XBOX processor question

Tom Dunne

A little OT, but here goes.

I know a man, shall we say, that works for a large microprocessor manufacturer based in north Kildare. In his workplace they are making a big hullaboloo about making 1.1Ghz processors for the XBOX.

Now I always thought the processor in an XBOX was the bog standard 700 Mhz P3, is it not? Have these people got it drastically wrong, or is anyone aware of an upgrade to the XBOX? I think it sounds highly unlikely.

projectmayhem

i'm not aware of xbox upgrades. but even if there was, with the xbox2 looming so close, would you even want to?

po0k

Could be more to do with that certain company with a fab in Kildare adjusting the process to keep in-line with what they currently use.
It's more a cost-related issue than anything else.
Also, the XBox had a chip that was a half-cast P3/Celeron running at 733Mhz.
Because the XBox is essentially a PC, gamecode doesn't rely on the NTSC/PAL frequency for system timings.
You can (and people have) plonk in a faster chip and more ram and it might make games run a bit smoother.

If there's a 1.7 XBox with a faster cpu that can still be chipped easily enough, I'll pick it up.

zAbbo

I've heard of a good few 'twice as fast' xboxs with 1.4ghz and 128mb ram

The ram would come in handy for some of those emu's

Tom Dunne

SyxPak wrote:

Could be more to do with that certain company with a fab in Kildare adjusting the process to keep in-line with what they currently use.
It's more a cost-related issue than anything else

But surely changing the spec of the XBOX for cost reasons will introduce a potential incompatability? Aren't game developers handed a standard spec hardware platform that is certain not to change?

peterk19

tom dunne wrote:

But surely changing the spec of the XBOX for cost reasons will introduce a potential incompatability? Aren't game developers handed a standard spec hardware platform that is certain not to change?

Its unlikely because as SyxPak said its just a pc and all it can do is increase performance on the games and run them much easier as long as the games are still made for the slower machine.
Pete

CiaranC

I read on xbox-scene that the 1.4Ghz upgrade does indeed increase the speed of games, and that it is only recommended for people running linux or roms etc.

The 128mb has no effect on gameplay, and again is only good for linux

po0k

If the increased speed cpu increases the playing speed of games designed for the reference cpu, then that seems to be dodgey programming regarding global timings.