Microsoft to Build Chips for Next-Gen Xbox
(2 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
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by Mike Zazaian October 23, 2006 - 7:15pm, 4 Comments
Dubbed The Computer Architecture Group,
Microsoft’s efforts to slice their own silicon will be divided between their main offices in Redmond, Washington and Mountain View, California. Chips designed within the project will likely be used not only in the next-gen version of Microsoft’s Xbox, but in other multimedia PC applications as well.
Researchers involved in the Computer Architecture group will be able to test and improve processors much more easily than in the past. Thanks to technologies designed by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, engineers working on Microsoft’s new chips will be able to re-design and test hardware multiple times without the enormous costs of producing finished chips.
With the move Microsoft seeks not only lower costs for future hardware solutions, but also greater overall system performance. As the company will design both the software and hardware for upcoming versions of the Xbox, Microsoft will be able to tailor every aspect of a given system for an optimal price to performance ratio. Said David A. Patterson, a computer scientist at the University of California, Berkeley:
This a historic time in the computer industry. We’re in the middle of a revolutionary change toward parallel computing that will absolutely involve both hardware and software.
By producing their processors in-house Microsoft will sit squarely at the front of that revolution.
Read cnet, via the New York Times
soooo….essentially, MS is turning into Apple? i thought that’s what they dreaded….just wait till they ditch intel to build complete ms boxes and complete the monopoly
joseph
Hopefully they don’t come out with new versions every often within the 5-6 year life cycle of the console… I don’t want to worry about newer technology over the horizon when i’m purchasing an xbox related item. bs
Alien Nine
This will no doubt benefit the consumer, when you invisage all the money and resources that are spent by microsoft to pay the hardware manufacturers for development and expensive hardware testing, its amazing microsoft didnt take this recourse of action with the 360 instead of waiting until the next generation. This will bring down hardware production costs as well as allow the design of better hardware to specifically be calibrated for the floating point intensive calculations such as games. Look at the current 360 processor its full of legacy processes such as the obsolete “in order execution” this significantly bottlenecks the 360’s potential throughput because the processor has to wait on all the other hardware components to begin even processing a single thread let alone six. Out of order execution is far superior and this is only to mention the most pertinent of how the chip could be better designed. Alan Kay had it right when he said “to make good software one must almost make the hardware” Microsoft was fundamentally built on being only a software company who provided an widespread OS to hardware manufacturers. At that time it made it a multi billion dollar company, but to move forward and to innovate microsoft is taking the step of integrating highly tailorised hardware and software together to make what will no doubt be nothing short of a superior and impressive product. I personally cant wait to see it. I wish microsoft would also make tailorised pc’s bring some style and culture to their product, and finally knock mac users off their perch. I personally think they will start to do this anyway I hope sooner than oppossed to later.
Rory