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Videogames website Gamespy.com has posted information on what they believe to be specs for the next console form Microsoft. It should be noted that these specs are based on information the staff at Gamespy gathered from people within the game development industry; they are not officially released specs and could change by the time we finally get our hands on the console. The details revealed are as follows:
CPU – Xbox 2 will house a CPU comprised of three PowerPC cores, with each core running at 3.0 GHz. Each core will be capable of two instructions per cycle and have L1 cache with 32 MB for data and 32 MB for instructions. 1 MB of L2 cache will be shared across the three cores.
GPU – The Xbox 2 GPU is based on technology one generation ahead of ATI’s current X800 set of video cards. It will be clocked at 500 MHz and support SM 3.0.
System Memory – As expected the Xbox 2 will ship with 256 MB RAM.
Optical Drive – Xbox 2 will contain a DVD ROM Drive, capable of reading DVD-9 media at 12X speed.
Memory Units – The Xbox 2 will use memory units like the current Xbox. These will come in sizes from 64 MB to 1024 MB. 8 MB will be reserved for system use only.
Hard Drive – Xbox 2 will not include an internal Hard Drive. The Hard Drive will be optional and 2 GB will be used for game cache.
Camera – Surprisingly, the Xbox 2 will use a USB 2.0 camera allowing users to use photos in-game, for profiles and for video chat.
Sound – The Xbox 2 won’t have a standard sound chip on board. It will use hardware to handle decompression, while everything else is handled by software. X3DAudio has been adopted.
Regarding the software, Microsoft is apparently requiring all games to support high-definition (at least 720p), a widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio, 5.1 Surround Sound and anti-aliasing. All games will also have Xbox Live support as a mandatory feature.
Moving on a step from what gamers are used to with the current Xbox, all Xbox 2 titles will support custom soundtracks. Music can be converted to MP3 or WMA formats. Gameplay movies will use Xenon Motion Video (XMV), which is based on WM9. Using the mandatory codec for HD-DVD, the aim is for video running at 720p at 30 fps and with 5.1 sound.
We shall take the specs with a pinch of salt until we get official specs from Microsoft themselves.
Read Part One of the full article.
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