Wii U CPU clock speed is low compared to 360, PS3, says Tekken producer

Tekken series producer Katsuhiro Harada said that the processor requires some "creative" solutions for Tekken Tag Tournament 2's Wii U version.

"I think maybe the game is coming along smoother than most people would think, as far as the look of the game," he said.

"As far as graphical processing and such, it's not much of an issue. But as far as the CPU goes, the clock is kinda low.

"I guess they're trying to keep power consumption down so we have to come up with creative ways to get around that and that's taking a little bit of time."

When asked whether it was lower than that of the Xbox 360 or PS3, he replied: "Maybe a little bit.

"For example on PS3 it was kind of difficult at first, but if you made good use of the different cores, you could split up the processing tasks and you could achieve very good effects. But this is kind of a different issue than that."

[wishingW3L]

everybody says different things.

[Yi-Long]

... that the new Wii U might only be SLIGHTLY more powerful than the current generation of HD consoles.

Which is disappointing to many of us.

[SilentNegotiator]

But I think these guys are the first to give a concrete idea of the CPU clock speed. So no one has really said anything "different" about the CPU clock speed, anyway.

[DeadlyFire]

Indeed. Although not surprised that the CPU would be the lacking component if true..

Gamecube - Great GPU, but crap CPU.
Wii - Decent GPU, but crap CPU

Lets just face it Nintendo doesn't know what a CPU is or how to utilize it in a gaming console. Although I have been hoping that this time they got it right. Still though a downclocked Power7 based CPU setup could be faster than PS3/X360.

[Boody-Bandit]

Yi-Long "Which is disappointing to many of us."

Agreed

[yabhero]

That is not the general consensus. There is no general consensus. What its being picked up is that the GPU is much better than what we have currently, the CPU is slower but has advanced features. It's got more RAM. We know the GPU and dSP are in there the the CPU only has to do AI and physics and background OS stuff

[guitarded77]

@ Yi-Long

It's disappointing to some because they haven't been listening to Nintendo. Nintendo has said repeatedly that the current company strategy is to keep system cost low and in the profit margin for Nintendo. They have a completely different model than say... Sony, who's focus is building the best hardware they think is possible, and making up for the low early adoption turn out with software turning the profit. The Wii U is a direct correlation to Nintendo's business model. You know the system has to come in around $300, you know it has a gamepad that eats into the production cost, so you can assume that the console itself will use technology which is antiquated by techies standards, but still a significant jump from the Wii. If you want more power in a console, wait for the new PlayStation or XBOX... but it will still be enjoyable playing Mario, Zelda and Metroid in HD.

[victorGma21]

"Yes and I'm going to downclock my Core i7 to 2ghz while my Core 2 Duo is at 3ghz and say that the Core 2 Duo is faster, right?"

"Clock speed doesn't mean much with different architecture. If he made games for pc he wouldn't make such a noob comment.
I have seen Intel cpu's out perform amd cpu's at low speeds. Devs now of days.."

Exactly. Clock Speed is not the only thing for a processor. WiiU will have a Power7 (confirmed already) and even if it has a lower clock speed it is capable of delivering much more potential than current hardware, but devs needs to understand how the CPU works first, just like the PS3 situation back in the days. Nothing to worry yet.

Sometimes a higher clock speed is even worse than lower clock speed because of consumption and performance.

Some people here needs to make some research.

[darthv72]

the speed of the cpu really meant something back in the day. Now it is more about how much can be done per clock cycle than the number of clock cycles.

Which is why newer chips that run at 2ghz can outperform older chips that were 3ghz. Number of cores, speed of the memory bus and amount of cache/ram are all part of the efficiency equation.

This dev will obviously be able to achieve more over time than right out of the gate. Case in point. Take any game from the launch time frame of a platform and compare it to one at/or near its end.

Same hardware but programming techniques have improved over time to really take advantage of the design. Sometime...even surpass what was expected of it.

[miyamoto]

How the hell are they gonna do that if they are hiding the specs and say it isn't about power?

@ Yi-Long

After the GameCube Miyamoto said Nintendo has to play it safe & not go head to head with Sony & M$ in terms of power.

P-100 is proof.

Going cheap, again, is the only option. I am disappointed too considering Ninty has lotso cash to burn. But Mario games really don't need that much graphical power or complex Ai programming so its understandable.

Going cheap is the best move but please Nintendo don't mark up your hardware too much & sell them at a premium. Just because you sold lots last gen doesn't mean you have to be arrogant. You are no Apple or Sony. Gamers are not as dumb as you would like to think.

[Sono421]

The guy who posted on the article itself couldn't have said it any better.

"Nowadays the clock of CPU means basically nothing, any 2.0 GHz core i5 is ways faster than a 3.6 Ghz P4
The are many ways to improve the performance of a CPU like optimizing its pipeline or adding more cores. Increasing the clock is just an old and dated way to make a faster CPU which usually leads to cooling problems"

but hey its Nintendo so you know fanboys will start blindly hating especially on this site... ugh.. I should have never came back to this idiocy.

[Morrigan-Aensland]

Wii u is comparable to ps3 and Xbox which is evident in the games shown off at e3. Delusional people lie to themselves and try to with others but the Wii u is weak which is ok. The console is what it is so if someone wants a console that is like ten times the power of a ps3 then they'll have to wait for ps4 or Xbox 720. I don't understand why people can't just accept the consoles as they are and not lie to themselves about what they'd like them to be.

[kB0]

Compare Resistance 1 with any game that has come out for the ps3 later then talk.

It's still new Architecture, and needs to be accepted by other companies in order to grow.

It takes time for a console to mature and make best use of it's hardware.

I really don't get why ppl are soo into hardware specs. I still play CS 1.6 and that game looks like a Dreamcast game...prob worse!

It's all about gameplay! Graphics comes second, and since this is Nintendo, I don't have a doubt in my mind that their games will make up for the tech loss.

I'm hoping that games are at least native 720p and 1080p...I could care less if they have to tone the graphics down.

Also, I for one will not be buying the console at launch. Learning my lesson from the 3Ds, I'll wait 6-8 months before I buy the console:)

The Games look amazing though!!!!

[Morrigan-Aensland]

I can't understand delusional fanboys.

Resistance 1 looked amazing for its time with massive scale environments. Resistance 1 looked a generation above last gen games. Resistance 1 doesn't look as good as resistance 3 but it still looks good.

The Wii u looks like games of this gen with a few titles looking worst according to a few that have seen some of the games. Now a tekken dev that actually knows about the Wii u says the CPU clock speed is worst than ps3 and Xbox but fanatics can't accept it and will say anything to bolster their fantasy.

Whenever the ps4 is previewed people won't have to guess if its more powerful. Accept the truth. I don't know what is bad about if the console is basically a Xbox 360 . If someone wants something way more powerful than a ps3 then the Wii u is not an option.

The Wii u is said to be easy to develop for with some games being ported in a few weeks and developers have been working with architectures comparable to Wii us for years like some have said. People should just stop making excuses for a console they literally don't like because they can't even accept the truth of what it is. I wanted free online with the most quality exclusives so I got a ps3. Then I wanted games that are graphically better than ps3 so I built a powerful pc.

[SilentNegotiator]

@kB0
But Resistance was 720p native and used QAA. In 2006.

The Wii U games shown so far have mostly been 720p native, and no AA. In 2012.

See a difference?

[KontryBoy706]

@kB0 resistance 1 looked miles better than the best of the PS2 games the previous gen. This is not the case with the Wii U. Yet.

[yabhero]

Were you expecting some ports to show off the full power of the system? If so that you're stupider than I thought. Of course the ports only looks a bit better, THEY ARE PORTS. Resistance 1 was an exclusive built for the system. Once we get a WiiU exclusive like Zelda or Metriod we will see the 3-4 times the power.

[SilentNegotiator]

@yab
Stop with that dry, overplayed excuse.
If Wii U were even a time and a half as powerful, would they neglect to add AA? No. Sorry, they just wouldn't.

Oh, and Nintendo already has native 720p exclusives in the works. 60fps, sure, but New Super Mario Bros Wii U alpha omega beta semper fi would have no trouble doing the same on ps3/360....let us not kid ourselves.

[kB0]

I'm no fanboy, I just don't whine about something that isn't out yet.

I'm actually more of PS fanboy since I play my Vita and my Ps3 mainly.

You want something with raw power? Get a PC. That should tut ur horn.

Your buying Nintendo for the Nintendo games, not to Benchmark Games.

Do I agree that it's kinda of underwhelming? Yes on paper I guess you can say that, but I'm not going to judge now. I'll judge when I'm playing the new Super Smash bros, mario bros or any of Nintendo's Gems.

:)

Also, Nintendo isn't forcing any of you to buy their console...lol.

Usually when you B1tch out a console, it has to make up for the insecurities you feel for your Favorite consoles:)

Embrace the games, buy one of each, or if you can't afford it...work harder;)

Good Day!

[metroid32]

M8 the E3 WiiU 3rd party games were 50/50 some looked identical to ps3,some looked superior,this is because the games are not finished they had to show off the GAMEPAD features 1st,Batman armoured core/Aliens/AC3/Razors edge,as far as the respected devs are concerned are using PC textues and in some games like Razors Edge have extra gore/better graphics/frame rate/animations/new areas/so your point means nothing.

Ps3/360 were only handling poor xbox ports at 1st they were not showing much promise it took ps3/360 a few years to finally get decent graphics and even then the graphics were not great,WiiU is handling enhanced ports in Native 720p/Full HD and in 60fps right out the gate,look at the eshop game Trine 2 DC and i can tell u the dev says its there best work to date graphically it even beats PC in graphics,the dev says only with the next-gen power were we able to make the game how we 1st intended it to look.

[HarryMasonHerpderp]

Lets hope we don't get lazy ports from lazy developers like the PS3 did with multiplats for years.

[SegataShanshiro]

Ya I know right? I mean how could those idiots know? They only know the innermost guts of the Wii u hahaha yeah bunch of idiots.

[WeskerChildReborned]

It's hard to know who to trust.

[Moncole]

They dont even give a link to the source.

[Qrphe]

Exactly, like the vast majority of things "said" by most developers about the Wii U.

[WeskerChildReborned]

I hate it when it's said by "anonymous developers" when the other devs say some positive things about it.

[ChickeyCantor]

Numbers don't tell much. It's still the architecture that will have the biggest impact. It's a modern CPU, so I wouldn't be surprised if the cpu is still faster than the PS3/360 cpus. If not, don't care. Still waiting for F-Zero.

Also porting isn't just flipping a switch. Like he said, with the PS3 you had to learn how the cpu works at its best. So don't think they have mastered this cpu to the fullest.

[ChunkyLover53]

Funny part is, its Nintendo, it'll be full HD Nintendo games and a unified Nintendo online network. The winner of the console wars never has the most powerful hardware, you can even look at the handheld market, Nintendo always wins that war and yet they always beat out competitors who have superior hardware. Its almost like games seem to matter more to people than impressive specs.

[hellvaguy]

Really though many hardcore gamers werent asking too much for nintendo to make thier system a moderate increase from 6 year old tech in sony and ms.

Maybe the first year you just break even on the system, but after that you make profit on each system. Geez software, online content, and accessories have far more profit than the system itself. Very disappointing nintendo cant understand that.

[CouldHaveYelledUiiW]

Ouch.

BUT I want to know why there are so many conflicting reports.

Either way after just recently beating Skyward Sword, I really could not care less about the power of the WiiU.

I just want more of Skyward Sword gameplay or else I will have to check myself into the Betty-Ford Clinic.

I thought I was cured when TP did not hook me but that SS is the 100% Pure Un-Cut Zelda.

[neutralgamer19]

But but but the other named developers said blah blah blah. This whole daily hyping up articles of the Wii u is a joke if you really believe the Wii u will be a powerhouse your idiots.

Nintendo always wins out? Does nintendo give you money? Last time I checked gamers should be worried about games not a company selling tons of casual shovel ware. In terms of playing games this generation nintendo didn't win crap w all know who had the most and best variety of games and the least shovel ware. People ended up being disgusted by the Wii. If your a gamer and you care about how much crap was sold over playing the best games you have a huge problem. And please don't day the wiiiiiiii had the best games you'll be making a fool of yourself.

[PopRocks359]

So I'm a fool for saying that Sonic Colors was better than Sonic '06. Right. Gotcha.

[jay2]

ROFLMAO X1000. So we have, Wii, Wii u, 360, PS3, next gen consoles nice!

[ApolloAdams]

My Ivy Bridge is a lower clock then my Sandy Bridge but it is better. Clock speed is almost negated when you factor in fabrication size and optimization. Sure it may be lower clocked but I guarentee the die size and processor is better.

[shutUpAndTakeMyMoney]

Clock speed doesn't mean much with different architecture. If he made games for pc he wouldn't make such a noob comment.
I have seen Intel cpu's out perform amd cpu's at low speeds. Devs now of days..

[sjaakiejj]

Guy's a producer. You'd get a very different answer from a technical lead.

High clock speed isn't even always a good thing. To achieve it, engineers divide the processor pipeline into smaller and smaller submodules all performing some very simple quick tasks.

This means a memory fetch has a much larger impact on the pipeline, reducing throughput and thus performance. This is why Pentium 4 processors were so rubbish lol.

So not only does clock speed not mean much with a different architecture - it means very little at all in general.

[corrus]

Wii U CPU clock speed is low compared to 360, PS3, says Tekken producer HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[SpitTake]

I know your a fanboy who doesn't know anything about hardware, but, the wii u have a Power 7 CPU, more powerful then a Xenon CPU in the Xbox and the Cell processor, and before you go on and on about the POWA OF CELL 8 CORES HAHA, cell is weak, outdated, and doesn't have it cores it has 1. Power 7 CPU aren't meant for conventional use, I.E consoles.
So theres a thing called Underclockings, lowers CPU speed. Lowering CPU speeds = Lowering heating and power use.
So, the CPU is more powerful, they just need to underclock it to keep it more efficient and use less power and cause less heat.

[legend911]

Yes and I'm going to downclock my Core i7 to 2ghz while my Core 2 Duo is at 3ghz and say that the Core 2 Duo is faster, right?

[jboy]

Remember this and dont worry people

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[corrus]

Oh stop with that fanboy video

[jboy]

U like?

[DivineAssault]

No wonder they keep the official specs so tight lipped & always dodge questions about its power..

[LOL_WUT]

Nintendo knows that people won't buy it if it's not powerful than current-gen, so they rather sell it and let the their fans find out for themselves. Pretty sh*tty move I know.

It also seems like the faithfuls on here don't want to accept this news and the ones that do try and spin it, just look below. ;)

[ChickeyCantor]

Nintendo knows that most people don't know sh/t about hardware. Nor their architectural internal clockworks.

If the cpu seems to be lower in clock figures, people like you will bash it. Eventhough it doesn't say much considering it's a modern cpu vs 6+ year old cpus. Because most here aren't even competent enough to understand how hardware works.

Someone will come forward and give the specs right before launch. But it's not like you know how to develop for it. So why should Nintendo promote it to you?

[DivineAssault]

It doesnt really matter.. Even if it does out perform SIX year old tech, nx gen is so close that its a waste to buy it unless u cant live without Ninny titles.. Unless the wii u can put out the same games that PS & MS get from 3rd party, its going to be a repeat of what happened with the wii.. MINUS all the casuals that went crazy over it the 1st time

[beerkeg]

Clock speed means nothing really. There's more to a processors power than clock speed. Only someone who didn't have a clue would think it did.

*Looks up at various posts above*

Yep, several people who are clueless.

[PopRocks359]

Welcome to N4g.

[PopRocks359]

This statement makes next to no sense to me. The CPU is confirmed to be a POWER7 model which is miles ahead of the current generation hardware.

So what the hell? I'm not saying the man is lying, but these conflicting bursts of information are as much frustrating as they are confusing.

[Emilio_Estevez]

Where? I'm pretty sure they haven't given any official details as to what's actually inside.

Still not real sure what to make of this.

Wiki isn't official at all poppy, 'based on' and 'a lot' sounds super legit.

[PopRocks359]

Wikipedia. It was released along with the rest of what was officially confirmed about the Wii U's specs that the CPU is based on the IBM POWER7 brand. It's also multi-core with a chip containing "a lot of eDRAM cache."

Research is your friend.

[ronin4life]

It has been confirmed by nintendo and ibm. I'm sure that there are more places than wikipedia that will confirm this as well.

[Klad]

IBM confirmed it on there own website
http://www-03.ibm.com/press...

[Shok]

Clock speeds =/= power people. When talking about the power of a system clock speeds are probably the least relevant thing there is. A CPU can be numerically slower but still stronger than another. Don't get me wrong, the higher the clock speed the better, but like I said, it's definitely a smaller factor compared to everything else.

The Wii U is using a Power 7 CPU. Even at 2.4 GHz, it'd be better than the
CPU in the 360.

[DarkSouls]

Exactly what I was thinking! Also, these companies are porting these titles built on the PS3/360 architecture, and are by no means utilizing the full potential of the GPU. The Wii U is structured differently from what I've read, and it will take a developer to build the games from the ground up to take advantage of it's power; not to mention the extra RAM it has. It will be quite a different story once a half a year to a year rolls around.

[CLOUD1983]

The only thing I know is that Nintendo plan to release this year at the end of 2012 a console which should be released 6-7 year ago, that means they r late to catch up with this generation by 7 years! what they plan to do when the next generation start in 1-2 years?

For how long they plan to stay on business with outdated hardware? r they plan to use this new console for the next 8+ years? because if they do then we all know what is going to happen in the end.

Nintendo must forget again 3rd party support for future multiplatform games, Wii U will not be able to run the games we r going to see from 2015 & on w8 & see the future is going to repeat once again.

[Shok]

You know the confirmed specs sir?

No, you don't.

In-matter-of-fact, EVERY rumored spec sheet that has been released for the Wii U have actually been more powerful than the 360/PS3.

There were rumors during E3 2011 that the Wii U was 50% more powerful and 2x more powerful, yes, but notice how those rumors died down LAST-YEAR and even then that wouldn't make the Wii U on-par at least. Not to mention, those rumors were based off year-old dev kits anyway.

The notion that the Wii U is on-par with the current-gen systems is an assumption created by fanboys and clueless journalists that have reiterated so much to the point where now people are taking it as fact. That's how the internet works.

I'm not attacking you lol, just informing you man. I love having fun debunking BS =)

[samtheseed]

Is this Shok-io? For some reason you type like Will Smith, so I just put 2 & 2 together.

Taken at face value this sounds like bad news, but you can't read into it too much at this point.If a fighting game is stressing the CPU, and it isn't even using the pad to display much of anything, then something here isn't being told or explained and communicated across very well.

The matter of fact is, he's talking about the CPU like its an issue for them, which might just be his take on it (he's a director, not a programmer) or it's been taken out of context or miss-translated. As the article stands, word for word, it doesn't paint a nice picture. BUT, its not something that should be taken as conclusive at the same time.

[Fierce Musashi]

Yeah, he's Shokio from youtube.

[kakashishinoda]

Nintendo allready said That THE Wii u Will not Be mutch weaker then THE next Sony and Xbox only à little Same as 6th gen

[Yangus]

I think this better WiiU...
http://www.youtube.com/watc...

I wait next E3!

[JoNaZ_RG]

I liked your example.....lol

[Ulf]

Just to clarify, the guy is complaining that the CPU is too slow, and his team has to work around it. The fact he also mentions that the clock is low is just a side thing.

RTFA @ all the "clock isn't everything" NDF commentary who didn't even bother to read the article.

[Ck1x]

Just shoot this topic to death already! I just wish that when these companies come out talking about specs that they list the current dev-kit inhouse that they are working with as well! Sounds like they are describing BigFoot when they talk about the WiiU. "It's 7ft tall with horns, No when I saw it last it was fury, 10ft tall and looked like a Bearilla!" Lol
Obviously the system can't be all the things that we have been hearing at once, so from the lowest specs like this guy is giving about the CPU is probably where the WiiU started out in dev-kits 1-3. But falling in line with what developers comments about dev-kits 4&5, they didn't expect the extra power that was given with those revisions. But I would much rather wait for someone to do a teardown on WiiU because this is becoming such a rediculous topic on N4G, that people won't believe it anyways unless there's a video documenting it.

[Ck1x]

And people state that Nintendo doesn't know what a good CPU is. They've only had the best CPU's over the competition in their systems since the N64.(excluding the Wii of course) But the GC CPU was much better than the off the shelf Xbox Pentium that generation and it had a much lower clock speed to boot... The N64 almost always had higher FPS, better AI and Physics than PS1, so the whole Nintendo doesn't know what a good CPU is argument doesn't make much sense really! If any company should be critiqued about it's choices of CPU's it should be Sony. Two generations back to back they have produced very difficult to program for CPU's in their consoles and most of your arguments here for this is that developers are just lazy...

[bigjclassic]

it has an okay CPU, but it has a GPGPU which devs will have to learn to minimize the CPU workload. the tools are there and will need to learn how to use em. Similar things will be said about the new MS/Sony consoles as well.

[AO1JMM]

I am tired of all these so-called leaked info from trusted developers that all contradict each other. How about you just show me great looking and fun games already

[stragomccloud]

Sounds like someone is just having trouble with the new architecture.

[JoNaZ_RG]

I saw this article on IGN.com and I said to myself...I gotta go to N4G and look at the fan boys comments. lol..exactly what I expected...hahahhahaha

[nerdkiller]

man nintendo your really pissing me off it really sounds like its gona look the same as this gen which is dumb it sounds like its gona cost 300 price why not charge 400 and up ur power all pay u cheap basters

[HalfNerdHalfAmazing]

I'm not judging the Wii u til I see the specs this don't mean anything is funny how some developers say the Wii u is really so powerful and some say is not

[FinalomegaS]

the producer just said the "clock" is kinda low.

which is a good thing for a gaming console that should not get CPU overheating chip set issues.

A powerful Chip that doesnt need to cool as much and can sty running without giving us RROD will work.

Do we have any benchmarks for Power 7 series vs other CPUs like Intels or custom chip set?

[BitbyDeath]

Who cares how powerful it is, why are so many people hooked up on that?

Will it deliver good games? Yes.
That is all that's important.

Take Final Fantasy for example, sure the early games might not look as pretty and even have text instead of voices but they are still a 100 billion times better than the recent crap they have been churning out.

Power means nothing.