Scorpio Console Rumored To Use Raven Ridge

http://digiworthy.com/2017/01/08/project-scorpio-use-amd-raven-ridge-apu-ryzen-vega/

While six hundred bucks might sound like a lot for a console, PC gamers routinely spend twice as much to achieve the same results building their own computers capable of not only VR gaming, but 4k resolutions on a monitor at often over 60fps. Those unfamiliar with PC gaming might assume this means the end of PC gaming but, quite the opposite, what it implies is the competition for the hearts of video gamers is about heat up Big Time. Consoles like this one can achieve the same results at half the cost because, using standardized hardware, the game developers can tweak their games to run outrageously better than attempting to make them compatible with every computer on the planet. Likewise, the console manufacturers can order chips designed specifically just for video gaming with this rumor implying that AMD might be producing a special 8 core version of their normally 4 core Raven Ridge chip. That would be a rather large Soc, or system on a chip, that combines a separate cpu and gpu on a silicon transposer with a ton of memory and superfast interconnects. SoCs like this one are common in cellphones and other devices, but this would be the first truly large and powerful one coming on the market that is aimed squarely at video gamers.

Just as Microsoft is using AMD for this console, AMD is also developing their own compact computer called Quantum that uses liquid cooling to pack everything into a tiny package and, if popular, it could become a non-proprietary PC version of a console that video game developers can also tweak their games to run faster on because it too has standardized hardware. Intel has been developing their own "Devil's Canyon" system that, for roughly the same price, packs about as much power as most PC gamers could reasonably ask for in something the size of a lunch box you can hang on the back of your monitor or TV. There is also already the notable addition on the market of the newest custom Origin all-in-one PC that, for two to three thousand bucks, can pack an outrageous amount of video gaming power right into its 34" drool worthy monitor and this technology coming out at the end of the year should cause the price to drop dramatically as monitor manufacturers and brand name computers get in on the action.

To put all this in perspective, what we are seeing with the Scorpio console is the development of the cheaper technology with AMD's Vega architecture capable of producing perhaps 12-24 teraflops of computing power compared to Nvidia's upcoming Volta being capable of 40 teraflops, and AMD's new ryzen chips being just a hair slower and choppier for video gaming than Intel. Reviewers have been complaining for years that the numbers they spit out for benchmarks and whatnot are becoming too abstract and these kinds of gaming systems coming out should compel many of them to describe future gaming computers more in terms of subjective impressions. Currently AMD rules the console market and is obviously aiming for the low cost PC gaming market as well and we'll see what Intel and Nvidia have to offer in response sometime by the end of this year or beginning of next.

In recent years, PC gaming has surged in popularity and all the proprietary bullshit with consoles is part of the reason. Already the consoles are adapting to the new reality by becoming much less proprietary in certain respects, but what they rely upon in being able to supply proprietary content and specialized hardware like controllers rather than graphics hardware specifically. Exactly how they'll divide up the market between them is one of the more interesting questions yet to be answered.