Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) and partner Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Comp (TSMC) are said to be preparing an enhanced version of the APU that powers the Xbox One. The move was first hinted from the LinkedIn resume of an AMD chip design maker.
In the resume, the design maker mentioned how he had successfully worked on a more efficient and cheaper version of the Xbox One's processor. After the purported leak, the resume is now made private and can only be viewed among LinkedIn account holders.
Currently, the processors of Xbox One and PS4 are set at 28nm which means that each transistor would measure 28 thousand-millionths in every meter. The latest chip design changes the 28nm into the smaller version of 20nm. TSMC said that shrinking down the same 28nm chip has resulted to an increased speed of 30 percent or a reduced power of 25 percent at a density rate of 1.9 times.
"The 20nm GPU architecture will be integrated into all of AMD's future GPU and APU products, including ones based on project Skybridge, so we'll see this architecture in low power ARM based SOCs as well as good ol' APUs which bodes very well for its potential power efficiency and scaling," says WCCF Tech.
The main processor that is nestled in Xbox One is one of the console's most expensive components. The current 28nm version is estimated to charge Microsoft at $50 for every chip. By physically reducing the size at 1.9x, more processors can fit onto the silicon wafers that are used in production thereby decreasing costs. With all these information, it can therefore be assumed that Microsoft's aim with the changed processor is to deliver the same performance brought by the current model while reducing power consumption in order to achieve a cooler and more efficient game console.
This leads to a new opportunity of having a smaller cooling assembly and a slimmer chassis which could then achieve cost benefits in the whole process of manufacturing and distribution. A smaller console would mean less packaging. It also means a cheaper alternative to physically ship the units from China to worldwide retail markets.
Microsoft is also finding other ways to streamline the design of the Xbox One. The company recently released an advertising that is searching for an electrical engineer with the responsibilities of developing the memory subsystem and evaluating various solution options.
Microsoft is yet to confirm on the 20nm version of the Xbox One. So far, the company has chosen to remain silent and declined to comment on the purportedly cheaper processor.
