One of IGN’s trusted sources has provided information on the silicon powering Nintendo’s upcoming 3DS handheld system. The Nintendo 3DS will allegedly be packing:
- Two 266MHz ARM11 CPUs
- A PICA-200 133MHz GPU by DMP
- 64MB of RAM
- 4MB of Video RAM
- 1.5GB of Flash storage
Some writers have been making a big deal about the 3DS supposedly having twin CPUs. They’re dumb. The Nintendo DS has two CPUs.
What’s more interesting — to me anyway — is that Nintendo is (again allegedly) going with ARM chips. For the longest time, the 3DS was rumored to be using Nvidia’s Tegra chip. With ARM chips being in iPhones, iPods, Android phones, and Zune media players, this would be a tremendous win for ARM Holdings. Being in the Nintendo DS guarantees millions of chip sales.
Anyway, kindly let me know what you think of the rumored 3DS specs when you have a moment.
I have never really played a DS, also I don't know what kind of specs the old ones had, but it seems like a pretty good handheld device. I know numbers mean less on a dedicated gaming device but you would thing they would have chosen a slightly faster set of cpus and gpu with everything else that is floating around with 1Ghz cpus and promising more soon.
But I know they have to find the right balance of battery life and performance. I hope we get a price and a release date soon, although I am sure I won't be happy with either of them.
Also is it just me or does the 2 different size and shape screens set off anyone else's OCD. It just really bugs me.
@SlickyFats The DS has one 67MHz CPU and 33MHz CPU. Obviously they use much older ARM technology than ARM11.
@Ray
I thought the Zune HD had Tegra processors?
@Sandrock323 The Zune HD has Nvidia Tegra, ARM7, and ARM11 inside (among other things).
64mb Ram??? Bottleneck.
@smartguy That seems low compared to phones packing 512MB and 768MB of RAM, but the 3DS has a comparatively low-res screen and the OS is much lighter than a mobile phone.
@Ray
That's still not very much space to cache data for a game these days. I think these specs might have been estimates. That seems too low for the scope of games I've heard mentioned.
@smartguy If you remember my GDC article, the developers I spoke with said it was roughly GameCube-like in power. The GCN had 24MB of system RAM, 3MB of VRAM, 16MB of buffer RAM, and 24MB of unassigned RAM. The other components make it comparing apples to oranges, but it's not too far apart.
True. I can't imagine that 64mb modules are considerably cheaper than 128 or 256 though
@ Smartguy
I was taken back by the amount of RAM too.
@smartguy I'm not sure it's a matter of cost, but rather need. Aside from comparing it to the GameCube, keep in mind that the DS has 4MB of RAM (if I remember correctly).
@Ray
All things considered though, I would think it would pack more of a punch in the memory dept because it is competing with Apple and Sony this time around. Not too mention Win7 devices.
I can't really question Nintendo since they seem to print money, I would have just figured that there would be more onboard memory of all types.