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GameCube technical specifications

Topic: Engineering

 From HandWiki - Reading time: 5 min
Short description: Overview of the technical specifications of the GameCube

Nintendo originally offered a digital video output on early GameCube models. However, it was determined that less than one percent of users utilized the feature. The company eventually removed the option starting with model number DOL-101 of May 2004.[1] The console's technical specifications are as follows.[2][3][4]

IBM PowerPC "Gekko" processor
IBM PowerPC "Gekko" processor (180 nm) shaven down to show the silicon die
ATi "Flipper" processor
ATi "Flipper" (180 nm) shaven down to show the silicon die
One of the two 1T-SRAM RAM modules shaven down to expose the die
GameCube Game Disc
Details Source(s)
CPU
  • 486 MHz IBM "Gekko" PowerPC CPU based on the 750CXe and 750FX[citation needed]
  • 180 nm IBM six-layer, copper-wire process, 43 mm2 die with 4.9 watts dissipation
    • 1.8 V for logic and I/O
    • 27×27 mm PBGA package with 256 contacts
    • 18.6 million transistors; of which 6.35 million transistors are for logic
  • Superscalar out-of-order execution
  • Two 4-stage integer units: IU1 and IU2, 32-bit
  • 7-stage floating point unit: 64-bit double precision FPU, usable as 2× 32-bit SIMD for 1.9 single-precision GFLOPS performance, often found under the denomination "paired singles"
  • Branch Prediction Unit (BPU)
  • Load-Store Unit (LSU)
  • System Register Unit (SRU)
  • Memory Management Unit (MMU)
  • Branch Target Instruction Cache (BTIC)
  • CPU performance: 1125 DMIPS (Dhrystone 2.1)
  • SIMD instructions: PowerPC 750 + roughly 50 new SIMD instructions, geared toward 3D graphics
  • On-chip caches:
  • Front-side bus: 64-bit enhanced 60x bus to Flipper northbridge at 162 MHz clock with 1.3 GB/s peak bandwidth (32-bit address, 64-bit data bus)
 [5][6]
GPU
  • 162 MHz ArtX-designed ATI "Flipper" ASIC (9.4 GFLOPS)[2]
  • 180 nm NEC eDRAM manufacturing process, 51 million transistors (approximately half dedicated to 1T-SRAM), 106 mm2 die
  • Contains GPU, audio DSP, I/O controller and northbridge
  • 3 MB of on-chip 1T-SRAM (2 MB Z-buffer/framebuffer + 1 MB texture cache) with ~18 GB/s total bandwidth
    • Embedded 24-bit Z-buffer/framebuffer RAM: 2 MB (4× 512 KB)
      • Bus width: 384-bit (4 buses, each 96-bit wide)
      • Bandwidth: 7.8 GB/s
      • Sustainable latency: Under 5 ns
    • Embedded texture cache: 1 MB (32× 256 Kb)
      • Bus width: 512-bit (32 buses, each 16-bit wide)
      • Bandwidth: 10.4 GB/s
      • Sustainable latency: Under 5 ns
  • 24 MB (2× 12 MB) 1T-SRAM main memory @ 324 MHz, 64-bit bus, 2.6 GB/s bandwidth
  • 1 vertex pipeline, 4 pixel pipelines with 1 texture mapping unit (TMU) each and 4 render output units (ROPs)
  • Simultaneous textures per pass: 4
  • Color depth: 24-bit RGB, 32-bit RGBA
  • System floating-point arithmetic capability: 11 GFLOPS[2] (peak) (MPU, Geometry Engine, Hardware Lighting Total)
  • Fillrate: 648 megapixels/sec, with Z-buffering, alpha blending, fogging, texture mapping, trilinear filtering, mipmapping and S3 Texture Compression[7]
  • Raw polygon performance: 90 million polygons/sec[8]
    • 40 million polygons/sec, with fogging, Z-buffering, alpha blending and Gouraud shading[7]
    • 33 million polygons/sec, with fogging, Z-buffering, alpha blending and texture mapping[7]
    • 25 million polygons/sec, with fogging, Z-buffering, alpha blending, texture mapping and lighting[7]
    • 6-20 million polygons/sec,[9] assuming actual game conditions, with complex models, fully textured, fully lit, etc.
  • 16-stage TEV fixed-function texture combiner unit (4 inputs, 1 output)[1]
  • Image processing functions: Volumetric fog, heat haze, motion blur, bloom, subpixel anti-aliasing, per-vertex lighting, 8 hardware lights, alpha blending, hardware transform and lighting (T&L), virtual texture design, multi-texturing, emboss bump mapping, Dot3 bump mapping (normal mapping), lightmapping, shadow mapping, shadow volumes, planar projection shadows, environment mapping, mipmapping, LOD, depth of field, perspective-correct texture mapping, bilinear filtering, trilinear filtering, anisotropic filtering, real-time hardware texture decompression (S3TC) (6:1 ratio), 8 simultaneous texture layers, 256 levels of transparency, clipping, hidden surface removal/culling, Zfreeze, Zcomploc/early-Z reject, bounding box, destination alpha test, alpha test, depth test, render to texture, TEV compare, color combiners, alpha combiners, texture combiners, transparency effects, framebuffer effects, post-processing effects, Gouraud shading, cel shading, dithering, can emulate 1-bit stencil buffer through a Zfreeze function
  • Other: Real-time decompression of display list, hardware motion compensation capability, HW 3-line deflickering filter
 [5][6][10]
System Memory
  • 43 MB total non-unified RAM
    • 24 MB (2× 12 MB) MoSys 1T-SRAM @ 324 MHz (codenamed "Splash") as main system RAM
    • 3 MB embedded 1T-SRAM cache within "Flipper" GPU (2 MB framebuffer/Z-buffer, 1 MB texture cache)
    • 16 MB DRAM used as I/O buffer for audio and DVD drive
  • Memory bus width: 64-bit main system RAM, 896-bit internal GPU memory, 8-bit ARAM
  • Memory bandwidth: 1.3 GB/s Gekko to Northbridge, 2.6 GB/s Flipper to main system RAM, 10.4 GB/s texture cache, 7.8 GB/s framebuffer/Z-buffer, 81 MB/s auxiliary RAM[5]
  • Latency: Under 10 ns main memory, 5 ns texture cache, 5 ns framebuffer memory
 [6][11][10]
Audio
  • Audio processor integrated into Flipper: custom 81 MHz Macronix 16-bit DSP
    • Sampling frequency: 48 kHz
    • 64 simultaneous channels, ADPCM encoding
    • Instruction memory: 8 KB RAM, 8 KB ROM
    • Data memory: 8 KB RAM, 4 KB ROM
  • External auxiliary RAM: 16 MB DRAM @ 81 MHz
    • Auxiliary RAM bus: 8-bit
    • Auxiliary RAM bus bandwidth: 81 MB/s[5]
    • CPU can read/write blocks from RAM to ARAM through DMA; ARAM can be used for miscellaneous low-bandwidth purposes[2]
  • Stereo output (may contain 5.1-channel surround via Dolby Pro Logic II)
 [5][11]
Video Modes [5]
Connectivity
  • 4 controller ports, 2 memory card slots
  • 2 high-speed serial ports
    • Serial Port 1 is reserved for a broadband adapter or modem adapter
    • Serial Port 2 is unused (DOL-001 models only)
  • 1 high-speed parallel port up to 81 MB/s (reserved for the Game Boy Player)
  • Analog AV Out
    • NTSC models: S-Video, composite
    • PAL models: RGBS (SCART), composite
    • Stereophonic analog audio output
  • Digital AV Out (DOL-001 model only)
    • Interlaced or progressive scan YCBCR synthesized to YPBPR using in-cable custom Macronix DAC[3]
    • Stereophonic I²S digital audio (not used by any cable)
 [5]Template:BSN
Storage
  • 8 cm optical GameCube Game Disc
    • Approx. 1.5 GB capacity
    • 16 Mbit/s–25 Mbit/s transfer rate operating in CAV mode
    • 128 ms average access time
  • Memory card
    • Capacities: 512 KB (59 blocks), 2 MB (251 blocks), 8 MB (1,019 blocks, incompatible with some games[12])
    • 8 KB sectors
 [5][11][13]
Other
  • Power supply
    • DC 12 volts
    • 3.25 A
  • Dimensions: 4.3 in (110 mm) (H) × 5.9 in (150 mm) (W) × 6.3 in (160 mm) (D)
 [11]

References

  1. ↑ "Nintendo's GameCube Component FAQ page". Nintendo. https://www.nintendo.com/consumer/systems/nintendogamecube/component_faq.jsp. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "DCTP - Nintendo's Gamecube Technical Overview". http://www.segatech.com/gamecube/overview/. 
  3. ↑ "Console Specs". http://www.angelfire.com/electronic2/mariotan/. 
  4. ↑ IGN Staff (November 4, 2000). "Gamecube Versus PlayStation 2". IGN. http://ign.com/articles/2000/11/04/gamecube-versus-playstation-2. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 Shimpi, Anand Lal (December 7, 2001). "Hardware Behind the Consoles - Part II: Nintendo's GameCube". AnandTech. http://www.anandtech.com/show/858. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 "Game Consoles: A Look Ahead". Ace's Hardware. December 14, 2003. http://www.aceshardware.com/read.jsp?id=60000288. 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Graphics Processor Specifications, IGN, 2001
  8. ↑ IGN Staff (January 17, 2001). "GameCube 101: Graphics". IGN. http://ign.com/articles/2001/01/17/gamecube-101-graphics. 
  9. ↑ "X-ing Things Out". January 9, 2001. https://www.ign.com/articles/2001/01/09/x-ing-things-out. 
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 GameCube clears path for game developers, EE Times, 5/16/2001
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 "GCN Technical Specifications". Nintendo. http://register.nintendo.com/techspecgcn. 
  12. ↑ "| Nintendo - Customer Service - Memory Card 1019 |". https://www.nintendo.com/consumer/memorycard1019.jsp. 
  13. ↑ "Nintendo GameCube Accessories". Nintendo. https://www.nintendo.co.uk/NOE/en_GB/systems/accessories_1222.html.  (dead)



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