Nintendo Wii Specs Revealed

Razor05

As per Maxconsole:

EXCLUSIVE: Wii Know A lot You Don’t- Nintendo Wii Specs Fully Uncovered!!! *Updated*

So far Nintendo have done a very credible job in keeping information regarding the Wii to a minimum. Well all that has just changed! An anonymous Wii developer has sent to us slurry of information regarding Nintendo’s next-gen console, all that’s left now is a confirmed release date and price to complete the puzzle. Believe us when we say, this article is a MUST READ, you won’t be disappointed. Prepare to get educated… *Update* - The dev mailed us and said he was shocked to see all these cries of 'fake', so he provided some more info to show he's not bluffing...

Wii Know A Lot You Don’t... but will – Enjoy!

Anyway, we've done enough talking thus far, prepare your eyes for a textual feast on the joys to behold with the Wii.

The Wii Hardware

- Nintendo Wii’s ‘Broadway’ CPU operates at 729MHZ with a maximum bandwith of 1.9gbyte/sec.
- Nintendo Wii’s ‘HollyWood’ GPU is clocked at 243MHZ, the internal memory of it includes 3mb of embedded graphics memory and 24megabytes of High Speed main memory.
- 64megabytes of GDDR3 (MEM2) as the external main memory. Just like the internal memory, it can be accessed from the CPU and GPU with a maximum bandwidth of 4gbytes/sec and can also store programs in the MEM2.
- The GPU of the Wii is identical to the GC’s but it is on average 1.5X faster.

Wii's Optical Disc Drive

- Opitcal Disc Drive (ODD) supports single and dual layer Wii disks, discs eject with software or button and the maximum read speed is the equivalent of DVDx6.
- Two main disc types supported the single sided 12cm single sided 4.7gb and the double sided 8.51 GB. Nintendo GC discs also supported. Some of the capacity of the discs are used by the system and games can not use full disc space.
- Inserting a disc will start the Wii console, even if it was already in an off state. Pressing the eject button will change the console to an on state to take out the disc also.

General Overview

- An optional wired LAN adapter that connects to a USB port is in the pipeline for users who do not possess a wireless LAN set-up currently.
- Internal non-removable 512MB flash memory used to storage game save data and downloadable content thus eliminating the need for a memory card.
- Both Wii discs and Gamecube discs can be played via an intelligent mode swap. When running in GC mode, the Wii’s CPU and GPU will lower to the respective speeds of the GC and some of the MEM2 functions as ARAM.
- Software development environment is an upgrade to the ‘Dolphin SDK’ used with the GC; the same libraries are used so developers can get up to scratch easily as well as the possibility of ports being easier.
- The following interfaces are included with the Wii; SD card slot, Wireless controller, two USB 2.0 ports, wireless LAN, 4x GC controller ports, 2x GC memory card slots and an AV multi output jack (only an analog jack).
- Supports Wii disks (one sided 12cm) and GC discs (one sided 8cm) and console auto switches depends on what disk is inserted
- More than just the Nunchaku is planned as an extension. GC peripherals such as DK bongos can be used in both Wii and GC modes.
- Three power status, on, off and unplugged. To prevent mistaken turn offs, the power button must be held for about a second.

The Wii Control System

- The Wii controller features; Direct Pointing Device, Three axis accelerometer, Wii power button (remotely turn console on/off), buttons, wireless connectivity, indicator LED’s, rumble, battery powered (two AA alkaline batteries) and ability to connect extension unit.
- The Wii controller supports three types of operations; by itself, with a nunchuk extension or with a classic controller. Classic controllers will ship to developers during August 2006.
- The SYNCHRO button on the Wii controller exchanges wireless ID numbers when pressed at the same time as SYNCRHO on the Wii console. Wireless communications are only possible with consoles which have been authenticated.
- The rumble motor can be turned on and off and the intensity can be changed.
- The Wii remote has a pointer for fine movements as well as a motion sensor +/- 3.4G suitable for larger body movements, the nunchuk attachment has a sensor of +/- 2G
- The sensor bar must be placed above or below a TV set, the pointer measures coordinates between the ends of the bar which are about 20cm apart.
- The Wii remote has four status, disconnected, communicating, establishing connection and pairing wait status.
- The pointer can measure co-ordinates within bounds of rectangle centered upon the sensor bar, thus it can also measure points beyond the screen. It also responds to strong light sources, windows, fluorescent lamps, fireplaces, mirrors etc.
- Due to players hands shaking while holding the controller, a ring buffer allows a precise direction to be created to hold and average accelerator samples.

Thanks 'TheGuy' for the info!

Big shoutout must go out to the 'TheGuy' for this info!

*UPDATE* The dev mailed us and said he was shocked to see all these cries of 'fake', so he provided some more info to show he's not bluffing...

Broadway CPU

Broadway is Wii's CPU. Broadway functionality and specifications are as follows.

• Operating speed: 729 MHz
• Bus to main memory: 243 MHz, 64 bits (maximum bandwidth: 1.9 gigabytes/sec)
• 32-kilobyte 8-way set-associative L1 instruction cache
• 32-kilobyte 8-way set-associative L1 data cache (can set up 16-kilobyte data scratch pad)
• Superscalar microprocessor with six execution units (floating-point unit, branching unit, system regis
ter unit, load/store unit, two integer units)
• DMA unit (15-entry DMA request queue) used by 16-kilobyte data scratch pad
• Write-gather buffer for writing graphics command lists to the graphics chip
• Onboard 256-kilobyte 2-way set-associative L2 integrated cache
• Two, 32-bit integer units (IU)
• One floating point unit (FPU) (supports single precision (32-bit) and double precision (64-bit))
• The FPU supports paired single floating point (FP/PS)
• The FPU supports paired single multiply add (ps_madd). Most FP/PS instructions can be issued in
each cycle and completed in three cycles.
• Fixed-point to floating-point conversion can be performed at the same time as FPU register load and
store, with no loss in performance.
• The branch unit supports static branch prediction and dynamic branch prediction.
• When an instruction is stalled on data, the next instruction can be issued and executed. All instructions
maintain program logic and will complete in the correct program order.
• Supports three L2 cache fetch modes: 32-Byte, 64-Byte, and 128-Byte.
• Supports these bus pipeline depth levels: level 2, level 3, and level 4.
Reference Information: Broadway is upward compatible with Nintendo GameCube’s CPU (Gekko).

Hollywood GPU

Hollywood is a system LSI composed of a GPU and internal main memory (MEM1). Hollywood is clocked at 243 MHz. Its internal memory consists of 3 megabytes of embedded graphics memory and 24 megabytes of high speed main memory.

Hollywood includes the following.
• Graphics processing unit (with 3 megabytes of eDRAM)
• Audio DSP
• I/O Bridge
• 24 megabytes of internal main memory
• Internal main memory operates at 486 MHz.
Maximum bandwidth between Hollywood and internal main memory: 3.9 gigabytes per second
• Possible to locate a program here
Reference Information: Hollywood is similar to Nintendo GameCube’s Flipper and Splash components.

External Main Memory (MEM2)

Wii uses 64 megabytes of GDDR3 (MEM2) as external main memory. Like internal main memory, MEM2 can be accessed directly from Broadway and the GPU at high speed and has a peak bandwidth of 4 gigabytes/sec. Programs can also be placed in MEM2.

Reference Information: Nintendo GameCube ARAM is used as auxiliary memory for the DSP. The CPU and GPU did not have direct access to it.

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IMpoor

I really can't get excited about the Game Cube 2, ahh... I mean Wii. Besides having a cool controller that I can wizz around the room yelling Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, I really don't see much appeal other than it is cheaper than the alternatives. I am glad Nintendo is still around and still making games but they always seem to be behind. Its like every console that nintendo has ever made after the orginal NES is always second best hardware-wise to what is available out there at the time. The do have some innovative ideas but its really not enough. I see no real appeal to playing old games either. I really would get bored of contra after I beat it in 20 minutes. Its a cool idea but unless you are in your late 20s or older you most likely never played a NES system or any of its games. Heck you probably never played a SNES either. Unless that controller really kicks ass I think Nintendo will be stuck in third place once again. Which may be enough considering they are using recycled/updated gamecube parts on the system and probably don't sell the system at a loss.

ramos650

I have to agree, I like nintendo but I dont see much excitment in playing old nintendo games.

The wiimote sounds cool but for how long are you willing to swing a controller around, also after the first round of games come that will be great will we get tired of the same types of games with the same swinging motions?

I wont knock it till I've tried it, so I guess I'll wait and see this fall.

Oh ya, I love my DS best system nintendo ever made.

ViperVenom18

I want a Wii.

Seriously.

GLOW

I was hoping to see HD in there somewhere but then I remembered that Nintendo cares more about making a profit from their consoles than giving us quality graphics.

ViperVenom18

Uhg

BigCN401

Last time I check Sony (trying) and MS cares more about making a profit too.

eHDMI

I'm fairly excited about the Wii. Some of the screens look great, and it's not going to break me to get one

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HDFury

GLOW

Hmm, "Last time you checked"? Obviously you never checked cos both MS and Sony take big hits on all their consoles.

MS = No profit, awesome graphics
Sony = No profit, awesome graphics
Nintendo = Profit, boring 480p graphics

ViperVenom18

Yeah because Nintendo doesn't really have the financial backing that Microsoft does.. lmao.

Don't get me wrong, I love my 360, and don't hold grudges and/or am a fanboy to any company. It would be stupid for the Wii to be the same as the 360 and PS3, I'm glad they went the route they went in making a totally different system that won't brake my bank account.

BigCN401

I never said they are making profit. I said they care about making profit. Every companies, video gaming or not, cares about making a profit. If you own a company, don't YOU care about making SOME profit?!?

hockeymuggle

i think that nintendo understands that while a true hd platform might be cool to some people, the fact of the matter is that the majority dont have or at this point really dont care about hd as much as some of the other people do...and all the while, while ps and xbox platforms still offer kiddie games, for the most part they seem to be concentrating on an older more mature crowd, with that being said....as a parent who might not care one hoot about video games, do you really want to go spend 400, even 600 dollars on a video game system for your 4 year old kid, who might see the letters HD and try to pronounce it as a word?

i personally applaud nintendo for saying we are going to offer a good looking system but it is not neccesarily going to be based on graphics and sound, we just want to give something fresh, fun and new to the public.....besides i am loyal to metroid and zelda, so i will be getting a wii at somepoint...

MrRadman11

Question: How many of you who have a PS2, a lightgun, and games like time-crisis, still play them? Or any game with eye-toy? Yes wii is exciting, but I'm afraid it'll be a fun little gimmick for the first year, and then it'll die. I don't want it to, but I can't help but think that way.