AMD will give consoles a Die-shrink first
As you guys probably know, console APUs have become big business for AMD. Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo are all using one. These are still based on a 28nm fabrication process. However TSMC is getting its 20nm fabrication node up and running.
Now everybody expected AMD to die-shrink their APUs for the PC market first, but it's the console SoCs that will be favored. As TPU reports today:
Unlike NVIDIA, which may use the new process to shrink its GPUs, or launch bigger chips based on its "Maxwell" architecture, AMD will treat its console SoCs with optical-shrinks to the new nodes first, so the company could immediately eke out better margins, as console gamers upgrade to Xbox One or the PlayStation 4. AMD's SoC for the Xbox One, could be the first in line for this optical shrink to 20 nm. This chip features a transistor count of 5 billion, and houses eight 64-bit x86 CPU cores, and a 768 SP GPU based on the Graphics CoreNext architecture; 48 MB of on-die cache, and a quad-channel DDR3 IMC. The chip also features an integrated core logic. AMD's chip for the PlayStation 4 features design inputs from Sony. The chip features the same CPU component, but a 1152 SP GPU, and a 256-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface, wired to 8 GB of memory that's virtualized for both system- and graphics-memory. The 20 nm shrinks of both chips are expected to lower not just manufacturing costs, but also step up energy-efficiency, which could then let Microsoft and Sony save additional costs on other components, such as power and cooling.
Via TPU and Expreview.
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Even at TSMC's ideal case scenario, shrink will only bring you 30% bigger clocks t the same power envelope.
Which ideally would mean 30% more rendering power, equating to 30% pixel increase.
So you would get pathetic resolution increase 1280x720 -> 1459x820 .
Congrats you are now less than 1/3 on your way to fullHD, still more than 2/3 left to go.
And again this is HIGHLY idealistic shrink.
Ofcourse. I did say they would need substantial upgrades to make it feasible. Going by what you calculated though...the argument would be whether 1459x820 looks better on a full-hd screen with their upscaling as this is a non-standard resolution. Also, since this is consoles we're talking about, I'm sure users would appreciate this "minor" upgrade more than us pc gamers.

One scenario though is perhaps games capped at 30fps that were hitting 50fps at 1280x720 could still run at 30fps at that new resolution or higher?
My 2nd scenario is extra graphics option while keeping resolution and fps the same?
I'm sure devs would find some way to use the extra power. Even if no additional options were added, some games at least would benefit by being just that little bit smoother.
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I think most devs would hate the idea, it's extra work for something that would not be available to the majority of people.
Nearly everyone i speaks to wants more effects and 1080/30 on the present hardware, no one wants to buy a new console already or feel like they now have the budget version.
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To me Id say give it couple of years. It takes time for developers to learn how to optimize the console's hardware fully. I mean look how long it took developers to optimize the PS3's hardware properly.
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The PS3's hardware took a long-time to understand due to it's multicore setup which was new for many devs. Even the x360 triple-core + gpu setup took years to fully utilize.
The hardware that x1 and ps4 are built-on on the other hand is well understood. That's why multi-platform releases are easier now because there are more similarities between all 3 formats (x1, p4 and PC) than differences.
I don't expect the same huge differences between first-gen PS3 and current-gen PS3 games with this generation of consoles. I also think any advancements in optimization will more easily benefit the PC versions.
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Honestly if the One goes any cheaper I might consider buying one, if I didn't have a PS4 already...
But it's good that there's a die shrink coming, Microsoft needs this to sell the One at a lower price and actually remain competitive in pricing.