What happened to the "bits" in consoles?

EasyG · 20 Jan 2006 at 16:16

I was just thinking now what "bits" are todays current consoles.

Then i started to remember back in *** day when megadrive and snes were both 16bit consoles and then there was 32bit ooooo.

then the N64 came out and was an amazing 64bit console!

Then dreamcast came out and was 128bit console (and awesome at that btw) .

Then the "bit" kinda just disappeared, maybes its cause i dont buy console mags anymore since the dreamcast mags finished. SO what "bit" is the 360, is it 360bits? or is it not even measured in bits anymore.

Just one of those general wonderings about gaming i had.

Kreeeee · 20 Jan 2006 at 16:24

Bits never mattered anyway.

PS2 = 128bits
XBox = 32 bits
GC = 32/64 bits

mmj_uk · 20 Jan 2006 at 16:24

Dreamcast was infact 32bit.

Xbox 360 is 32bit, same as the original.

PS2 is 64bit.

It is mainly irrelevant as a measure of performance these days.

vintage-x · 20 Jan 2006 at 16:36

Have been having an on going argument with a guy at work about this.
He recons the xbox was 256bit the 360 is 360 bits and the ps3 will be 4 hundred and somthin bit.
I keep telling him that bits dont matter anymore but he dosent listen. I then try and tell him about pc processors having only reached 64 bit mainstream in the past 3 years or so (with the amd64 ect) but get this he thinks the best gaming pcs are 1024 bit.
Oh and for the record the n64 wasnt true 64 bit it had 2 32 bit processors IIRC.

soundwave · 20 Jan 2006 at 16:40

I seem to remember that the Atari Jaguar was being touted as 64bit back in the day wasnt it???

Or am I talking out of my bum again??

Oh & dont forget the 3DO was 32bit as well

EDIT: So how do we calculate the bist anyway????

~J~ · 20 Jan 2006 at 16:42

I think you should make this person your best friend, he's obviously come from way way in the future if he knows of a 1024bit processor!!!!

mmj_uk · 20 Jan 2006 at 16:45

vintage-x said:
Oh and for the record the n64 wasnt true 64 bit it had 2 32 bit processors IIRC.

Are you sure? it used a MIPS R4300i CPU and all google searches point to it being 64bit. :confused:

It can be confusing at times since the data path is often not the same bit as the processor.

Kreeeee · 20 Jan 2006 at 16:50

soundwave said:
EDIT: So how do we calculate the bist anyway????

We don't, basically whatever component has the highest memory addressing is often fobbed off as being the power or the processor to the general, dim, market.

vintage-x · 20 Jan 2006 at 17:02

mmj_uk said:
Are you sure? it used a MIPS R4300i CPU and all google searches point to it being 64bit.

It can be confusing at times since the data path is often not the same bit as the processor.

Your right it was a 64 bit processor hummm cant remember where I got that bit of info from it was a tech mag ages ago talkin about processors and such.

soundwave · 20 Jan 2006 at 17:04

vintage-x said:
Your right it was a 64 bit processor hummm cant remember where I got that bit of info from it was a tech mag ages ago talkin about processors and such.

Could have been the Jaguar??

I'm sure it was touted as being 64bit but was actually 2 32bit processors???

I'm not convinced that I'm right though

EDIT: Oh & thanks Kreee that makes sense I guess...nothing like baffling us all with big numbers to make us spend our money is there

lol

deSade · 20 Jan 2006 at 17:15

mmj_uk said:
Dreamcast was infact 32bit.

Xbox 360 is 32bit, same as the original.

PS2 is 64bit.

It is mainly irrelevant as a measure of performance these days.

XBox360 is only 32bit? ****, mines going back to the shop!!!

pinkaardvark · 20 Jan 2006 at 19:59

wasn't the acorn archimedes 64 bit some 20 years ago? or was it just RISC.

Sirrel Squirrel · 20 Jan 2006 at 20:08

I suppose it depends what part you talk about, the processor would be 32bit on an xbox 360 but isn't the graphics chip 256bit, like 7800s and x1800s have something in their description that says 256bit and matrox gfx cards say they are 512bit, no idea if that makes sense lol!

nintenjo · 21 Jan 2006 at 00:33

The jaguar did use a 4mhz 64 bit RISC processor..

But it wasnt up to much so it proved the BIT wasnt a good sense of speed after the 64bit age.

Impretty sure Dreamccast was advertised as being 128bit in Japan for a while before they relised it was only the Grfx pipeline. And there was somesort of news debate over its speed. Which meant it soon had to change its advertising plan.

Anyway.. bits mean nothin.

JaFFa · 21 Jan 2006 at 03:51

the bit refers to the amount of bits that can be passed through the chip at once afaik.

Pcs are 32bit for games atm Only some games are programmed especially for 64bit instructions.

Xbox is 32 bit, its baed on Pentium 3 mobile/celeron technology.

Bit made sense back in the day as cpu's made radical speed increases through bit expanditure. But now there are many more ways to make more speed in pure flops.

Other people have mentioned that in other ways memory controllers hav moved from 128bits to 256 bits but that is a completely different issue.

Wang Computer · 21 Jan 2006 at 09:39

At the end of the day, in doesn't make any difference. The whole "bits" race was nothing more than blatant marketing spin, and had no real relevance. Since the dawn of the mainstream computer age, I think the average punter is a bit more discerning now, being able to deduce a console's performance with slightly more relevant facts. Maybe...