GCN vs. the Competition

Click here to see the difference in graphics.

Gamecube

"From the very beginning of our GCN development we became aware of how the GCN would change things. We would work on something for a week and quickly achieve results that looked better then what we were seeing others do on the Xbox or PS2. The Gamecube will allow Nintendo to take the world by storm." Denis Dyack, President of Silicon Knights.

Nintendo GameCube hardware specifications:

MPU ("Micro Processing Unit")	Custom IBM Power PC "Gekko"
Manufacturing Process	0.18 micron IBM Copper Wire Technology
Clock Frequency	485 MHz
CPU Capacity	1125 Dmips (Dhrystone 2.1)
Internal Data Precision	32-bit Integer & 64-bit Floating-point
External Bus	1.3 GB/second peak bandwidth 32-bit address space 64-bit data bus 162 MHz clock
Internal Cache	L1: Instruction 32KB, Data 32KB (8 way) L2: 256KB (2 way)

System LSI	Custom ATI/Nintendo "Flipper"
Manufacturing Process	0.18 micron NEC Embedded DRAM Process
Clock Frequency	162 MHz
Embedded Frame Buffer	Approx. 2 MB
	Sustainable Latency: 6.2ns (1T-SRAM)
Embedded Texture Cache	Approx. 1 MB
	Sustainable Latency: 6.2 ns (1T-SRAM)
Texture Read Bandwidth	10.4 GB/second (Peak)
Main Memory Bandwidth	2.6 GB/second (Peak)
Pixel Depth	24-bit Color, 24-bit Z Buffer
Image Processing Functions	Fog, Subpixel Anti-aliasing, 8 Hardware Lights, Alpha Blending, Virtual Texture Design, Multi-texturing, Bump Mapping, Environment Mapping, MIP Mapping, Bilinear Filtering, Trilinear Filtering, Ansitropic Filtering, Real-time Hardware Texture Decompression (S3TC) Real-time Decompression of Display List, HW 3-line Deflickering filter

Audio Processing	(Incorporated into the System LSI)
Sound Processor	Custom Macronix 16-bit DSP
Instruction Memory	8KB RAM + 8KB ROM
Data Memory	8KB RAM + 4KB ROM
Clock Frequency	81 MHz
Performance	64 simultaneous channels, ADPCM & PCM encoding
Sampling Frequency	48KHz

Performance
Floating-point Arithmetic Capability	10.5 GFLOPS (Peak) (MPU, Geometry Engine, HW Lighting Total)
Real-world polygon	6 to 12 million polygons/second (Peak) (Assuming actual game conditions with complex models, fully textured, fully lit, etc.)

System Memory "Splash"	40 MB
Main Memory	24 MB MoSys 1T-SRAM Approximately 10ns Sustainable Latency
A-Memory	16 MB 81 MHz DRAM

Disc Drive	CAV (Constant Angular Velocity) System
Average Access Time	128ms
Data Transfer Speed	16Mbps to 25Mbps
Media	3 inch Nintendo GameCube Disc based on Matsushita's Optical Disc Technology
Capacity	Approx. 1.5GB

Input/Output	4 Controller Ports
	2 Memory Card Slots
	Analog AV Output
	Digital AV Output
	2 High-Speed Serial Ports
	High-speed Parallel Port

Power Supply	AC Adapter DC12V x 3.5A

Dimensions	4.3"(H) x 5.9"(W) x 6.3"(D)

Playstation 2

"Here is a system that promised more than it delivered, although what it delivers is obviously cool. Many people can get enjoyment from this system, but it's not completely superior to everything else like Sony wants everyone to believe. Hype aside, it's a worthy successor to the PS1"Saikyo Ki, Gamefaqs Reviewer

Playstation 2 Specs

CPU 128 Bit Emotion Engine
System Clock Frequency 294.912 MHz
Main Memory Direct RDRAM
Memory Size 32MB

Graphics "Graphics Synthesizer"
Clock Frequency 147.456MHz
Embedded Cache VRAM 4MB

Sound SPU2
Number of Voices 48ch plus software
Sound Memory 2MB

IOP I/O Processor
CPU Core PlayStation CPU+
Clock Frequency 33.8688MHz or 36.864MHz (Selectable)
IOP Memory 2MB

Disc Device CD-ROM and DVD-ROM
Device Speed CD-ROM 24 times speed
DVD-ROM 4 times speed

Accessories included: "Dual Shock"2 analog controller
High capacity 8MB Memory Card
PlayStation2 Demo Disc
AV Multi Cable
AC Power Cord
Dimensions: 301mm (W) x 178mm (H) x 78mm (D)
(12" x 7" x 3")
Weight: 2.1 kg (4 lbs. 10 oz.)

Media: PlayStation2 CD-ROM, DVD-ROM
PlayStation CD-ROM
Formats supported: Audio CD, DVD-Video
Interfaces: Controller Port (2)
Memory Card Slot (2)
AV Multi Cable Output (1)
Optical Digital Output (1)
USB Port (2)
I.Link (IEEE1394) (1)
Type III PCMCIA Card Slot

Playstation 2

"The X-box does not mesure up to the hype it had. Most of those who buy the X-box are microsoft fanatics that are to blind to see its faults because they loose sense lugging that half ton machine around." Jeremy Glasor, Vice-President of the Ottawa gaming company. "9 Pound piece of S**t!" Mario Beaudoin, Student at Franco-Ouest technology school.

Xbox Spec's Chart

CPU	733 MHz, made by Intel
Graphics Processor	250 MHz custom-designed chip by Microsoft and nVidia
Total Memory	64 MB
Memory Bandwidth	6.4 GB/sec
Polygon Performance	125 M/sec
Simultaneous Textures	4
Pixel Fill Rate - No Texture	4.0 G/sec
Pixel Fill Rate - 1 Texture	4.0 G/sec
Pixel Fill Rate - 2 Textures	4.0 G/sec
Compressed Textures	Yes (6:1)
Storage Medium	2-5x DVD, 8 GB Hard Disk, 8 MB Memory Card
I/O	Game Controller x4, Ethernet (10/100)
Audio Channels	256
3D Audio Support in Hardware	Yes (64 3D Channels)
MIDI+DLS Support	Yes
Hardware Audio Filtering and EQ	Yes
Broadband Enabled	Yes
DVD Movie Playback	Yes (Remote Control Required)
HDTV Movie Support	Yes
HDTV Game Support	Yes
Maximum Resolution	1920x1080
Maximum Resolution (2 x 32bpp fram buffers + Z)	1920x1080
US Launch Date	November 15, 2001
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