IBM's Watson team says the Wii U has a Power7 CPU. Developers say PowerPC. Who's right?
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| Just what exactly powers this thing? |
The speculation about the Wii U's CPU continues with no end in sight. For more than a year, the administrators of the Twitter account for IBM's supercomputer Watson repeatedly said that the console would run on a Power7 chip. According to IBM's documentation, Power7 chips come in 4, 6, and 8-core varieties. But a few weeks ago, anonymous developers told Eurogamer the system runs on a PowerPC chip with 3 cores. Then, on September 16th, weeks after Eurogamer's article, the Watson team repeated the claim that the Wii U's CPU is a Power7 chip. So which is it?
Everyone believed Wii U would have a Power7 CPU
In June of 2011, the Wii U was officially unveiled and IBM issued a press release stating that they would be providing the CPU for the new console. The administrators of the Twitter account for IBM's supercomputer Watson, which is powered by Power7 technology, tweeted that Nintendo's new console would also have a Power7-based chip. Michael Gorman of tech blog Engadget even posted an article titled "IBM puts Watson's brains in Wii U." In his article, Gorman clearly states that Wii U's "45nm custom chip packs the same processor technology found in Watson." It seemed iron-clad. According to this PDF documentation provided by IBM themselves, Power7 chips come with 4, 6, or 8 cores. So why is this is significant?
Anonymous Devs: Wii U has a tri-core CPU
The Wii U - carrying on Nintendo's PowerPC tradition?
The GameCube was the first Nintendo console to have a PowerPC CPU, which was named Flipper. The Wii's CPU was an enhanced version of Flipper, called Broadway. And now, if Eurogamer's sources are correct, it appears the Wii U could very well have a tri-core PowerPC CPU. If Nintendo's system does have a PowerPC CPU like its predecessor, it could explain how the new console will have flawless backwards compatibility with Wii games, whereas the Xbox 360 has struggled with backwards compatibility due to the fact that its architecture is radically different from the original Xbox. And yet, there is one glaring issue.
The Watson team has claimed, yet again, that the Wii U has a Power7 CPU
The Wii U is a custom 45 nm #power7 chip. Same SOI design in #ibmwatson
That's a real head-scratcher. How could developers mistake Power7 architecture for PowerPC, especially when you take into consideration IBM's official documentation that clearly says the fewest number of cores in a Power7 chip is 4?
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The official IBM documentation. Note there are no versions with less than 4 cores. |
The Watson team apologizes for an error?
WiiU chip clarification: It’s a “Power-based microprocessor”
A second Tweet then provided a link to IBM's press release, the same press release Michael Gorman of Engadget cited in his article that claimed the Wii U would run on Power7 technology. Shortly after, the same Twitter user asked the Watson team if the Power7 claims were mistaken. Their response:
"Pardon the error. It's a custom chip built on Power architecture base."
Gaming website GimmeGimmeGames spotted the conversation and reached out for clarification but did not receive an answer. What did the Watson team mean by "Pardon the error?"
Conclusion
The administrators of Watson's official Twitter account have repeatedly told everyone that the Wii U's CPU is a Power7 chip. Again, according to IBM's own documentation, Power7 chips come in 4, 6, and 8-core varieties. Eurogamer's anonymous developers, on the other hand, say the system has 3 cores. These two claims seem to be contradictory, which leaves us with the following possibilities.
1. The CPU is a Power7 chip - The administrators of Watson's Twitter account have been right all along and Eurogamer's anonymous devs don't even know what's inside the console.
2. The CPU is a PowerPC chip - Eurogamer's anonymous devs know the truth and Watson's Twitter administrators have been mistaken all along.
Closing Comments
As for me, I don't really care what powers the Wii U, or how it stacks up against other machines. If we can get games that look as good as the Zelda tech demo, I'm more than satisfied with the Big N's new creation.
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| This system's powerful enough for me. |
Update: A hacker has revealed what he claims are the tech specs of the Wii U CPU and GPU. Click here for story.
Sources
Watson's official Twitter feed via GimmeGimmeGames
IBM Wii U Press Release
IBM Power7 documentation
"How Powerful is the Wii U Really?" - Eurogamer
"IBM Puts Watson's Brains In Wii U" - Engadget
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IFAIK it's been confirmed that the CPU has 3 enhanced Broadway cores, called "Espresso".
ReplyDeleteThe enhancements will probabely make use of Power7 technology, but are basicly still PowerPC chips.
It is also confirmed that it will be about 20 times as powerfull as the Broadway CPU (The Xbox360 CPU is about 25 times as powerfull).
Considering wattage of the WiiU, the CPU will probabely run at around 2Ghz.
Hi, thanks for commenting!
DeleteYou are referring to the alleged tech specs posted by VGLeaks, and I actually had a paragraph in the rough draft of this article about that subject. According to the VGLeaks specs, the Wii U's CPU has three enhanced Broadway cores, which are PowerPC chips. Their claim that the CPU is named "Espresso" is an obvious reference to coffee, which would make perfect sense given the Wii U's codename was "Project Cafe." However, given the fact that IBM's Watson repeated its claim that the CPU is a Power7 chip after the VGLeaks post, along with the doubts people have about the the credibility of VGLeaks, I ended up deleting that section.
If the anonymous developers who spoke to Eurogamer were correct that the CPU has 3 PowerPC cores, the specs posted by VGLeaks could very well be the real deal. At the end of the day, though, we still don't know the truth. Like I said in my closing comments, I'm sure someone who gets the system at launch will take a look inside and let us know their findings.
Thanks for visiting!
The CPU for the wii-u is pretty weak actually. most the devs making games for it now that comment say their biggest issue so far is the weak clock rate on the cpu. 20times more powerful then the xbox? I doubt that to be honest.
DeleteThe WiiU CPU is 20 times as powerfull as the Wii CPU (broadway).
DeleteThe Xbox360 CPU is 25 times as powerfull as the Wii CPU.
So the WiiU CPU is 20% weaker compared to the Xbox360 CPU.
IBM tweeted today that it is NOT a Power7 CPU.
I just checked the Twitter feed and the last tweet about the Wii U CPU was on 9/23, two days ago. The latest tweet provides a link to the official IBM press release from June of 2011. As far as I can tell, we still don't have a conclusive answer.
Deletemore power more power more power = more power
ReplyDeletenintendo it´s better
ReplyDelete