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Anandtech: "Xbox Series X SoC: Power, Thermal, and Yield Tradeoffs"
- Thread starter Dakhil
- Start date
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Really interesting article, still reading it. To my uneducated ass, it's surprising that the highest hot spot was actually on the CPU.
The Xsx cloud gpus are running at least 1.97ghz since they have a minimum of 48CUs. Would be interesting not see the power consumption there.
Also interesting is that Xsx will use 210 watts max based on the 15% increase from 1X. That makes sense with the 315W PSU.
Also interesting is that Xsx will use 210 watts max based on the 15% increase from 1X. That makes sense with the 315W PSU.
Console XSX SoCs were either 52 or 56 CUs to allow for a higher yield, just clocked differently to meet the same performance. They ultimately decided on 52 to help with yields, disabling 2 WGPs for the chips that came back with 28/28 WGPs as good.
Cloud XSX SoCs can be as low as 48 CUs, like DukeBlueBall mentioned, just clocked much higher since that wouldn't be a thermal/power issue in a data center.
Cloud XSX SoCs can be as low as 48 CUs, like DukeBlueBall mentioned, just clocked much higher since that wouldn't be a thermal/power issue in a data center.
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That is exactly what the article says. They chose to do 26 WGP instead of 28WGP to maximize yield.
OP
OP
Could this cause small variations in game performance?Console XSX SoCs are either 52 or 56 CUs to allow for a higher yield, just clocked differently to meet the same performance.
Cloud XSX SoCs can be as low as 48 CUs, like DukeBlueBall mentioned, just clocked much higher since that wouldn't be a thermal/power issue in a data center.
No. They went with 26 WGPs for all consoles. that chart's just showing the options they had available to hit the desired 12TFLOPS target.
No, I had to make an edit to add in that they ultimately ended up deciding to roll with 26 WGPs, 52 CUs, regardless of if chips were good on all 28 WGPs to help increase yields.
The only place we might see a difference in performance would be the cloud since that will be allowed to run with 24 WGPs, 48 CUs, as a minimum.
No. All Xsxs are the same. Only difference is between cloud and console.
I'm gonna be honest, I thought that the whole thing about the Series X being able to run 4 Xbox One S simulations in a server environment was like the coolest thing about the tech, but the fact that they have tolerances for less/more CUs in the server environment by adjusting clocks is also just rad as hell. I swear, every time I hear about the design considerations of the Series X (both the consumer console and the Anaconda APU for the server clusters) I'm just more and more impressed.
I also have to wonder if the flexibility in how the 12TF is derived (in the server environment, and likely also for development on the GDK) is something that helps them with backwards compatibility. I have very limited knowledge on everything, but its all so damn interesting
I also have to wonder if the flexibility in how the 12TF is derived (in the server environment, and likely also for development on the GDK) is something that helps them with backwards compatibility. I have very limited knowledge on everything, but its all so damn interesting
Not sure why people are surprised at CPUs being hotter than GPU.
Temperature is a result of wattage which is directly linked to clocks.
It wasn't a "surprise" which MS found out, it was their decision to clock the CPUs like this which resulted in such hot spots.
Temperature is a result of wattage which is directly linked to clocks.
It wasn't a "surprise" which MS found out, it was their decision to clock the CPUs like this which resulted in such hot spots.
It's almost funny to go back and look at the OG Xbox One by contrast. It was basically just a bunch of PC components in a box, with a TON of negative space inside.
And they somehow couldn't manage to fit the power brick inside that!
Yeah it makes sense when you consider clock speed and relative die size. But at first glance, it feels counterintuitive because of how a ryzen 3700 has a TDP of 65W while an RX 6800 is around 250W and also when you think about how much bigger the Series X is than the S.
It's almost funny to go back and look at the OG Xbox One by contrast. It was basically just a bunch of PC components in a box, with a TON of negative space inside.
And they somehow couldn't manage to fit the power brick inside that!
OG Xbox was a rush job. Basically, they packed a laptop inside a blackbox and that was it. They've come a long way since then.
3700 is also some 100 mm^2 while 6800 is 520 mm^2. It's hardly surprising that CPU is the hot spot when you consider the die area against wattage. The smaller the die is the hotter it gets with the same TDP.
In fairness, I believe Spencer has acknowledged that the Xbox One's original design was indeed a bit of a rush job too.