Dec 5, 2011
Posted by Wii U in Wii U News | 57 Comments
Wii U Specs Rumor
According to a ‘source’ at Wii U daily the Nintendo Wii U specs are as follows:
- Quad Core, 3 GHz PowerPC-based 45nm CPU, very similar to the Xbox 360 chip.
- 768 MB of DRAM “embedded” with the CPU, and shared between CPU and GPU
- Unknown, 40nm ATI-based GPU
The source also went onto say that Nintendo has been testing two versions of the console, one with 768MB of RAM and another with 1G of RAM.
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Pretty underwhelming if true. There are going to be cell phones that are more powerful than that by this time next year, and that’s no exaggeration.
Why do you keep on saying that smartphones are a big issue to the future generation of consoles and handhelds? The target audience for smartphone gaming and actual console/handheld gaming are very different. I can’t have a Zelda or Mario experience on a tiny screen on a smartphone. I believe that this alone will drive sales for a long time.
Hook a bluetooth controller up to your smartphone, then use an HDMI out to put the image to your TV in 1080p.
Why buy a console if your phone is cheaper and more powerful?
That’s where we’re heading right now. Some of the top end smartphone games are well beyond the capacity of the Wii and they’re approaching the Xbox 360.
All that’s missing is a good tactile response, and bluetooth controllers will provide this.
It’s the fact that this guy doesn’t know what he is talking about, FIRST. SMART PHONES DO NOT HAVE SUCH POWERFUL RAM, secondly GHZ DOESN’T MATTER IF YOUR CPU SUCKS ****, meaning that this 3GHZ Quad core is more powerful than a 10ghz dual core for a smart phone, finally… HAS ANYONE LOOKED AT THE GPU? Guess not, it’s much more capable.
ur right dude
Seriously? You should consider researching stuff about smart phones before you type a “smart remark” saying that “It’s the fact that this guy doesn’t know what he is talking about” when it is you who doesn’t know what YOUR talking about. For one Samsung’s Exynos processor which is a 1.2 GHZ dual core processor can support very and I mean VERY good 3d rendering. But if you haven’t seen it already look at Nvidia’s new Tegra 3 mobile quad core processor line. Same graphics as this system. If its not better in some circumstances.
Just so you guys know, people wayy overhype smart phones. I have an I pad(close enough to an iphone) and a samsung infuse(android and apple) and theres maybe a handful of games that are even worth downloading, and the games that are supposed to be so good are worth dsiware at best. Not one game compares to even a gameboy advance game.this is mostly because a phones game is a giant step down from any videogame system in terms of quality. Its almost impossible to find a game that wont freeze or glitch up everey once and a while. And look at your video game library, you wont be able to hold that amount of that quality games without slowing your phone. basically in terms of gaming, as a fellow gamer, you probably would hate a smart phone to replace dedicated handhelds(not that they could) its a huge step down and the games are low quality. my phone dosent light a candle to any console ive ever owned in terms of gaming. (although this is just my opinion)
Seriously? While the specs of smartphones are getting impressive for what they are, they’re still using ARM CPUs, which don’t even support 64 bit yet, and won’t until 2014. The CPUs that launch even then will only be roughly equivalent to Core 2 Duos. It’s completely illogical to compare the IBM PPC architecture to ARM, even if you compared an ARM with the amount of cores and frequency, the PPC would dominate in terms of performance.
Consoles are not top of the line PC’s. If this article is accurate, the Wii U will be in line with high end PC’s from 5+ years ago.
Look at Infinity Blade 2 and compare it to smartphone games from even two years ago. Infinity Blade 2 looks better than anything the Wii has to offer visually.
A year from now, I’m expecting smartphone games to surpass the PS3. How can you not?
ur just being cheap…dont waste our time ok…
I’m not wasting anyone’s time. You can choose not to read what I write, but you do.
I’m very confident in everything I write. I have two Wii’s in my household and I have several games and I’m deep into Skyward Sword.
That being said, the graphics on the Wii pale in comparison to some of the high end mobile games that are available today.
Well, keep in mind that the Wii came out like 5 years ago? And it doesn’t even support HD? Of course it’s not going to be as good visually. And, smartphones can’t even support games that come out on consoles. You obviously have no idea what you are talking about…
P.S. The PS3 was also released 5 years ago.
Infinity Blade 2 looks as good as a PS3 game.
Onlive also allows many of today’s top on games to play relatively well on smartphones.
Arkham City is available On Live, and therefore available on most of today’s phones and tablets.
Did anyone know that the video card in the ps3 is just a nvdia 7900GTX?
that card came out in hmmm… hard to remember… maybe 02? I just think thats lame. But the cell processor does do alot of the rendering as well.
WOW, you clearly have no idea what your talking about, smartphones will NOT pass the power of the ps3, the issue is power. the ps3 sucks down 200 watts, and without getting technical on you that means a cell phone EVEN IF it could have ps3 technology, and the power to dissipate such heat (which it doesent) it would only power it for seconds. and thats something you cannot escape. cell phones today do not even have 100/the the power of the ps3. most computers don’t even.
My computer from 2009 has two 650 watt power supply units. It never really uses over 800 watts, but going over 200 isn’t really a huge achievement.
Anyway, devices these days, especially portable devices are focused more on energy efficiency. You can get a lot more, from a lot less wattage that you could five years ago.
Also, my original comment was posted in early December before there was clarification of how powerful the Wii U was reported to be. The specs listed at the time were on par with a gaming computer from 2003.
With features like OnLive, you can play high quality games on today’s devices. The only thing holding it back is bandwith, not power.
You really think that smartphones will be more powerful than a 4-core POWER7? POWER7 has 4-way SMT, which means 16 threads (compared to 6 on the X360 and 2+8SPEs on the PS3).
Now, what you’re saying is that in a year we’ll go from something like the A5 to 4-core POWER7 in a year. Twice the cores, 8 times the threads, and 3 times the processor speed? Really????
John, I don’t think that. My comment was left on December 5th before this article was clarified through other sources.
The article stated that the Wii would be on par with the Xbox 360 which would have been disappointing.
Yes, I do believe that smartphones will be as capable as the current generation of consoles in one way or another (onlive).
Despite specs, there are smartphone games that look superior to Wii games.
Don’t really believe this source at all.
I actually agree with you, source has no merit at allll
Why then from EA and DICE not gonna make BF3 for WII U not believe on that
Have heard many different takes on specs rumour, its likely a POWER7 chip which is actually significantly better than the latest XBOX 360 chip (a 45nm xenon chip). Even if it is the lowest version of thee POWER7, it has 4 simultaneous threads per core while the xenon only has 2 per core, this will make a big difference. POWER7 chips are used in large arrays on the watson super computer. As for the ‘only as powerful as a 5 year old PC’ comment, that’s perfectly true but somewhat irrelevant, consoles are always significantly less powerful than the PC’s around at their launch date yet with nothing to run but a minimal OS and a game, developers can make better use of it.
I just read a few articles that state that as well. The POWER7 chip is far more powerful. It looks like it will have significantly more DRAM which could make it ten times more capable than the Xbox 360 if those sources are true.
I heard that the Wii U will be using ATI/AMDs new microprocessor GPU technology that will be the same as their upcoming 7XXX graphics card range which is to be released early 2012… Anyone heard of this?
Yeh that’s what the ‘unknown’ ATI processor is about IMO
i know dude thats why the wii u coming out in early 2012 . and dude i have nintendo power magizene and it says its coming out in or after april 2012
Actually we’ll see at E3 12
Yeh these rumors have no substance, can Nintendo just release an official statement!!
You know what they’ll say though.
“Nintendo does not comment on rumors and speculation.”
It’s not necessary though. This story was produced by busybodies creating their own news to report. Not a SHRED of proof. We already know for a fact that the Wii U is using a Power7 chip because that is some of the information Nintendo did divulge at E3.
It’s just haters, that’s all. Graphics whores upset that Nintendo has proven once again there superiority in the gaming industry by COMPLETELY turning around the 3DS from a spectacular failure to a smash success in just a few months. Even IF the Wii U was only as powerful as a 360 what different would it make? The Wii has completely pwned both the 360 and PS3 and it is only somewhat more powerful than the Gamecube. In fact, throughout history the systems that have won the console war (mostly Nintendo)have either been weaker, or the weakest of their generation. So if all Microsoft and Sony fanboys have to hang their hat on is that the 720 and PS4 will be “more powerful” than the Wii U, they are in big trouble.
Um the wii was the cheapest. So it sold the best. This was the same deal with the ps2 and systems in earlier generations. And the 3DS has been out for almost a year now and is the only 8th generation portable out in the U.S. The PS Vita is 5 times more powerful than it any way. But Nintendo needs to step it up or the same thing will happen like with the wii, a bunch of shitty games will come out for it because it won’t support the same as PS4 or XBOX 720.
wtf they talking about smartphones…I’VE PLAYED INFINITY BLADE…omg u cant compare this with consoles…this game just got good models..not enviroments better that the games wii offering..get over this…and btw i dont think a smartphone can handle a crysis title or gta titles this is just insane even thinking of it…and a smartphone is cheaper?…hmm like the iphone 4s yeah thats cheap or any samsungs..-_-
Infinity Blade II uses the same engine as Crysis II – Crytek Engine III
GTA 4 is coming out for Android and iOS in eight days. Smartphones are generally cheaper, especially if you purchase one for phone and web use. The gaming is just an added bonus. Also, the games are way cheaper.
I’m not saying the games are better, I’m just stating that they have the potential to be better very soon. Also, I wasn’t talking about Infinity Blade, I was talking about Infinity Blade 2.
smartphone games at the same lvl as ps3 games? and that in a year? yeah sure…and in 2 years we will have cars with the power of a plane and driving at 1000km/h and don’t forget in 3 years planes can travel to mars in a day or so, tss… really…get serious
Gta 3 is not 4. and look at how fast technology is increasing. look at the power of the core 2 duo which was amazing at the time then what a couple years like 2 you have the I series cpu? I mean look at the amount of power the 1st i7 processor had.. it was groundbreaking and then the sandybrige version and now the other newer version? and amd’s bulldozer processor hitting 8.4 GHZ plus being a 6 core processor? how can you doubt anything when it comes to technology??
sounds like what thay are saying is prity consitent with what i have hearing eDram is only on a power7 the lowest power7 is 4cors the power7 is IBM latest prosser and GPU is on base with DX11 so more than 50% better than Xbox360 and PS3 get a life peple don’t like theas facts
Dude no way Nintendo to make something close to PS3 or 360 maybe WII U will be better don’t know yet but and with better console Nintendo will be the same they’ll make games for little kids like always
like those games can’t make fun of Zelda my favorite game or mario eather but thay allways have had some kidey games to but the wii was Nintendos weakest system and my favorite system frome them but i played Nlmtendo sence i was a kid in 1984 and still love filling like a kid you are in titled to your opinion don’t be a dron know what you are saying do some research first if this is true then the chip is 5xxx or beter and a power7 is IBMs strongest proseser all the only one with eDram in it witch is stronger than normal ram you might be wright tho but all the third partys shold de there to 40nm chip is 5xxx or better and on the level of DX11
Just wanting this gaming console to come out asap to end all the speculation…. i tihnk announcing it at e3 2011 was maybe a bit too soon, dont think nintendo were ready???
No….it’s pretty much par for the course for Nintendo. They usually announce their new system one year in advance of it’s release. I don;t think WE will be ready when the final built comes out. Nintendo games in HD graphics?
**passes out**
you have to understand what edram, sram, and moysis to make a comment on these specs. the wiiu is going to be the best system on a chip setup out running hd games period. ms and sony can only trump nintendoby fluffing numbers to look more impressive. nintendo is effectively making what sony couldnt a cell like chip with every thing on board. the edram does what rambus ram could never do. instant refresh and enough bandwidth to feed a 12 or more core chip which is what the waston cpu really is. the specs are horriblly misunderstood by none tech guys and down played by fans of other platforms, even pc media.
chips are not getting any faster than 3ghz. more cores than the wiiu is simply a hassel than a benifit if your ram isnt up to the task. this will also be the first gpu to use super fast edram insread of ddr ram which is slower. why dont pc makers use it? they dont own stock in the company like nintendo and its crazy expensive to put ram on the chip die and harder to fab. thanks to the final revission of the wii they are ready. plus nintendo almost guarantees a lucrative account.
the 1gig version or higher will be over kill but that is what hd gaming needs a massive overkill so the framerate doesnt have to slow down inorder for graphic ai etc to get better.
phone tech will not reach the watson level not even core duo tech. the reason for all the hype is simply marketting. the wiiu supports game building directly on the system right now you dont even need a pc, i know no phone that lets yiu do such a thing and never will. sure they are getting better yet powerful no. yiu can not even run most 2d image editing software on these phones.
Can you clarify, “this will also be the first gpu to use super fast edram insread of ddr ram which is slower.”
I know the PS2, Gamecube, PSP, Wii and Xbox 360 all had edram. Was the cpu using it, or the gpu? If it was the latter, your statement may be inaccurate.
ps2 did not use edram. ngc and wii both used sram. xbox 360 has 12 megs of edram for the frame buffer. its also not on the chip. look up the bandwidth of sram and please post what you find. edram is very close to this rams refresh rate and speed.
Actually, upon further research, I’ve confirmed that the PS2 and Gamecube both did infact has eDRAM.
For one example, Google. “did gamecube use edram?” and click on the first link.
That page was published to the web before the Wii came out.
Sorry i have been busy.Edram can be seen as embedded ram in a system. i am talking about system on a chip configs or ram on the actual cpu or gpu. the ps2 had no chip or cpu with a great ammount of ram built into it. the rambus ram was suppose to make up for that. it didnt because sony didnt really understand pc tech the way they should have. happy new years to you.
ur right the other guys dont know anything
I’ve got a question. is the wii u coming with wii remote or just the new controller
No USB 3.0 ??!!
The tech specs on the nintendo.com website declare the Wii U will have USB 2.0 ports. Why not use USB 3.0? USB 3.0 will be faster especially if connecting to an external hard drive. Why would somebody pay $600 for USB 2.0??
It’s not going to be $600.
USB 3.0 costs more, would lower profits.
Not really necessary.
BACK ON YOUR OPINION ABOUT SMARTPHONES:
smartphone games at the same lvl as ps3 games? and that in a year? yeah sure…and in 2 years we will have cars with the power of a plane and driving at 1000km/h and don’t forget in 3 years planes can travel to mars in a day or so, tss… really…get serious
Onlive allows you to play PS3 quality games on a smartphone.
Even if it doesn’t run on the hardware of the phone, the phone is capable of playing PS3 quality games.
Yeah, USB 3.0 as it is isn’t very useful. Whoo, I can hook up faster HDDs. Big frikkin whoop. That’s about all 3.0 is used for, and the Wii U probably won’t have external HDDs, and if it does, 3.0 might be overkill. I mean, plain ol’ 2.0 flash drives are fast enough for the 360 to load games from them, and those just suck at that crap.
USB 3.0 is a nonfactor on a system, since it doesn’t grant it any benefit.
Good to know. Thanks for the reply and Happy New Years to you as well!
Well, obviously some of it isn’t true. It’s not a PowerPC CPU. It’s a Power7 and that’s confirmed. I can see how one would make the mistake there, but they are different.
I’m going to guess here and say one of each. But I would put money on it being AT LEAST their new controller with the console.
And this is where almost of the mix up comes in to play, and the reports of an R4 Card not running in the new Nintendo DSi system.
All you guys saying that smart phones are going to be a cheaper alternative to handheld/console gaming are mistaken. Have you not looked at the price of smart phones? They keep rising and rising. It’s nothing for a phone to have a full retail price of $400-$600. Not to mention that they are only built to last two years max because they want you to use your upgrade to lock you in for another two years. Then for a phone that caliber your going to be paying at least $80 a month in phone bills. Oh, not to mention one fatal mistake causing you to drop your phone on the ground just cost you $100 minimum if you have insurance and $600 maximum if you don’t. Call me old fashioned but I don’t want to be carrying around a $600 dollar fragile handheld console. I’d rather have my vita/3ds in its protective case that I pull out whenever I need. I also don’t want to be carrying around a phone with a 5 inch screen on it that wont even fit in my pocket. It feels like were reverting back to the old giant cell phones.