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MS gives more CPU power to Xbox One developers
Xbox One developers can now use more of the console's CPU power, according to a recent report on its latest software development kit (SDK) from Eurogamer's Digital Foundry. The latest update gives developers access to a seventh core (out of a total of eight) on Xbox One's CPU.
Microsoft can now allow developers to use more of Xbox One's CPU as it continues to use less of the CPU itself for background operations related to Kinect's infrared and voice detection capabilities. If developers want to use the seventh CPU core, they have to give up voice detection along with other Kinect functionality.
Up until recently, both Xbox One and PlayStation 4 have reserved two entire CPU cores (out of eight available) in order to run the background operating system in parallel with games. Since October, Microsoft has allowed developers access to 50 to 80 per cent of a seventh processing core - which may partly explain why a small amount of multi-platform titles released during Q4 2014 may have possessed performance advantages over their PS4 counterparts in certain scenarios.
However, there's no such thing as a free lunch, and the additional CPU power comes with conditions and trades attached - however, there is the potential for many games to benefit. Firstly, developers need to give up custom, game-specific voice commands in order to access the seventh core at all, while Kinect's infra-red and depth functionality is also disabled. Secondly, the amount of CPU time available to developers varies at any given moment - system-related voice commands ("Xbox record that", "Xbox go to friends") automatically see CPU usage for the seventh core rise to 50 per cent. At the moment, the operating system does not inform the developer how much CPU time is available, so scheduling tasks will be troublesome. This is quite important - voice commands during gameplay will be few and far between, meaning that 80 per cent of the core should be available most of the time. However, right now, developers won't know if and when that allocation will drop. It's a limitation recognised in the documentation, with Microsoft set to address that in a future SDK update.
scatman839
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#4988170 Posted on: 01/05/2015 07:55 PM
I guess it's also to avoid trying to shoehorn more features in when they can't later like we saw on the ps3. Give it more than enough resources to keep doing the background tasks while a game is on.
PS4 will likely have similar as well, free up RAM and stuff. The console makers have the option now to improve the software over time.
Normally I agree, but from what I understand the XO os technically is 2 separate OS's that handle basic operations, and then overlaying applications.
I guess it's also to avoid trying to shoehorn more features in when they can't later like we saw on the ps3. Give it more than enough resources to keep doing the background tasks while a game is on.
PS4 will likely have similar as well, free up RAM and stuff. The console makers have the option now to improve the software over time.
tigermoth
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#4988197 Posted on: 01/05/2015 08:49 PM
This is great,
So for the past year or so xboxone users have been using 3/4 three quarters of its potential speed and now its using 7/8ths seven eights its speed by unlocking access to there cores.
That's awesome,
This is great,
So for the past year or so xboxone users have been using 3/4 three quarters of its potential speed and now its using 7/8ths seven eights its speed by unlocking access to there cores.
That's awesome,
vbetts
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#4988249 Posted on: 01/05/2015 09:55 PM
This is great,
So for the past year or so xboxone users have been using 3/4 three quarters of its potential speed and now its using 7/8ths seven eights its speed by unlocking access to there cores.
That's awesome,
You've got it all wrong.
The Jaguar APU inside the XBO has 8 cores. 6 cores for games, 2 cores for operating systems.
The XBO runs 2 operating systems. One that handles the core actions of the OS, and one that handles background/overlaying applications such as the dashboard, overlay, messaging, small apps like that.
The only thing that's different now is games are able to gain access to one more core, while there are 6 available cores already a 7th core most likely will not be a huge performance difference.
Just looks like Microsoft is giving all OS operations to one core. Maybe they found a way to optimize it now, maybe after real life situations and testing having 2 cores for operating systems was overkill.
Not really different from how Windows does it, core 0 hosts the operating system and background applications, then uses the rest of the cores as needed. Core 0 "should" have the highest usage in idle. AMD is kind of weird since they do out of order core operations.
This is great,
So for the past year or so xboxone users have been using 3/4 three quarters of its potential speed and now its using 7/8ths seven eights its speed by unlocking access to there cores.
That's awesome,
You've got it all wrong.
The Jaguar APU inside the XBO has 8 cores. 6 cores for games, 2 cores for operating systems.
The XBO runs 2 operating systems. One that handles the core actions of the OS, and one that handles background/overlaying applications such as the dashboard, overlay, messaging, small apps like that.
The only thing that's different now is games are able to gain access to one more core, while there are 6 available cores already a 7th core most likely will not be a huge performance difference.
Just looks like Microsoft is giving all OS operations to one core. Maybe they found a way to optimize it now, maybe after real life situations and testing having 2 cores for operating systems was overkill.
Not really different from how Windows does it, core 0 hosts the operating system and background applications, then uses the rest of the cores as needed. Core 0 "should" have the highest usage in idle. AMD is kind of weird since they do out of order core operations.
Aura89
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#4988255 Posted on: 01/05/2015 10:11 PM
This is great,
So for the past year or so xboxone users have been using 3/4 three quarters of its potential speed and now its using 7/8ths seven eights its speed by unlocking access to there cores.
That's awesome,
...No, one it only is one small tiny piece of the system and two, realistically, for the just the processor, doesn't work that way. ideally it would, but we don't live in an ideal world
On the One's note, for instance, there are many factors that determine how well a system works. CPU, GPU, RAM, HDD (though typically only for load times), aswell as the motherboard (technically, since different motherboards can do the job faster/slower)
When it comes to games, the CPU matters, yes, always will, but not as much as a GPU, and not as much as having a system that doesn't bottleneck. For instance, if a CPU was bottlenecking the GPU, then adding the core would help in performance on itself aswell as allowing the GPU to perform more like it should. I highly doubt this is the case though, and it's 99% likely the extra core won't affect the GPU's performance at all. And then there's ram, of which comparatively speaking vs the PS4 at least, microsoft can do nothing about, and there's a big difference between the xbox one and PS4 when it comes to ram.
access to this extra core will help the performance of the system, no doubt about that, it's at what amount. I expect this will help the WHOLE systems performance by 1/25, or in terms of %, a 4% increase in performance, if not lower, i predict it's likely it's even lower
This is great,
So for the past year or so xboxone users have been using 3/4 three quarters of its potential speed and now its using 7/8ths seven eights its speed by unlocking access to there cores.
That's awesome,
...No, one it only is one small tiny piece of the system and two, realistically, for the just the processor, doesn't work that way. ideally it would, but we don't live in an ideal world
On the One's note, for instance, there are many factors that determine how well a system works. CPU, GPU, RAM, HDD (though typically only for load times), aswell as the motherboard (technically, since different motherboards can do the job faster/slower)
When it comes to games, the CPU matters, yes, always will, but not as much as a GPU, and not as much as having a system that doesn't bottleneck. For instance, if a CPU was bottlenecking the GPU, then adding the core would help in performance on itself aswell as allowing the GPU to perform more like it should. I highly doubt this is the case though, and it's 99% likely the extra core won't affect the GPU's performance at all. And then there's ram, of which comparatively speaking vs the PS4 at least, microsoft can do nothing about, and there's a big difference between the xbox one and PS4 when it comes to ram.
access to this extra core will help the performance of the system, no doubt about that, it's at what amount. I expect this will help the WHOLE systems performance by 1/25, or in terms of %, a 4% increase in performance, if not lower, i predict it's likely it's even lower
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2015? Sony = $22 Billion USD
2015? Microsoft = $382 Billion USD
btw, how much is just by consoles market, that MS figure looks like its from whole company; inc. windows, office, tablets, phones, "consoles",.. Same by Sony, TV's, hifi, phones, walkmans, "consoles", etc.