Xbox dev kit specs 05/2013

Hi, I am a developer at a big studio (we are currently working on titles for the next generation of consoles) and I want to give you all an update about the current situation regarding the Xbox. I obviously can't tell you who I exactly am and where I work, and I have to be a little careful about what I say, because I fear some of the documentation and even the hardware our studio has received, contains individual values and terms which can be traced back to my studio in case of leaks, which would be very unpleasant for us.

I think at some time in the second half of 2012 Microsoft must have realised that their vision of a console powered by an APU with 1.23 TFLOPS graphics processing power will have a hard time competing with the PS4. It also became seemingly clear at that time, that Sony could quite easily upgrade the RAM in their new console, due to new chips being available with higher capacities. Although I guess they didn't *know* that Sony would really go with 8 GB at that time, they knew it was a possibility. The problem was, they were running out of time. Their old design was not very flexible, so they had to come up with something new.

So they completely scrapped the APU approach, and basically rebuilt the whole architecture from scratch with even more off-the-shelf parts. The current kits we have received a while ago have a discrete CPU and a discrete GPU. The CPU is still x86, has 8 cores and has still relatively low clocks, but it's not Jaguar as far as I am aware. I guess they did choose a CPU with a slightly bigger die now, because size isn't as important anymore as it was on the APU, but I don't know exactly because the cases are sealed and I can't take a look inside. The GPU is also new, and it is not GCN1, at least that's what I heard from our programmers. More about the GPU further down. There was also a big change regarding memory architecture: It is no longer a unified memory solution. There are now two memory pools: One with 8 GB DDR3 RAM (34 GB/s, 4 GB available for games), and one with 6 GB GDDR5 RAM (192 GB/s, all available for games). eSRAM is GONE! Technically the devkit has 16 GB DDR3 RAM, but the Xbox will ship with 8GB DDR3 (and 6GB GDDR5). The downside of going with a discrete CPU/GPU is loosing some of the APU synergy effects, but I guess it's not too bad and it was the only way to update the specs, because designing a new custom chip was certainly not possible in that time frame.

There is currently some confusion about clock speeds and processing power, I cannot give you exact numbers, because they are... a little bit odd right now, and as I wrote above I suspect it's a way of tracking leaks. When we received the kits, we where a bit suprised because they had the same cases as the old ones, which seems strange because a discrete CPU/GPU with split RAM obviously needs a little bit more space / cooling. And they where loud. Really loud. Shortly after we received the kits we got an update which reduced clock values slightly, because some devs have reported problems with heat. As it stands now, the GPU has ~2.3 TFLOPS (it was ~2.7 when we received the kits - again, sorry for not giving you the *exact* number). I have no idea if this is the final number or if they will work on a better cooling solution or something like that. It probably could even go further down, I don't know, so don't be too excited - our games are currently built with lower specs in mind. A personal theory of mine is that they postponed the reveal to work on an updated case, which is better suited for the updated specs.

Kinect has received some updates, but we only have implemented a few voice commands for our game. Not sure if they will include Kinect with every console. Would make sense so that more games use this, but in the end it's Microsoft's decision. Our dev kits are currently "always-on", meaning they need a internet connection to start and all, but I am not sure if this will carry over to the final Xbox, I guess it's just a way for Microsoft to track dev kits right now. Our game doesn't need to be always-on. Which doesn't mean it won't be there on a OS level, I just don't know. I also have no idea how Microsoft will price this thing, I guess $500, as rumored, makes sense somehow. I don't have much insight into their internal strategies. I hope I could give you a nice sneak peak at the reveal, our game will also be there, too, and it's a secret title, very excited! :-)