Graphics comparison of XBOX 360

[leeslangley]

Morning guys,

I was having a think yesterday, I am running a 7800 GTX on my computer and it runs things very nicely, my flat mate has an xbox 360 and that runs things very nicely also.

Does anybody know how the graphics system in the xbox 360 compares to a PC... i.e. have they used standard chip sets taken from a PC and installed it into the console ?

What sort of specs on a PC would we expect to equate to the graphical capabilities of the xbox 360?

 

[Trifid]

The xbox 360 uses a watered down version of the X1900XT from ATI. The CPU on the other hand is very powerful compared to what you get in a desktop PC, but not as powerful on pure processing power from a single core/thread.

 

[Fafhrd]

While this doesnt cover the general question, it does answer it for the game Oblivion in the link. http://www.gamespot.com/features/6147028/index.html

 

[Tyler1989]

I don't remember from my memory 100% but it's a custom made ATI card with 48 shader piplines.

 

[john3]

yeah its a Custom ATI with 48 Shader pipelines, and Unified Shader Architecture. But if u compare it i'd have to say a 7800GT or GTX AT MAX!

But the reason why its good is that all the parts are dedicated, they have one objective, PLAY GAMES!

it has 3, Dual Cores 3.2Ghz Intel Processors, runs 6 threads. But again its dedicated so each one costs less than a regular one.

 

[Tyler1989]

Actually that isn't true. It's 3 Custom IBM PowerPC processors at 3.2Ghz. It's because it's PowerPC that the 360 cannot play the origanal Xbox games without a patch/update from the 360 dashboard.

 

[john3]

oh, i thought it was Intel, time to change the words on my powerpoint presentation.

 

[Tyler1989]

It's been awhile since I looked but I'm almost positive. You should go google "Pual Thurrott" and see his 360 Hardware reviews.

 

[killians45]

You are correct, it is based off of the powerPC. Also, there is not really any comparison for the GPU because of the proprietary technology in it (it goes beyond just unified shader and 48 pipes, it also has special cache access, procedural synthesis, and many other new concepts). Thing is, this is the first title that is just starting to show the realization of the hardware capabilities. People mistakingly think its mostly hardware that determines, but its also in how the programmer utilizes instruction sets and learns more of its hardware and instructions. This takes awhile though, as with any new hardware. Takes awhile to use its potential.

 

[zmatt]

with the new consoles alot of new technology of comming out, just wait until the programmers can figure out how to take advantage of it! the ps3 has a 9 core cpu and the 360 has custom graphics designed from the ground up.