Next gen XBox chip gets a name and date

No, not XBox 361, just the SoC

xbox360_logoIt is mating season for the singing moles of Redmond, fresh off their migration back from Mountain View, and they are singing about the XBox Next chip. What’s more, they have a name and a date.

The moles are cooing the name softly while they think up new ways to transition Microsoft’s business model from monopoly abuse to patent trolling. The name they are singing in their tunnels sounds like “Obed”, but the spelling might be a bit off due to echoing in the tunnels.

Obed it seems is SoC, CPU + GPU, and of course eDRAM, it sounds an awful lot like an evolutionary version of the current XBox 360 chip. Some say it is an x86/Bulldozer part, but everything we have been hearing for a long time says that the chip is going to be a PPC variant. In any case, the GPU is definitely made by AMD/ATI, and IBM has a big hand in the SoC design.

The moles all say that production is set for late 2012, possibly the early days of 2013. basically once the moles get settled in to Mountain View for the winter. They will give the thumps up or down on silicon based on parts they get back in Q1 of 2012. If all goes well that is. That puts production of the XBox Next in the late spring or early summer of 2013, just in time for singing mole mating season. Nothing gets a sow’s attention like a new SoC.S|A

Note: Doesn’t this make a lot more sense now?

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Charlie Demerjian

Roving engine of chaos and snide remarks at SemiAccurate
Charlie Demerjian is the founder of Stone Arch Networking Services and SemiAccurate.com. SemiAccurate.com is a technology news site; addressing hardware design, software selection, customization, securing and maintenance, with over one million views per month. He is a technologist and analyst specializing in semiconductors, system and network architecture. As head writer of SemiAccurate.com, he regularly advises writers, analysts, and industry executives on technical matters and long lead industry trends. Charlie is also available through Guidepoint and Mosaic. FullyAccurate