14 DAY TRIAL // AMD has done really well in the console space in the last couple of years, with two of the current-generation consoles being powered by AMD graphics cores, but things could get even better in the future as recent reports place AMD's GPUs in both the next-gen Xbox and in the PS4, apart from the already confirmed Nintendo Wii U.
The information comes from Hard OCP website, which talked with several unnamed sources from the gaming industry during the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3).
According to the publication, the decision to use AMD graphics cores in all the three next-generation consoles looks like a “done deal.”
While everybody knew that Nintendo would use a Radeon-based GPU for its upcoming Wii U, Microsoft and Sony haven't announced anything in this regard yet, but if these rumors turn out to be true, Nvidia could be left in a bit of a pickle.
There will be, of course, some room left for the Santa Clara graphics chip maker, but this will be limited to handheld consoles where AMD doesn't have any solution which can contend with the Tegra 2 and the future iterations of this SoC.
Apart from graphics, Hard OCP also managed to dig up some information about the processors used in the next-generation consoles.
Things are a lot less certain in this department than on the GPU front, but it seems like IBM's PowerPC architecture will be the big winner over here.
Form the information available at this point, we know that the Wii U will use a custom IBM 45nm multi-core (most likely quad) processor, while Microsoft's third-generation Xbox will almost certainly go the same route.
Things are a bit more murky in the PS4 camp as Sony is still unsettled between some kind of Bulldozer APU and an updated 32nm IBM cell processor.
If we were to believe all the reports that have been running around the Web, both the PS4 and the next-gen Xbox should be unveiled in 2012, which means that we have to wait at least one more year for all these rumors to be put to rest. (via TechReport)