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Chinese website GZeasy revealed an alleged blueprint of Xbox 2, labeled Xenon System Block Diagram, earlier today. The diagram is believed to be the basic concept for the next Xbox, which is either codenamed Xenon or will, in fact, be called Xenon. Though some aspects of Xenon may change slightly over the next year, the diagram is believed to be a close representation of Xbox 2.
Michael Dougherty, head of Xbox Advanced Technology Group, has his name attached to the document, though that doesn't make it any more legitimate. However, the diagram was confirmed as the real deal by a developer close to Microsoft. "We were very surprised to see that leaked," a source, who wished to remain anonymous, told us this morning. "I'm sure Microsoft is freaking out because this is the same stuff [developers] have now."
Other sources have claimed that the document is not real and claim it is a fake. The main point of contention is that the document doesn't state what type of RAM will be used, something that's quite important for development considerations. A Microsoft representative stated, "Microsoft does not comment on rumors or speculation" -- but Microsoft's legal department requested that IGN does not reprint the schematic on its websites. While most signs suggest that the document is authentic and of high importance, note that it is also possible the leaked blueprint is an older document never meant for the public eye and that the current architecture of Xbox 2 is quite different.
What does the fancy diagram that Microsoft doesn't want you to see mean? Though it doesn't offer cold hard facts as to what "Xenon" will be capable of in terms of full processing power, one thing is clear -- this baby will be quite powerful. Xenon is divided into essentially two sections. The section on the left of the machine, the South Bridge, is standard stuff. That's where your DVD, Ethernet port, and potential hard disk go. Note that the hard disk is not confirmed, even in this diagram, but if it is to be used, expect 20-80 GBs capacity.
The more interesting parts of the diagram are on the right. Think of the North Bridge as your highway of importance and everything attached to it -- graphics, sound, AI -- are all of the information needed to run a game. All of that needs to get pulled onto the highway and brought to the South Bridge. There are wide open lanes to the North Bridge from every area, incredibly wide, with 10.8-33.2 GBs per second bandwidth able to be transferred along the pipeline. That is unbelievably fast.
Of course, a quick pipeline means nothing if there isn't processing power behind it all. Taking a bike onto an empty freeway still isn't going to get you anywhere quickly. The first and most important item to note is the upper box on the diagram. There are three 3.5+GHz CPU chips. Each of these will likely be used to handle different aspects of Xenon processing. Each also has its own separate cache and a global cache. All of this means that while Xenon will likely use grid processing or some form of collaborative "cell" processing (IBM does something similar with "Butterfly" very well), as opposed to the more common dual-processing. Each CPU can then work independently to govern different game needs, but because of the shared cache, and because each is a Virtual Processing Unit, programmers will see it as, essentially, one unit. They won't have to meticulously program specific functions to each processor, but instead can rely on Xenon to choose where to distribute everything. None of that Sega Saturn insanity here.
Below the North Bridge is the all-important graphics chip. The 500MHz clocked core chip has 10 Megs of dedicated EDRAM, which will likely be used for more specific special effects. While that doesn't sound like much, Microsoft's current console has no graphics-dedicated RAM. Those 10MBs will keep a majority of the 256 MBs of main RAM free for other applications. This chip, presumably still of ATI make and specially created for Xenon, looks to be beyond the best graphics available on PC now or in the foreseeable future, but should be comparable to those high-end cards by the time Xenon is release in 2005 (unless it's delayed).
To the right of the North Bridge is the Main Memory, which at 256MB may seem small compared to your personal computer, but remember that Xbox only has 64MBs and does not have any memory specifically dedicated to graphics or special effects. All of that memory can be pumped across the system bus at 22.4 GBs per second. More bandwidth across the board means less choke points, which translates to higher performance. If this diagram is real, reasonably up-to-date, and if this is the blueprint for Xbox 2, then gamers are in for a whale of a machine, one far more powerful than any current generation console. We'll have more on this story as it develops.
Source: IGN
Michael Dougherty, head of Xbox Advanced Technology Group, has his name attached to the document, though that doesn't make it any more legitimate. However, the diagram was confirmed as the real deal by a developer close to Microsoft. "We were very surprised to see that leaked," a source, who wished to remain anonymous, told us this morning. "I'm sure Microsoft is freaking out because this is the same stuff [developers] have now."
Other sources have claimed that the document is not real and claim it is a fake. The main point of contention is that the document doesn't state what type of RAM will be used, something that's quite important for development considerations. A Microsoft representative stated, "Microsoft does not comment on rumors or speculation" -- but Microsoft's legal department requested that IGN does not reprint the schematic on its websites. While most signs suggest that the document is authentic and of high importance, note that it is also possible the leaked blueprint is an older document never meant for the public eye and that the current architecture of Xbox 2 is quite different.
What does the fancy diagram that Microsoft doesn't want you to see mean? Though it doesn't offer cold hard facts as to what "Xenon" will be capable of in terms of full processing power, one thing is clear -- this baby will be quite powerful. Xenon is divided into essentially two sections. The section on the left of the machine, the South Bridge, is standard stuff. That's where your DVD, Ethernet port, and potential hard disk go. Note that the hard disk is not confirmed, even in this diagram, but if it is to be used, expect 20-80 GBs capacity.
The more interesting parts of the diagram are on the right. Think of the North Bridge as your highway of importance and everything attached to it -- graphics, sound, AI -- are all of the information needed to run a game. All of that needs to get pulled onto the highway and brought to the South Bridge. There are wide open lanes to the North Bridge from every area, incredibly wide, with 10.8-33.2 GBs per second bandwidth able to be transferred along the pipeline. That is unbelievably fast.
Of course, a quick pipeline means nothing if there isn't processing power behind it all. Taking a bike onto an empty freeway still isn't going to get you anywhere quickly. The first and most important item to note is the upper box on the diagram. There are three 3.5+GHz CPU chips. Each of these will likely be used to handle different aspects of Xenon processing. Each also has its own separate cache and a global cache. All of this means that while Xenon will likely use grid processing or some form of collaborative "cell" processing (IBM does something similar with "Butterfly" very well), as opposed to the more common dual-processing. Each CPU can then work independently to govern different game needs, but because of the shared cache, and because each is a Virtual Processing Unit, programmers will see it as, essentially, one unit. They won't have to meticulously program specific functions to each processor, but instead can rely on Xenon to choose where to distribute everything. None of that Sega Saturn insanity here.
Below the North Bridge is the all-important graphics chip. The 500MHz clocked core chip has 10 Megs of dedicated EDRAM, which will likely be used for more specific special effects. While that doesn't sound like much, Microsoft's current console has no graphics-dedicated RAM. Those 10MBs will keep a majority of the 256 MBs of main RAM free for other applications. This chip, presumably still of ATI make and specially created for Xenon, looks to be beyond the best graphics available on PC now or in the foreseeable future, but should be comparable to those high-end cards by the time Xenon is release in 2005 (unless it's delayed).
To the right of the North Bridge is the Main Memory, which at 256MB may seem small compared to your personal computer, but remember that Xbox only has 64MBs and does not have any memory specifically dedicated to graphics or special effects. All of that memory can be pumped across the system bus at 22.4 GBs per second. More bandwidth across the board means less choke points, which translates to higher performance. If this diagram is real, reasonably up-to-date, and if this is the blueprint for Xbox 2, then gamers are in for a whale of a machine, one far more powerful than any current generation console. We'll have more on this story as it develops.
Source: IGN