NVIDIA: Top end PC GPU 24 times faster than that in Xbox 360

NewsPublish Date 15/06/2012 - 9:23am GMT+1

Even next-gen consoles are unlikely to match that, says NVIDIA's principal engineer.

The current top end graphics card on the market is approximately 24 times as powerful as the card inside the Xbox 360, according to Simon Green, principal engineer at NVIDIA.

Speaking to New Scientist, Green said that PC gaming visuals have already dramatically outpaced consoles. He also believes that next-gen consoles are unlikely to reach that level of raw horsepower.

This gap in graphical power was made obvious when Epic Games, makers of the Unreal graphics engine that powers many modern games, showed off the newest version of the engine on a top-of-the-range PC. Even the next generation of consoles is unlikely to match that.

The NVIDIA engineer also believes that the games console might one day be completely redundant: "One day, the whole idea of owning a separate piece of hardware to play games on might be completely redundant," said Green.

VideoGamer.com Analysis

It's no surprise that the current PC GPUs are significantly faster than what is inside our games consoles. The Xbox 360 is seven years old this year, and the PlayStation 3 is six. While we aren't going to get console GPUs that match the raw power of top end PC equivalents, dedicated games consoles are always capable of doing more with the grunt they have.