a dual core (possibly a quad core) system at best.
  
  I think they're just throwing hardware at this thing now like they used to do us older PC nerds when it came to gaming. the higher the numbers, the more likely it just had to 'had' to be better. This being despite programming had actually caught up with utilizing the technology or not. Or that it would even use it at all.
  
  I think we're just hearing the back blast of a design goon's good idea bomb going off. Once again you are forgetting that if the software is written specifically for the certain processor and GPU then it can take advantage of it more efficiently. When developers make games or software for general PCs they have to take into account the varying core processors and many other hardware configurations along with Operating System and software variations. On a console the game is written for that specific hardware and does not need to take in account any major variations.
  
  Think of it this way. A NASCAR is designed specifically to run on certain type of track with certain tire types and very little variation compared to a general car. For that reason it performs Awesomely on a race track but would not do as well on general roads.
  

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  12.4.2012 12:43 #16

• LordRuss

  Originally posted by bobiroc: Think of it this way. A NASCAR is designed specifically to run on certain type of track with certain tire types and very little variation compared to a general car. For that reason it performs Awesomely on a race track but would not do as well on general roads. THAT makes more sense than some of the other analogies I've been getting... of course now I sound like a beer swilling moron who likes to sit in a car with the doors welded shut & always turn left...
  
  But it certainly adjusts for why PCs have a harder time adjusting to doing "More than just one thing"... Thanks for adjusting my perspective.
  

  http://onlyinrussellsworld.blogspot.com

  12.4.2012 12:52 #17

• bobiroc

  Originally posted by LordRuss: Originally posted by bobiroc: Think of it this way. A NASCAR is designed specifically to run on certain type of track with certain tire types and very little variation compared to a general car. For that reason it performs Awesomely on a race track but would not do as well on general roads. THAT makes more sense than some of the other analogies I've been getting... of course now I sound like a beer swilling moron who likes to sit in a car with the doors welded shut & always turn left...
  
  But it certainly adjusts for why PCs have a harder time adjusting to doing "More than just one thing"... Thanks for adjusting my perspective. No Problem It also helps explain why some games perform better on NVidia than Radeon or vice versa. It is all in how the software is written. Even in this modern age software developers are not writing to take advantage of the 4+ core processors effeciently and rely on the OS to distribute tasks way too much. Of course in their defense they have to do their best to make sure their software will work with their minumum requirements and keep those requirements low enough to keep the masses happy. I am glad I am not a software developer and especially a game developer because it would blow my mind.
  
  Also if all three major consoles use a similar PowerPC processor chip and GPU it will make games easier to port over or modify to run on all the consoles effeciently. Now since they are all a little different is why you sometimes see a game made for Wii with the same or similar title made by a different developer than PS3 or XBOX360. Either that or they do a half-assed port job and it plays horribly on one console over another.
  

  AMD Phenom II 965 @ 3.67Ghz, 8GB DDR3, ATI Radeon 5770HD, 300GB 10,000RPM Raptor, 2TB Additional HDD, Windows 7 Ultimate.
  
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  12.4.2012 13:55 #18

• BobShaft

  Originally posted by Clownzill: They need to use one of the cores to process your credit card info on all the DLC purchases you will have to make. LOL!!
  
  I'm sure this console will be ridiculously expensive when it's released.
  
  Anyway I'm a little suprised Microsoft wants to use a Power PC CPU for one of their products but I guess it just makes for a better gaming console. Maybe they'll start making Windows capable of running on PowerPC's. Haha.
  
  As far as multiple cores go, it makes me think of the PS2. It had a CPU and 2 "Vector Units" among other processors for things like audio, etc. Maybe it makes more sense with current technology to combine the power of multiple chips into one CPU.I'm thinking they'll be writing their code to spread different aspects like audio or maybe even something comparible to "PhysX" across different cores.
  

  13.4.2012 09:29 #19

• 8686

  Clownzill
  
  They need to use one of the cores to process your credit card info on all the DLC purchases you will have to make.
  
  HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! Man this is funny. So true right?
  
  

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  10 TB Wes Dig. 64G Corsair SSD

  13.4.2012 09:55 #20

• Mysttic

  Remember this is just a dev kit, likely hardware specs will drop before launch to get close to that sweet spot selling price as possible. Also MS may take another profit loss next console, like they did on 360 at launch; that may mean the system will boast a higher specs than the competition.
  
  But 16 cores, with a 7xxx ATI card AND likely shipping with Kinect Rev. 3. Well what would people pay for that? The sweet price for a launched console is $500, but any higher you risk the poor & middle class not biting. So I bet the hardware specs drop to 8 cores for the CPU. It'd be nice if we had dual GPU but I doubt that will happen, or be prepared to pay out the yang for it.

  13.4.2012 11:20 #21

• Mr-Movies

  Originally posted by RichardvonBacon: Xbox 360? Didnt that came out like 6 years ago... If you actually read and comprehended you would have seen SUCCESSOR with would mean next. Some refer to it as XBOX 720 others have labelled it XBOX NEXT, it doesn't really matter though as it's all the same.
  
  From rumors it will have 4 independent HD7000 GPU's not configured in a poorly master/slave fashion like SLi or Crossfire's are so this baby should smoke anything on the market as long as it doesn't die on a yearly basis like the 360's did when they came out.
  
  Looks pretty cool.
  

  13.4.2012 14:34 #22

• SoulGLOW

  Originally posted by RichardvonBacon: Xbox 360? Didnt that came out like 6 years ago... R-tard. read the WHOLE article.

  27.4.2012 06:09 #23