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3ds hardware

Andreas
polycounter lvl 11
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Andreas polycounter lvl 11
Still no cold hard stats but...

http://kotaku.com/5568456/meet-the-3ds-graphics-chip

as a big nVidia fanboy I wish they were going with a nVidia graphics core, but I guess it's all about the power consumption. Watching with interest.

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  • Mr_Drayton
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    Mr_Drayton polycounter lvl 14
    Still no cold hard stats but...

    http://kotaku.com/5568456/meet-the-3ds-graphics-chip

    as a big nVidia fanboy I wish they were going with a nVidia graphics core, but I guess it's all about the power consumption. Watching with interest.
    I watched the video this morning, and I could only say "wow" at it. I think that if the Pica200 will be the real GPU behind 3DS, I'll be more than statisfied. Graphics just look so awesome to be an handheld console! ^^
  • kwakkie
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    kwakkie polycounter lvl 12
    You shouldnt expect games to look like tech demos... Also, you dont know how much ram they were using for that tech demo so it really doesnt say anything.

    Can you name a PSX game that had gfx like this?

    [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NkEVKzZNQDY[/ame]
  • hawken
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    hawken polycounter lvl 19
    actually that T-Rex was a playable demo on the PSX - it came with the machine, along with a music reactor demo that had jumping dolphins etc
  • hawken
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    hawken polycounter lvl 19
    pica200 does per-pixel lighting. Guess thats normal maps confirmed then.
  • eld
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    eld polycounter lvl 18
    yep, as suspected with the metal gear 3ds screenshots.

    I wonder if all this means that it'll emulated the DS games, shipping consoles with the extra set of hardware to play an older generation always proves to be an extra cost, especially since the ds already had two cpu's in use, and the unorthodox graphics hardware.

    So if they emulate, it would be cheaper.
  • ZacD
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    ZacD ngon master
    It seems on par with the PSP and slightly more powerful than the wii, is that about right?
  • kwakkie
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    kwakkie polycounter lvl 12
    Yeah I know it was included, but the point was that in a demo you can do so much more because you can use way more resources that otherwise would need to be used to run the game.

    For example: here is a t-rex from a game that was released in the last days of the PSX (dino crisis 2), by the time this game was released the PSX was 6-7 years old, you'd think the artists could have been up to par with the tech demo by then right? ;)

    6.jpg
  • hawken
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    hawken polycounter lvl 19
    eld wrote: »
    yep, as suspected with the metal gear 3ds screenshots.

    I wonder if all this means that it'll emulated the DS games, shipping consoles with the extra set of hardware to play an older generation always proves to be an extra cost, especially since the ds already had two cpu's in use, and the unorthodox graphics hardware.

    So if they emulate, it would be cheaper.

    I guess in theory you can also 3D-ify the older DS games.
  • eld
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    eld polycounter lvl 18
    kwakkie wrote: »
    Yeah I know it was included, but the point was that in a demo you can do so much more because you can use way more resources that otherwise would need to be used to run the game.

    For example: here is a t-rex from a game that was released in the last days of the PSX (dino crisis 2), by the time this game was released the PSX was 6-7 years old, you'd think the artists could have been up to par with the tech demo by then right? ;)

    6.jpg

    We're much better artists these days, there weren't many 3d veterans back in the psx days :)

    I mean, we know better than to light to black shade a lowpoly model of that polycount.


    ff9pcd.jpg
  • Andreas
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    Andreas polycounter lvl 11
    kwakkie wrote: »
    You shouldnt expect games to look like tech demos... Also, you dont know how much ram they were using for that tech demo so it really doesnt say anything.


    I'm kind of glad...I sorta want most games to retain their handheld visual style (for example the Ocarina remake). Also, dunno if you argument regarding tech demos stands...that T-Rex was being rendered on its own with nothing going on... there was lots of code and extra art assets being pushed through in the Dino Crisis 2 shot...also, it looks like it was down to the artist that the asset didn't look so great. Many artists these days do much nicer work with less resources.
  • kwakkie
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    kwakkie polycounter lvl 12
    Ok, now you guys are all just taking the comparison a bit too literal... you understand the point I was making right?

    A scene with some animations is something completely different than a videogame. There is so much more going on the background, and memory plays a big part in that.
  • PolyHertz
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    PolyHertz polycount lvl 666
    ZacD wrote: »
    It seems on par with the PSP and slightly more powerful than the wii, is that about right?

    Wii is more powerful then PSP, not the other way around. And from what we know so far the 3DS seems to be slightly less powerful then Gamecube (also more powerful then PSP), but with the ability to push modern shaders.
  • CrazyButcher
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    CrazyButcher polycounter lvl 18
    it's not gonna be as powerful as wii (it's a handheld after all) however given the small screen and low effective resolution, I guess the visual look of stuff will not be much inferior to wii graphics.


    some more speculations on the specs:
    http://www.hardcoreware.net/nintendo-3ds-specs-comparison/
  • eld
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    eld polycounter lvl 18
    Alot of the difference can come from how much vram it has, which can be anything at this point.
  • Michael Knubben
    Blenderhead: You're spectacularly misunderstanding Kwakkie's point, and you're actually saying what he was.
    You can't rely on the looks of a tech demo BECAUSE in a real game there's much more going on. That was pretty clear, I thought.
  • Andreas
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    Andreas polycounter lvl 11
    MightyPea wrote: »
    Blenderhead: You're spectacularly misunderstanding Kwakkie's point, and you're actually saying what he was.
    You can't rely on the looks of a tech demo BECAUSE in a real game there's much more going on. That was pretty clear, I thought.

    Early morning post Mr.Pea, apologies. Yes, we basically agree.

    BUT of course there were environment elements and a lot more going on in the 3DS demo than the PSX one... but yeah. With lots of things getting pushed through the chipset of the 3DS during actual gameplay, we may not see visuals that are that good (for which I am sort of glad. I would/will miss the pixelated jaggy visual style of DS games...)
    ZacD wrote: »
    It seems on par with the PSP and slightly more powerful than the wii, is that about right?

    Fail.
  • Junkie_XL
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    Junkie_XL polycounter lvl 14
    eld wrote: »
    yep, as suspected with the metal gear 3ds screenshots.

    I wonder if all this means that it'll emulated the DS games, shipping consoles with the extra set of hardware to play an older generation always proves to be an extra cost, especially since the ds already had two cpu's in use, and the unorthodox graphics hardware.

    So if they emulate, it would be cheaper.

    I believe 3ds uses an ARM for the CPU just like the ds had...only faster, so no need to emulate.

    Yeah the metal gear demo looked great IMO.

    [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQdc60KhNgc[/ame]

    There are better screens showing the per-pixel lighting on the scales of the gator elsewhere. The bee that flies near the camera looked great too. Nice specular.
  • FunkaDelicDass
  • renderhjs
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    renderhjs sublime tool
    lots of game media for the 3ds:
    http://www.joystiq.com/2010/06/20/heres-every-3ds-screenshot-released-so-far/

    3dssteeldiver02ss02e3.jpg
    pic05qwe.jpg

    Such a appealing platform to create games for
  • Andreas
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    Andreas polycounter lvl 11
    renderhjs wrote: »

    Such a appealing platform to create games for

    Yeah, hope they crack it soon after launch and someone gets going on making a 3D display capable homebrew engine...that would be sweet :D You can make games for the DS/R4 type cards (by exporting from Blender, dunno about other sources) as it is so it could be possible. Would love to develop a 3D title.
  • Mr_Drayton
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    Mr_Drayton polycounter lvl 14
    Yeah, hope they crack it soon after launch and someone gets going on making a 3D display capable homebrew engine...that would be sweet :D You can make games for the DS/R4 type cards (by exporting from Blender, dunno about other sources) as it is so it could be possible. Would love to develop a 3D title.
    I have to agree with you! :thumbup:
    I will suffer so much waiting for its launch... I'm sure this time Nintendo will do things right, and certanly managed to amuse me! <3

    Still I can't understand how PSP can render 33 milions of tirangles per second and 3DS only 15.3 milions, while 3DS has a noticeable better graphic look.
    What's the real PSP polycount per frame at 60FPS, in a game? Me and some other people are just "talking" about it on a forum about DS/3DS...

    EDIT: well, there's a good comparsion. Both scenes are in-game graphics, and not pre-rendered cutscenes. I hope that the final games will really look like this.

    MetalGearPortableComparison.jpg
  • hawken
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    hawken polycounter lvl 19
    the R4 cards are now illegal btw
  • r_fletch_r
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    r_fletch_r polycounter lvl 9
    Still I can't understand how PSP can render 33 milions of tirangles per second and 3DS only 15.3 milions, while 3DS has a noticeable better graphic look.
    Per Pixel Lighting, im pretty sure the PSP is fixed functionality. it also looks like the 3DS has far more VRAM. also just becuase there is limit on polygons per second doesnt mean they're achieving it, its never so simple. there are far too many factors.

    BlenderHead: the way things are going you may well see unity released for this platform. also whats with this fail bullshit, makes you look like a tool.
  • Mr_Drayton
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    Mr_Drayton polycounter lvl 14
    hawken wrote: »
    the R4 cards are now illegal btw
    Oh, here in Italy FlashCards are illegal since the beginning of 2009... Not talking about the videogame censor here...
    Damn, why am I born here? What did I done wrong?

    But I'm not going to buy a FlashCard if Nintendo will let the 3DS read homebrews without hacks. Or maybe a custom firmware will do.

    And now something that will never happen: a custom 3DS Unity 3D Engine! :poly142:

    EDIT: r_fletch_r, ops, I didn't read your message before... Do you really think there's going to be a Unity support for 3DS?
  • eld
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    eld polycounter lvl 18
    screenshots do hint that the 3ds might actually carry more VRAM than the psp's 2mb, considering the fact that mgs3d seems to slap normalmaps on everything!.
  • r_fletch_r
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    r_fletch_r polycounter lvl 9
    Mr_Drayton wrote: »
    Oh, here in Italy FlashCards are illegal since the beginning of 2009... Not talking about the videogame censor here...
    Damn, why am I born here? What did I done wrong?

    But I'm not going to buy a FlashCard if Nintendo will let the 3DS read homebrews without hacks. Or maybe a custom firmware will do.

    And now something that will never happen: a custom 3DS Unity 3D Engine! :poly142:

    EDIT: r_fletch_r, ops, I didn't read your message before... Do you really think there's going to be a Unity support for 3DS?

    its not impossible, unity is available on the Wii and the iPhone so its not like its not scalable. Its down to nintendo i guess. also id imagine you'd need to become a licensed developer how ever much that costs
  • Mr_Drayton
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    Mr_Drayton polycounter lvl 14
    r_fletch_r wrote: »
    also id imagine you'd need to become a licensed developer how ever much that costs
    Oh, right, I really forgot that... Unless Nintendo will open something like the AppStore, or get Homebrews to run natively on 3DS. I really hope that, but chances are very few.
    Let's support hackers for that! :D
  • PolyHertz
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    PolyHertz polycount lvl 666
    Well Nintendo said just the other day that with the 3DS they plan on completly changing their online strategy, so you never know, they might end up with an app store yet.
  • Andreas
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    Andreas polycounter lvl 11
    hawken wrote: »
    the R4 cards are now illegal btw

    R4 specifically, not its far superior cousins :D (I have a MicroDS, tis great for homebrew etc.)

    EDIT: http://www.thinq.co.uk/2010/6/21/nintendo-3ds-gpu-revealed/

    Almost have official specs! :D
  • eld
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    eld polycounter lvl 18
    I had the acekardRPG for awhile, it made testing a breeze, since it had a built in usb-port, I could have the compile script just copy the fresh binaries to the built in memory after compile, since the usb would activate whenever the ds was shut down.

    but it broke :(, got an acekard 2 after that.
  • Andreas
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    Andreas polycounter lvl 11
    haha I understood none of that :P Your card had a (female) USB port on it? Didn't think they were thick enough. That's cool.
  • r_fletch_r
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    r_fletch_r polycounter lvl 9
    might have docked in the GBA Slot
  • eld
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    eld polycounter lvl 18
    12092007359.jpg

    It was really on the edge, slightly thicker than a normal one.

    But it was mostly useless for the main crowd of flashcarts (piracy) so sadly they never added it to the latter versions of the acekard.

    With that said, I'm hopeing so much for homebrew on the 3ds, due to the capability of it in terms of power and storage, and it being the only really available 3d device.

    now the acekardrpg usb port wasn't powered, nor did the ds have enough voltage to have it running at the same time as the rest of the things on the card, like the sd slot.

    Imagine on the 3ds if carts could actually come with a powered usb port, and homebrew could take advantage of usb-devices like mice or keyboards.
  • hawken
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    hawken polycounter lvl 19
    The new iPhone has 512mb ram - I'm sure the 3ds will have more than 2mb, even 4mb.
  • CrazyButcher
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    CrazyButcher polycounter lvl 18
    r_fletch_r wrote: »
    Per Pixel Lighting, im pretty sure the PSP is fixed functionality.

    the 3ds chip is also fixed function if you look up the details. You might remember the old GeForce 1 demos of a donut with normalmapping, that was also fixed-function, fixed function just means there is less open way to the feature set, but doesn't mean the feature set has to be reduced. If one compares the first "pixel shader" versions they were not much more advanced than the texture combiners of fixed-func.

    the 3ds hw, like the wii, seems to have several custom extensions to classic fixed-pipe to do more effects efficiently.

    never underestimate the power of fixed function, especially with those "custom" chips.
  • eld
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    eld polycounter lvl 18
    hawken wrote: »
    The new iPhone has 512mb ram - I'm sure the 3ds will have more than 2mb, even 4mb.

    That probably has more to do with the fact that the ipodtouch/iphone are the kind of devices that need that, even the first iphones had 128mb in ram. Since it will keep every loaded app in memory for faster loading next time.

    even the psp had some 32mb of ram, and the 4mb/16mb of DS/DSI. But we're talking video ram now, it might be significantly less.
  • hawken
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    hawken polycounter lvl 19
    Nintendo made it clear that the iPhone is their competitor so I'm sure it will be loaded with mem, system, vram or shared ;)
  • eld
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    eld polycounter lvl 18
    I'm pretty sure they didn't mean memorywise, can the iphone/ipod touch even adress all that memory as vram?
  • Andreas
  • rumblesushi
    There's absolutely no doubt I would rather have 60fps or better graphics as opposed to a gimmicky 3D effect.

    That's not to say I'm not excited about the 3DS, but I'm more excited about the games on offer from Nintendo, not the 3D effect.
  • ZacD
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    ZacD ngon master
    I'd rather have 30fps and better graphics, some games might be cool in 3D, but to me, its the same thing as the wii, trying to sell a gimmick.
  • rumblesushi
    Pretty much. Taking 3D out of the equation though, I'd rather have 60fps and scaled down graphics over 30fps any day of the week.

    Because quite simply, it offers a gameplay experience that 30fps doesn't, I love the fluidity, responsive etc that 60fps offers. I tend to enjoy 60fps games considerably more than 30fps games. Fighting games NEED 60fps beyond argument, but I also feel that driving games are considerably better running at 60fps for example.
  • Andreas
  • Andreas
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    Andreas polycounter lvl 11
    http://kotaku.com/5651680/the-nintendo-3ds-web-browser--activity-log-sound-great

    Hmm I wonder will we be able to make 3D web browser games that work with the 3DS' tech?
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