Why GC is more "powerful" than XBox

[Kbu Chan]

I started this thread in reaction to the "System of the Year" thread. Some posters intelligently and eloquently asked that I explain to them my opinions on the GC's and XBox's respective power. Glad to help guys.

How can anyone be as completely fucking stupid as you? You seriously have to be a joke account.

The GameCube's CPU is 485 mhz.

The Xbox's CPU is 700 mhz.

You're the stupidest person on this board.

I'd suggest you, hmmm... lets see, know what the fuck you're talking about?

I don't recall Diff elaborating on how the Xbox's faster processing speed equates it to having better games than the slower Gamecube. He simply stated the processor speeds.

(Sigh), I didn't realize you guys knew so little about these things, and then to be so malicious. But I guess it explains a few things. Instead of being a dick back to you, I'll just explain, briefly, and in no great detail, why the GC's proccessor is at least 30% more powerful than the XBox's and how it's architecture widens the difference in throughput, which is why so many GC games run at up to twice the framerate as the same game on the XBox, even if the game is developed on the XBox (Turok, Vexx, Beyond Good and Evil, Dark Summit, Wreckless, Splinter Cell, LOTR, etc...). And there's not a single game (that I'm aware of) that runs at 60fps on the XBox and less than that on the GC, and there shouldn't be.

I'm gonna keep it as brief as I can because I have other things I need to be doing. I may go into more detail tomorrow. And believe it or not, although I'm admittedly a huge Nintendo fan, I'm objective on this matter. If the XBox really was more powerful than the GC, I wouldn't care, but it's not, so I'm just explaining why.

Just to clarify, I know a bit about this stuff because I'm a computer programmer. I've got a CP degree and I'm also certified in several languages, that's just to present that I have some authority on this subject and I'm not just making shit up.

First off, figuring out how "powerful" a cpu is, is pretty easy. There's nothing magical about the way they work. The main points to look at are the speed(mhz), size of the data stream (32bit, 64bit), floating point (mathematical notation in which a quantity is denoted by one number multiplied by a power of the number base), and the efficiency of the instruction set (CISC, RISC).

The XBox's cpu is 32bit @ 733mhz. That is to say the XBox can process a data stream 32 characters wide, 733 million times a second; that's 23,456,000,000 characters a second. The characters are the program's code. The GC's cpu is 64bit @ 485mhz. That's 31,040,000,000 characters a second. The GC can process over 32% more characters in any given time, so right off the bat the GC's cpu is 32% more powerful. That's a measurable fact. They both have similar floating points, around 8.6 GFLOPS, so they're even there, but another point of interest which widens the difference in throughput, is the different instruction sets.

The characters that the machine processes (in 32 or 64 bit "chunks") is known as it's instruction set. The programmer's code is converted into this, because that's what the machine understands. The XBox uses a CISC (Closed Instruction Set Chip) and the GC uses a RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Chip). RISC is a newer technology, and it allows fewer characters to be used to perform the same operations as it would in a CISC. So the GC's processor, which is already 32% faster is also more efficient, it takes less cpu power to carry out similar operations. The difference in throughput widens.

Then you can take into account both of the system's architecture. The GC has 1T-SRAM embedded on it's gpu, which means the cpu doesn't have to waste cycles moving data to and from RAM. The XBox has nothing similar. The XBox also has to maintain it's RAM (it has to keep refreshing it) more than the GC, using up cpu power. You can see the XBox's cpu getting behind in it's "housekeeping", as a result, in games like Glitch, Splinter Cell, Simpsons Hit and Run. This looks like the screen breaking up into horizontal slices when the camera pans around fast. I know other people on this board have seen this because I've seen them asking what it was.

And there are other things too, such as the GC's gpu drawing eight textures per pass and the XBox only drawing four, the drawbacks of DTS (lag), the obviously higher image quality of the GC (I can't believe anyone who has spent time with both systems could see that any other way) and other things but I don't have the time to get into anything else now.

I should probably start a new thread with this post because it's not really on topic and I should save a mod the trouble of moving it.

More later.

The GameCube's CPU is 485 mhz.

The Xbox's CPU is 700 mhz.

You're the stupidest person on this board.

[Melf]

They should just save you the trouble and move this thread to Fight Club now.

[Jeremy]

Great, the GC is more "powerful" than the Xbox, the world is saved. Of course, this power is effectively negated when most of the titles on the system don't make efficient use of it.

[AstroBlue]

My friend has a high end gaming PC and all he plays is Solitare on it.

[FirstBlood]

Short story long, neither console is an absolute slam-dunk winner over the other. Each has its respective upsides and downsides, although all told, I'd have to give the technical edge to Xbox.

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/...1152655,00.asp

[Compass]

Crap. I thought Xbox BG&E was the best rev so I bought that one. Is the framerate really noticeably higher on the GC?

And this business about the horizontal slices. Yes! I hate that! This is specific to Xbox? The same game won't exhibit it on GC? I wouldn't know because I pretty much never buy or play multiple copies of the same game across different systems. Simpsons' Hit & Run has the horizontal slicing hardcore when you rotate the camera and it really bothers me (gives me a headache). I could've avoided this by buying the GC version? Damn.

[Tommy Tallarico]

You're still an idiot. Even more of one for writing something that no one will even bother reading.

There's my contribution for getting this crap moved to FC.

[bahn]

You're still an idiot. Even more of one for writing something that no one will even bother reading.

There's my contribution for getting this crap moved to FC.

honestly man, why are you picking on him?

[Compass]

What about features specific to the hardware such as Xbox's ability to bump-map? You kinda ignored that stuff but it would definitely play into measuring a console's overall power. Thoughts?

I know very little about any of this and appreciate the lesson. It'd be cool if the thread remained impartial and just informative (without bickering) but I guess that's unlikely.

[Diff-chan]

What about features specific to the hardware such as Xbox's ability to bump-map? You kinda ignored that stuff but it would definitely play into measuring a console's overall power. Thoughts?

I know very little about any of this and appreciate the lesson. It'd be cool if the thread remained impartial and just informative (without bickering) but I guess that's unlikely.

There's no way it's gonna be impartial when you have the NINTENDO SUPER FANBOY!!!!!!!! talking about the grand glorious all hail the king GameCube versus the evil dirty black Xbox.

Xbox also has pixel and vertex shaders, which the GameCube lacks.